BATON ROUGE, La. (MuseWire) – On Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 7:30 p.m., Opera Louisiane welcomes Spring with special guests jazz greats Bill Grimes and Willis Delony, as they join Robert Grayson and members of Opera Louisiane’s Young Artists to present a new twist on both opera and jazz in the intimate setting of the Manship Theatre. Repertoire for the concert includes selections from Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Duke Ellington, Sondheim and Puccini.

Grimes, a widely respected virtuoso jazz bassist has worked with such jazz legends as Joe Pass, Bobby Shew, Terrance Blanchard, and Bill Dobbins. Grimes is the main attraction for LSU’s Hot Summer Nights and Cool Jazz concert series each summer. Delony has won national and international acclaim as a jazz and classical pianist, conductor, chamber player, commercial composer, and arranger.

His concert explorations of the jazz and classical piano worlds are showcased in a recent recording of music by American composers entitled Double Dance – Classical and Jazz Connections II, which was released by Centaur Records in 2008.

A previous album, also on the Centaur label, is entitled A New World A’ Comin’ – Classical and Jazz Connections. Both are now in international distribution. Also performing will be Brian Shaw, a regular performer with Grimes and Delony.

Tickets may be purchased at the Manship Theatre Box Office at (225) 344-0334 or online at www.manshiptheare.org .