Pianist Christopher Atzinger, the 2005 National Federation of Music Clubs’ Young Artist Winner, will appear in concert at the University of Arkansas at Monticello September 14 at 7 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center auditorium. The concert is free and open to the public.

   Atzinger’s appearance is being sponsored by the SEARK Concert Association, the Pine Bluff Music Coterie, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and the UAM Division of Music.

   A native of Jackson, Mich., Atzinger has performed extensively in the United States and Europe, including Carnegie Hall in New York as well as Washington, D.C., Boston, Baltimore and Chicago. He has presented recitals in Toulouse and Carcassonne, France in conjunction with Foundation La Gesse, and toured the Valencia region of Spain.

   Future engagements include solo performances in Paris, New York, Chicago, Washington, and Dayton, Ohio.

   Atzinger was the first place winner of the 2005 National Federation of Music Clubs Biennial Young Artist Competition and gold medalist of the 50th annual Nina Plant Wideman International Piano Competition.  He has also received honors from the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition, the National Society of Arts and Letters, the Music Teachers National Association Competition, the Sydney Wright Memorial Accompaniment Competition, and the Mary Graham Lasley Competition. He also received the Presser Music Award from the Theodore Presser Foundation.

   Also active in competitions abroad, Atzinger won the Premio Citta di Ispica prize with special recognition for his performance of music by Samuel Barber at the IBLA Grand Prize Competition in Ragusa-Iba, Italy.

   In addition to degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan, Atzinger holds a doctorate of musical arts degree in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. He is currently a member of the faculty at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. He previously served on the faculty at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania.

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