MARLBORO — Distinguished pianists Peter Serkin and Julia Hsu will perform a concert at Marlboro College to honor Luis Batlle and benefit the endowed chair in his name.
Batile was music professor at Marlboro College for 30 years as well as longtime participant of the Marlboro Music Festival and School. The concert of music for piano four hands will take place Thursday, April 21, at 7 p.m., in Marlboro's Ragle Hall. It is free and open to the public, but donations toward the Luis C. Batlle Chair in Music are encouraged.
Peter Serkin has known Batile since the early days of the music festival, and was mentored by him as a child. Batile was invited to join the festival by cofounder Rudolph Serkin, Peter's father.
Internationally recognized as an artist of passion and integrity, Peter Serkin has conveyed the essence of five centuries of repertoire in inspired recital appearances, on recordings, and in chamber music collaborations worldwide. He has performed with the world's major symphony orchestras, with such eminent conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Pierre Boulez, Alexander Schneider, Daniel Barenboim, George Szell, Eugene Ormandy, and James Levine.
Originally from Taiwan, Hsu's collaborations with artists in other mediums include exhibitions and live performances with photographer Roman Schramm, sculptor Hella Gerlach, and modern dance choreographer Shang Chi Sun. She was a festival fellow at Bowdoin Music Festival in Massachusetts, and a scholar at the Banff Centre in Canada, before she became a piano fellow at Bard College Conservatory of Music in 2013.
Serkin and Hsu have recently devoted themselves to performing together, both four-hands as well as two-piano music, and will present a program on April 21 of works by Beethoven, Brahms, and Bizet.