KINGSTON,RI – March 21, 2017 – The Piano Extravaganza! is bringing to the stage a renowned pianist from the United Kingdom as well as University of Rhode Island faculty and students for the 15th year of the festival.

Pianist Kenneth Hamilton, the extravaganza’s guest artist, will perform Saturday March 25.

The second performance on April 1 will feature URI piano students, artist and cello teacher, Theodore Mook, pianist Gayane Darakyan, and Manabu Takasawa, URI professor of music and organizer and director of the festival.

Both concerts will be held at 8 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, 105 Upper College Road. General admission for both performances is $12, while students will pay $7, seniors (60 and older) $7, and children (12 and under) will be admitted at no charge.

Hamilton, the performer for the March 25 show, is a Scottish pianist, author and broadcaster who performs worldwide at recitals, on TV and the radio in Europe and in the United States. Hamilton has been described as “a performer full of energy and wit” by The New York Times. The musician is especially known for his performances of romantic music, like Liszt or Busoni, on which he wrote his latest book, After the Golden Age: Romantic Pianism and Modern Performance (Oxford University Press). Hamilton just released a new album called Back to Bach : Tributes and Transcriptions by Liszt, Busoni and Rachmaninov.

He is also the head of the School of Music at Cardiff University, Wales, United Kingdom. He also functions as international dean for Cardiff College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Hamilton will perform pieces by Ronald Stevenson, Frederic Chopin, Debussy and Schubert.

The April 1 concert will feature music for piano solo, including Ludwig von Beethoven’s Cello Sonata and Maurice Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite.

The Piano Extravaganza is also an opportunity to see the best talent in New England compete in the festival’s Competition for Young Pianists Sunday, March 26, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall.

For further information on the festival’s events, please go to https://pianoextravaganza.org/events/ .

Sarah Saltiel-Ragot, an international student from Sciences Po Rennes in France and an intern in URI’s Department of Marketing and Communications, wrote this press release.