The MTSU School of Music is welcoming the new year with another of its popular “Keyboard Artist Series” concerts Friday, Jan. 24, featuring acclaimed pianist and educator Chih-Long Hu.

Dr. Chih-Long Hu

Hu’s performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 24 in Hinton Hall inside the Wright Music Building, 1439 Faulkinberry Drive. A campus map is available at http://bit.ly/MTSUParkingMap.

Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for seniors. Children under 18 will be admitted free, as will MTSU students, staff and faculty with current IDs. Tickets, which help fund the Keyboard Artist Series, will be available at the door.

“This is a recital not to be missed,” said Arunesh Nadgir, coordinator of keyboard studies at MTSU. “Hu performs with dazzling virtuosity and refinement that will speak to everyone.”

The concert series, sponsored in part by the Steinway Piano Gallery of Nashville and now in its fifth season, features MTSU faculty and distinguished guest artists from around the world.

Hu is the Sandra G. Powell Endowed Professor of Piano at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and artistic director of the St. Andrews Piano Academy and Festival International in New Brunswick, Canada, as well as the New York International Piano Festival.

A native of Taiwan, he launched his performance career after receiving the Taipei National Concert Hall Arising Star and Chi-Mei Artist Award and prizes from multiple international competitions, including the International Russian Music Piano Competition in San Jose, California.

Hu performs extensively in Asia, Europe and America, and his concerts have been televised in Taiwan, China and Japan and broadcast by American Public Media’s “Performance Today” classical programs across the country.

Named 2013 “Teacher of the Year” by the Tennessee Music Teachers Association, Hu also presents lectures and master classes and judges national and international competitions.

His MTSU concert will include works by Mozart, Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninoff and his own composition, “Afterthoughts on Bach’s Goldberg Variations.”

A preview of Hu’s talent, captured during a 2008 performance, is available below.

The Keyboard Artist Series season will conclude Friday, March 27, with Nadgir’s spring concert.

For more information on MTSU’s Keyboard Artist Series, visit www.mtsu.edu/music/keyboardseries.php. For details on other School of Music events, call 615-898-2493 or visit the  “Concert Calendar” link.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)