credit: Eric Manas

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. ? At 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 14, in the Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall, French pianist Cedric Tiberghien will perform a selection of music by Chopin, Bartók and Brahms, including the “Hungarian Dances.”

The 30-year-old Tiberghien is one of the most exciting artists to emerge from France in recent years. He is currently one of the lead artists in the BBC’s New Generation Artists and will appear this season with the BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestre de Paris, the Hamburger Philharmoniker, a tour with the Gelders Orkest as well as debuts with the Sydney Symphony and West Australian Symphony.

“There was lightness and grandeur, seriousness and fun, powerful momentum and meditative restraint,” wrote a critic at The Daily Telegraph after a performance in 2006. “Tiberghien knew exactly what he wanted to say about the music, and did so with a blend of boldness, reasoning and inspiration.”

Tiberghien studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Frédéric Aguessy and Gérard Fremy and was awarded the Premier Prix in 1992 at the young age of 16. He was a prizewinner at several major international piano competitions, culminating with first prize at the prestigious Long-Thibaud Competition in Paris in 1998.

Since then his career has continuously gained momentum, with more than 150 engagements worldwide, including seven visits to Japan and showcase appearances throughout Europe. He has performed in the world’s most prestigious venues, including London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and New York’s Carnegie Hall, as well as the Salle Pleyel, Théâtre du Chatelet and Theatre des Champs Elysées in Paris. He has also taken part in many international festivals such as Edinburgh, City of London, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Yokohama Festival, La Roque d’Anthéron, Toulouse Piano aux Jacobins. In June 2007 he completed his full cycle of Beethoven’s piano sonatas at the Horrues Festival in Belgium.

His solo discography on Harmonia Mundi has been widely acclaimed and features recordings of Debussy, Beethoven, Bach, and most recently Chopin and Brahms. His first concerto disc, with the BBC Symphony and Jiri Belohlavek, was released in September 2007.

With more than 50 concertos in his repertoire, Cédric Tiberghien has appeared with an impressive line-up of international orchestras. He has collaborated with conductors including Myung-Whun Chung, Christoph Eschenbach, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Ivan Fischer, Simone Young, Leif Segerstam, Louis Langrée, Yutaka Sado and Jerzy Semkow.

Tiberghien is also a dedicated chamber musician and has performed with Valérie Aimard, Pierre Amoyal, Marie Hallynck, Sébastien van Kuijk, the Ysaÿe Quartet, the Diotima Quartet, the Psophos Quartet, Alain Planès, Marie Devellereau, Alina Ibragimova and Gweneth Ann-Jeffers.

The performance is sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. Reserved seating tickets are $20 for general admission and $15 for seniors. A pre-performance dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. at Rehearsals Cafe in the Center for the Arts. Reservations are required. For information, tickets or dinner reservations, contact the Middlebury College Box Office at 802-443-6433, or visit the Web site at www.middlebury.edu/arts.