Featuring Maine’s best-known pianist and visiting performers of international renown, the piano rules Bates College’s Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St., for nine days in October.

One of the world’s foremost violin, cello and piano ensembles, the Vienna Piano Trio performs music by Beethoven, Erich Korngold and Brahms at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5.

Bates’ Noonday Concerts series presents artist-in-residence Frank Glazer and his former student Chiharu Naruse, now a performer and teacher in her own right, playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D minor on two pianos at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9.

In a particularly “Batesy” event, pianist Duncan Cumming, another Glazer student and a member of the Bates class of 1993, premieres two preludes by Bates faculty member William Matthews at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10.

Finally, acclaimed pianist Inon Barnatan — described as “refined, searching, unfailingly communicative” by London’s Evening Standard — opens the Bates College Concert Series at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13. Barnatan also holds a master class in the concert hall at 11 a.m. the following day.

Admission for the Barnatan concert is $10 for the general public and $3 for students. The other events, including the Barnatan master class on Oct. 14, are open to the public at no charge. For Barnatan concert reservations or more information, please contact 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.

More about the performers:

(Oct. 5) Since 1988, the Vienna Piano Trio has visited virtually every major music center in Europe, the Americas, Australia and the Far East. Violinist Wolfgang Redik, cellist Marcus Trefny and pianist Stefan Mendl studied with such towering musical figures as Isaac Stern and Joseph Kalichstein as well as members of the Beaux Arts Trio and the Guarneri and LaSalle string quartets.

In 2001, Matthias Gredler replaced Trefny. Today the trio performs regularly at such festivals as the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Mozartwoche Salzburg and the Beethovenfest Bonn, as well as events in Canada. They have appeared in London, Paris, New York, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Mexico City, Tokyo, Sydney, Barcelona and Berlin.

(Oct. 9) Ninety-two-year-old Frank Glazer, a pianist of international renown, has taught at Bates since 1980. In a era whose pianists often strive for the gloss of mechanical precision and a big sound, Glazer instead makes all else secondary to the music’s own message.

“He has thought everything through and tried to get at the core of what the music is about. Everything he does is about that,” says colleague James Parakilas, a pianist himself and the James L. Moody Jr. Family Professor of Performing Arts at Bates.

A Topsham resident, Glazer brings to the concert stage a highly distinguished career that includes numerous recordings, solo recitals and performances with orchestras and chamber ensembles, including the New England Piano Quartette, of which he was a founder.

In October 2006, Glazer celebrated the 70th anniversary of his 1936 New York City debut by performing that debut program at Bates.

A faculty member at the Portland Conservatory of Music, Chiharu Naruse began studying piano at age 4 and studied in Japan until 1996. In 1997, she was accepted to the Hans Eisler Hochschule fuer Musik in Berlin, where she performed recitals regularly. In 2002, she moved to the United States to study with Glazer. She has given several concerts at Bates and has played with the Portland String Quartet and the Augusta Symphony.

(Oct. 10) Duncan Cumming will premiere the preludes “Two Chords” and “Prestissimo” by Matthews. “They are part of a set of eight pieces composed two years ago, exploring different styles of music and ways of making pianists work extra hard,” the composer explains.

‘Prestissimo,’ for example, usually indicates that the music should be played about as fast as possible. Yet in this quick little piece, the performer finds the word ‘stringendo’ at a certain point, which means to speed up still more.”

Cumming will also perform music by Debussy, Chopin and Weber. A native of Maine, he graduated with highest honors from Bates College in 1993, where he studied with Glazer.

In 1994, on a full scholarship from the European Mozart Foundation, he participated in chamber music study and performance at the European Mozart Academy in Prague, Czech Republic. He received his master’s in 1996 from the New England Conservatory, and in 2003 earned his doctorate from Boston University.

Cumming was on the faculty at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., from 1994-2006. In 2002, he joined the faculty of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, where he is assistant director of the Young Artists Piano Program. He joined the faculty of the University at Albany in fall 2006.

Cumming frequently collaborates in double concerto, two-piano and four-hand repertoire with Glazer, and performs with his wife Hilary, violinist and head of applied music at Concord Academy in Concord, Mass.

Alice Swanson Esty Professor of Music at Bates, Matthews is a composer and conductor who studied at Oberlin, the University of Iowa, Yale and the Institute of Sonology in the Netherlands. A recipient of several national awards and commissions, he is particularly interested in electronic and computer-generated music, and in American music of all types. He teaches composition along with courses in jazz and popular music.

(Oct. 13–14) In the opening performance of the 2007–08 Bates College Concert Series, Barnatan will play sonatas by Haydn, Barber and Schubert. A Dallas Morning News reviewer wrote of Barnatan, “This young Israeli, only 27, has had some great teachers and won some important prizes — who hasn’t these days? But he really might be on the level of [iconic pianists] Artur Schnabel or Leon Fleisher.”

Despite his youth, Barnatan has built a flourishing reputation through orchestral, recital and chamber performances worldwide. He is praised for his poetic and passionate playing and his thoughtful programming. Recent seasons have brought him to Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein and the Arts Theatre in Shanghai.

His debut CD, a Schubert collection for Bridge Records, was released in June 2006 to great critical applause. Also in 2006, Barnatan devised a project of compositions from Schubert’s last year of life that he will present this season with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and guest artists.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1979, Barnatan started piano at age 4 and made his orchestral debut at 11. He resides in New York City.

November 9: Cancelled.
November 14: Soprano Christina Astrachan and pianist Frank Glazer, artist- in-residence at Bates, will perform songs of Robert Schumann.
November 16: Pianist Colin Britt performs Beethoven and original compositions.
November 20-27: No concerts scheduled due to Thanksgiving recess.
November 28: Nissa Gainty, oboe, performs music by Saint-Saens and others.

Additional information about the Bates Noonday Concert Series is available by calling the Olin Arts Center at 207-786-6135.

The Bates Chamber Singers will perform Thursday, March 2. Soprano Christina Astrachan and company will perform a baroque program, including work by Bach on Tuesday, March 7. Oboist Nissa Gainty, a Bates sophomore from Concord, N.H., and pianist Mark Howard, coordinator of the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, will perform works by J.S. Bach and Hindemith on Tuesday, March 14.

Students in “Great Composers,” taught by Amy Beal, assistant professor of music at Bates, will perform on Tuesday, March 21. Anthony Shostak will perform with one of his banjo students on Tuesday, March 28. Bates sophomore Chris Hoover of Lake Bluff, Ill., and first-year student Luc de La Granville of Geneva, Switzerland, will give a clarinet concert on Thursday, March 30.

Additional information about the Bates Noonday Concert Series is available by calling the Olin Arts Center at 207-786-6135.

Sept. 21: Soprano Atsuko Hirai, Kazushige Hirasawa Professor of History at Bates, and pianist Frank Glazer, artist in residence at Bates, will perform an all-Gounod program, including “The King of Thule” and “The Jewel Song” from Faust and “Juliet’s Waltz Song” from Romeo and Juliet.

Sept. 28: Guitarist John Smedley, associate professor of physics at Bates, will perform a jazz program with Mike Hansen, conga drums.

Additional information about the Bates Noonday Concert Series is available by calling the Olin Arts Center at 207-786-6135.

Feb.2: John Smedley, associate professor of physics at Bates, and Michael Hansen will perform a program of guitar music.

Feb.9: Pianist Frank Glazer, artist in residence at Bates, and dance students of Marcy Plavin, lecturer in dance, will perform A Sentimental Musical Journey of Concert Pieces from a Bygone Era with music from Moszkowki, Godowky and Delibes.

Feb.16: No concert scheduled due to winter recess at Bates.

Feb.23: Concert to be announced.

Additional information about the Bates Noonday Concert Series is available by calling the Olin Arts Center at 207-786-6135.

The artist for the Nov. 3 concert will be pianist Brian Franck, who will perform works by Alexander Scriabin. Bates senior Vijay Kalappa and junior Courtney Elf, both flute students of instructor of applied music Lee Humphreys, will perform Nov. 10. Cellist Bonnie Black and family will perform Nov. 17. There will be no concert Nov. 24 when the college is in Thanksgiving recess.

Additional information about the Bates Noonday Concert Series is available by calling the Olin Arts Center at 207-786-6135.

The free concerts, open to the public, will be held from 12:30 to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. More information on the Bates Noonday Concert Series is available from Olin Arts at 207-786-6135.

Two other Noonday Concerts are scheduled for September. Greg Boardman & Friends will perform a program of classic American fiddle music on Sept. 22. The artist for the concert on Sept. 29 is to be announced.

On April 21, organist Brunhilde Engelhardt of Boston will perform a concert of organ music by Bach, Pierre DuMage and Georg Bohm in the Bates College Chapel. On April 28, soprano Olivia Casey Jewett of Portland will join Gorham tenor Norman Whiteside to present a program composed entirely of arias from Verdi operas. On May 5, soprano Carmen Nadeau, flutist Jeff Pelletier and pianist Mark Howard will perform a concert of invigorating tunes by Gershwin, Porter and other composers.

For additional information, contact the Olin Arts Center at 207-786-6135.

March 3: Michelle Vigneau, instructor in oboe at Bates, pianist Julie Morris-Meyers and cellist William Meyers will perform works by C.P.E. Bach and Poulenc.

March 10: Carol Furman, instructor in clarinet at Bates, pianist Mark Howard and Kathleen Foster, instructor in cello at Bates, will play “Trio in A minor, Opus 114″ by Johannes Brahms.

March 17: A concert by Bates flute students will be given.

March 24: Meredith Haviland, a senior trumpet player from Beverly, Mass., and pianist John Corrie, assistant in music instruction and choir director at Bates, will perform.

March 31: The piano students of Natasha Chance, instructor in piano at Bates, will perform. Additional information about the Bates Noonday Concert Series is available by calling the Olin Arts Center at 207- 786-613.

Sophomore Nenden Stillman, junior John Pham and senior Hirosawa Scholar Miho Haraguchi will perform a program featuring works by Chopin and Debussy. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

For additional information, call 207-786-6135.