With soloists Glazer and Parakilas, Bates Orchestra presents two-piano concerto

Composer Scott Ordway conducts an orchestra.

Scott Ordway conducts the University of Puget Sound Chamber Orchestra, Tacoma, Wash.

Scott Ordway leads the Bates College Orchestra in a program including a Mozart concerto for two pianos, with Frank Glazer and James Parakilas of the Bates faculty as soloists, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 15.

Admission is free but tickets are required, available through bit.ly/oacbates.

The Olin Arts Center Concert Hall is located at 75 Russell St. For more information, please contact 207-786-6163 or olinarts@bates.edu.

Ordway, a nationally renowned composer, teacher and conductor, leads the 45-member orchestra in a program consisting of three works.

The opener is Andante Festivo, a short piece by the Finnish composer Sibelius, followed by Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 10 in E-flat for Two Pianos, with soloists Glazer and Parakilas. Ordway explains that the 99-year-old Glazer, an artist in residence at Bates since 1980, proposed the Mozart. In rehearsals, he says, the music has been “terrific” — Glazer “plays with a tremendous wisdom and tremendous confidence.”

Sibelius and Mozart suit each other well, Ordway feels. “They have a certain kinship, a remarkable poise and dignity.” And they pose a pleasing contrast to the Czech composer Dvorak, whose popular Symphony No. 9 in E-minor (“From the New World”) completes the program.