"Right now, I'm sticking to the classics," he says. At least until he is more established in the local music community. Morales is relatively new to Utah, moving last year from his native Puerto Rico, where he was principal cellist with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.
Audiences will get a chance to see him and hear his classical side this week when he performs with Utah Chamber Artists at the group's season opener at the Cathedral of the Madeleine.
He may be new, but he's been busy. In the past year, he has played with the Utah Symphony as a full-time substitute, held recitals in New York and New Mexico and returned to play in his homeland. He has upcoming appearances in Colombia and El Salvador.
"It's a lot of work, but it's the kind of work you like to do. It's not like mowing the grass," says Morales. Maybe he enjoys it because it's in his blood. Jesus, 32, is the youngest of six children, all of whom have prominent careers in music. His siblings include a clarinetist, two composers, a conductor/trombonist and a percussionist.
"My father had the bug and got us playing instruments when we were younger," says Morales. Although not a professional, his father played the guitar. "He would have been a fantastic, sensitive [professional] musician. He has great ears, great ideas."
Despite growing up in a farmhouse humming with music, Morales' first love was his horse, Cecilia. It wasn't until he began attending a special junior high school that emphasized music that he really fell for the cello.
It was a love that almost wasn't. At first he thought he would play the drums like his older brother. "I thought, 'Oh, man. I could play that and be in a rock band,' ” he says. But his parents - having already raised one noisy percussionist - discouraged him.
His parents moved the family so the older children could receive more instruction. They landed in Bloomington, Ind., and Morales later attended college in Cincinnati, where he met his Pennsylvania-born wife, Dara, who is now principal second violin with the Utah Symphony.
"We were in a string quartet together, then we became a duet," he says with a laugh.
He says the couple enjoy their new home in Farmington. "Out here it's very beautiful; the mountains are so big. . . . I got here and fell in love with it." They have been too busy building a home, performing and traveling to have found favorite restaurants and hangouts, he says. But he has found Latino radio.
"Before we got here, I thought, 'Utah. Oh, my God. I'll probably be the only Hispanic there,' ” he says. Then he found bilingual signs at Home Depot and his native language on the radio dial. "It's great. It's comforting to hear that kind of humor on the Spanish radio stations."
On Monday and Tuesday, Morales will perform the Prelude to Bach's Sixth Cello Suite and a piece that is dear to him, the last movement of Haydn's Concerto No. 1 in C Major. The Haydn "was probably the first concert I ever heard performed live. It really made an impression on me. Every time I hear it I feel like a teenager."
The audience is in for a treat, says Elliott Cheney, a faculty member and cello teacher at the University of Utah who has worked with and become a friend to Morales.
"One of the real special things about him is he is such an enthusiastic music lover," says Cheney. The music just comes straight "out of his soul. He communicates so well because he loves it so much."
Barlow Bradford, artistic director for Utah Chamber Artists, is excited to include Morales in the group's season opener, called "Cathedral Collage."
The concert is called a collage because it takes place in several segments, with performers sprinkled around the cathedral. The lights may come up in front of the audience, behind or to the side, while the musicians scramble quietly to their places. In addition to Morales, soloists include Cathedral of the Madeleine organist Andrew Unsworth, harpist Tamara Oswald, pianist Richard Marshall and clarinetist Daron Bradford. Utah Chamber Artists includes 40 singers and 40 instrumentalists.
Bradford says the audience may also hear his arrangement of Barber's "Adagio for Strings," which has become a favorite with followers of the group. He says he guarantees a pleasant evening.
"It's hard not to find something you like in this concert because there are so many things going on."
jbarrett@sltrib.com
Collage in the cathedral
l Jesus Morales and other soloists join the Utah Chamber Artists for "Cathedral Collage" on Monday and Tuesday at 8 p.m., at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, 331 E. South Temple, Salt Lake City. Doors open at 7:30 and tickets are free. Call 801-572-2010 for more information.
