Nettie Chenevert

Marie Henriette (“Nettie”) Chenevert was born in Bunkie, Louisiana, and began piano study at the age of eight. She started writing music about five years later. Attending Northwestern State University from 1965 to 1970, she studied piano with Dr. Paul Torgrimson and composition with Robert Krause, earning a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance in 1969 and a Master’s degree in 1970.

After serving for a time as a graduate assistant at NSU, she taught piano privately in Natchitoches before returning to her native Avoyelles Parish to accept a position as organist at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Bunkie. Presently residing in Evergreen, she continues to serve in this capacity, as well as playing for St. Mary’s church in Cottonport and acting as accompanist for weddings, funerals, school programs, and concerts throughout the Avoyelles area.

Since 1989, she has accompanied (and occasionally appeared in) productions at the Moncla Community Theatre near Marksville, which has staged five of her original musicals, including “A Blade in the Wilderness.”

Her compositions have also been performed in Natchitoches, LA; Alexandria, La; Washington, LA; Natchez, MS; Kalamazoo, MI, and New York City (92nd St. Y). Her output includes piano and vocal music, masses and other choral works, chamber music, and orchestral pieces, as well as the stage works that have been her principal focus in recent years. The Moncla Theatre (near Marksville, LA ) has produced five of her original musicals, including “Grande Terre” which was also performed by the Natchez Little theatre and the City Park Players in Alexandria.

The Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony has previously programmed a number of her pieces, including the overtures to her original musicals “A Blade in the Wilderness,” “Grande Terre,” and “Bayou Suzette” (performed by the NSU Chamber Orchestra), and a set of “Travel Sketches” (musical reminisces of a trip to Italy and Greece). “Sea Fever” is a setting of a favorite poem originally written for baritone and piano and recently recast for orchestra.