PORT LUDLOW — A pianist praised for his “catlike ease” at the keys will give a pre-season recital at the Bay Club, 120 Spinnaker Place, on Saturday afternoon.
Julio Elizalde, co-artistic director of the Olympic Music Festival, the summerlong series of classical “Concerts in the Barn” on a farm near Quilcene, will offer pieces by Bach, Grieg, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Chopin in the 2 p.m. performance.
Tickets are $50 to benefit the festival and include champagne before the concert and wine and appetizers at intermission.
“This solo concert should be quite spectacular,” said Kristin Mineah, spokeswoman for the Olympic Music Festival.
“We encourage patrons to stay after the performance for an opportunity to meet Mr. Elizalde,” she added.
The pianist has performed at the 31-year-old Olympic Music Festival for the past six summers; this year marks his third season as co-artistic director.
A graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and New York City’s Juilliard School, Elizalde is one of the most sought-after artists of his generation, Mineah said.
Elizalde has been “largely responsible for bringing in wonderful new talent from the New York classical music scene,” Mineah noted, “which has upped the ante in a big way in terms of the quality of music we are able to present each summer.”
To find out more about Saturday’s event, phone the Bay Club at 360- 437-2208.
For information about the festival — to take place weekends June 28 through Sept. 7 — see www.olympicmusicfestival.org or phone 360-732-4800.