Alexandre Tharaud. Photograph by Marco Borggreve.

Alexandre Tharaud, a rising French pianist known for his robust interpretation of the classics, performs at Bates College at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21, at the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Tickets are $12 and may be purchased at batestickets.com. Free tickets are available for the first 100 seniors and students who reserve by email at olinarts@bates.edu. For more information, please contact 207-786-6135.

With this concert Tharaud continues the college’s Olin Arts Alive music series, celebrating renowned and emerging international musicians. The program features works by Scarlatti, Ravel, Chopin and Liszt.

Tharaud’s career took off after winning second prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. Since then, his imaginative approach to classical music, particularly French composers, has gained him a following throughout Europe.

“Tharaud is dazzlingly nimble-fingered and often admirably sensitive, without romanticizing,” wrote the BBC.

Described as “aristocratic and sensuous” by Gramaphone magazine, Tharaud now has his sights set on the U.S. Earlier this year he played to great acclaim at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. He returns to New York later this month to play Carnegie Hall.

Though best known for his sophisticated and inventive solo performances, Tharaud has played with a variety of chamber groups and orchestras, and has recorded several albums.

His most recent collection, Boeuf Sur le Toit: Swinging Paris (Virgin Classics, 2012), diverges from the classical to showcase France’s encounter with blues and American jazz in the early 20th century.

Learn more.

Mirel Wagner. Photograph by Aki Roukala.

NOTE: Bates learned the morning of Sept. 12, the day of her scheduled concert in the Keigwin Amphitheater, that Wagner has canceled the remainder of her North American tour. We regret any inconvenience.

A folk-blues singer who has stunned critics with her stark lyrics and bare-bones delivery performs at Bates College at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12, at the Keigwin Amphitheater at Lake Andrews, adjacent to the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St.

Mirel Wagner launches the college’s Olin Arts Alive music series, emphasizing renowned and emerging musicians on the international stage, with this free concert. The rain site is the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall. For more information, please contact 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

Born in Ethiopia, raised in Finland, Wagner “takes a minimalist approach to her music to create consistently captivating, haunting tracks,” wrote a reviewer for CMJ.com. “Wagner does not need complicated background melodies to make beautiful music; her strong, slightly husky voice and an acoustic guitar are enough.

“The simplicity in the sound allows [her] writing ability to stand out, as she weaves dark, heart-wrenching stories into each song. . . . Wagner questions relationships, family, religion and the value of living.”

Wagner began writing songs in her teens. An American music journalist living in Finland heard her at an open mic and helped open doors that led to the recording of her first album over the course of two days. This self-titled debut was released in Finland in spring 2011, and a year later in the U.S. (Friendly Fire).

If Wagner’s themes are bleak, her undramatic delivery renders them convincing. “I think it’s a bit lazy to say that I make sad music,” Wagner told the German edition of Rolling Stone magazine. “Of course you might say the lyrics are bizarre or dark. But for me, the songs are first and foremost filled with desire. And there’s this hope in them that love overcomes everything.

“What I find sad is the soulless music that is on the radio most of the time, music that is simply product. If there is no life in it . . . is this not much sadder than a melancholic song?”

Learn more about the artist.