MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - On Wednesday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m., pianist Lise de la Salle will perform in the Concert Hall in the Middlebury College Center for the Arts, located on South Main Street (Route 30). The concert will feature selections from Mozart and Prokofiev.

Still in her teens, de la Salle has won the Young Concert Artists International Audition 2004 and has played debut recitals under the auspices of Young Concert Artists in both New York and Washington. This season, she plays recitals in prestigious venues in Vancouver and Atlanta. In April 2006, she made her Lincoln Center debut, performing Liszt’s Concerto No. 1 with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, conducted by Keith Lockhart. A reviewer at the Washington Post wrote, “The exhilaration didn’t let up for a second until her hands came off the keyboard.”

She has already made two recordings on the Naïve label - one of works by Rachmaninov and Ravel, and another of works by Bach and Liszt. The latter recording won Gramophone’s “Recording of the Month” award in the summer of 2005.

Born in Cherbourg, France, in 1988, de la Salle was surrounded by music. She began studying the piano at the age of 4 and gave her first concert at 9 in a live broadcast on Radio-France. At 13, she made her concerto debut with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in Avignon. Her Paris debut at the Louvre preceded a tour with the Orchestre National d’Ile de France playing Haydn’s Concerto in D Major.

After receiving special permission to enter the Paris Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique, studying with Pierre Réach, at the age of 11, de la Salle graduated in 2001 and is currently enrolled in the postgraduate cycle with Bruno Rigutto. She has worked closely with Pascal Nemirovski since 1997 and also studied with Genevieve Joy-Dutilleux.

Performing Arts Series Director Paul Nelson said, “We read about Lise de la Salle in a Gramophone review of one of her recordings. She has since won the Young Concert Artists International Audition in New York, leading to debut recitals in New York and Washington.

Besides her Middlebury recital, she plays this year at Spivey Hall in Atlanta, the Miami International Piano Festival, the People’s Symphony Concerts in New York City, and London’s Wigmore Hall.”

The concert is sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. Reserved seating tickets for the performance are $15 for general admission and $12 for seniors. For tickets, call the Middlebury College Box Office at 802-443-6433. Online tickets and information are available at www.middlebury.edu/arts.