Taking the stage will be 22-year-old Beatrice Rana of Italy, 10-year-old prodigy Gavin George of Granville, Ohio, and 18-year-old Adi Neuhaus of Israel.
“The talented young performers on our schedule this year represent the future of classical piano,” said Emanuela Friscioni, director of the series. “Audiences will be stunned not just by their extraordinary technical skill, but with the artistry each pianist brings to the compositions.”
The eighth season of the recital series begins at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, with a performance by Rana. Her concert will feature music by Bach, Chopin and Prokofiev.
Born to a family of musicians, Rana began her musical studies at age 4. She debuted as an orchestra soloist at age 9 and earned her piano degree at 16 under the guidance of Benedetto Lupo at the Nino Rota Conservatory of Music in Monopoli.
In June 2013, Rana won Silver (2nd Prize) and the Audience Award at the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas. She has performed at concerts and festivals throughout the world, including Zurich’s Tonhalle, London’s Wigmore Hall and Washington’s Kennedy Center.
Ten-year-old Gavin will take the stage for the second concert at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9. Gavin started playing piano at age 2 after he became infatuated upon seeing a video of Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra. He had his symphonic debut with the Newark-Granville Symphony Orchestra when he was 7.
Gavin won the Suzuki Association of the Americas international piano concerto competition in 2012 with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, first movement, as well as gold medals in 2010 and 2011 at the piano competition held by the American Association for the Development of the Gifted and Talented. He became the youngest musician to perform on the Emmy Award-winning NPR show “From the Top,” and Radical Media featured him in its documentary series “Prodigies.”
Israeli pianist Neuhaus will close out the season with a performance at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 22. He is a student at the Conservatory of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. His great-grandfather, Heinrich Neuhaus, and grandfather, Stanislav Neuhaus, were legendary performers and teachers.
He was the 2012 winner of the Voice of Music “Young Artist Competition” in Jerusalem and has performed across Israel and abroad as a soloist and with chamber groups.
The concerts will take place in the Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Blvd. in Cleveland’s University Circle. Seating is on a first-come basis the day of each performance. The auditorium holds 683 spectators.
For information about the recital series, contact Emanuela Friscioni at 216-987-2060 or emanuela.friscioni@tri-c.edu.