Stetson University’s School of Music presents a weekend of piano performances by faculty and scholars, Friday, Feb. 24 through Sunday, Feb. 26, with a special guest performance by recording artist Mirian Conti on Friday, Feb. 24.

All concert performances are open to the public and will be in Lee Chapel inside Elizabeth Hall, located at 421 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand. The concert schedule for the weekend is as follows:

• Friday, Feb. 24 – Guest Recital featuring Mirian Conti, 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, Feb. 25 – Scholars’ Recital, 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, Feb. 26 – Faculty Recital featuring Edit Palmer and Michael Rickman, 3 p.m.

Guest pianist Mirian Conti, an Argentine-American and a prolific recording artist has garnered rave reviews for her recent CD release of the Complete Chopin Mazurkas on the newly created Steinway label. Her 17 recordings cover an array of styles, composers and labels. In addition to standard classical works, her repertoire is impressively wide and varied including music from Spain, Latin America and North America. She is actively involved in the music education of young pianists. For many years she has been creating and directing competition, festivals and marathons in the U.S. and South America, and has awarded scholarships and prizes to further the musical education of these young musicians.

Dr. Edit Palmer, a native of Hungary, where she graduated from the Franz Liszt Conservatory of Music with highest honors, has been a lecturer of Music in Stetson’s School of Music since 1997. During her early studies, she had won numerous piano competitions including the First Hungarian National Piano Competition in 1980. After immigrating to the United States, she earned her B.A. in piano performance at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. While an undergraduate and a student of Dr. Phillip Clarke, she held numerous solo recitals, played in various ensembles, and won many awards culminating in the Tenth Annual Bartok-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition in Redford,Virginia.

Dr. Michael Rickman, Steinway Artist, joined the School of Music faculty at Stetson University in 1983. In 1990, he was the first recipient of Stetson University’s Homer and Dolly Hand Award for Creative Activity and Research. In 1995, he received the highest honor given by Stetson University, the William Hugh McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching. He received grants from Stetson University allowing him to study the late works of Beethoven and Schubert with the pianist Edward Kilenyi, and the works of Twentieth Century Dutch composers with Dutch pianist-composer Piet Stalmeier. Rickman has traveled and taught world-wide and gained several critically acclaimed reviews for his style and technique. Michael Rickman has two compact discs available on the Lakeside Records label, Romantic Realms, with works of Schubert and Brahms, and Romantic Realms II, with works of Robert Schumann. His performances can also be heard regularly on Florida Public Radio.

Admission to each concert is $10 general public, $8 senior citizens and $5 area students. For more information call the concert line (386) 822-8974, the School of Music (822) 8950 or visitwww2.stetson.edu/music.