Acclaimed pianist François Chaplin performs keyboard works of the great French composer Claude Debussy, who sought to bridge Asian and Western aesthetics and pushed visual ideas into the realm of musical expression.

Tickets: http://bit.ly/OPiVuU

Before the concert, Gurminder Bhogal (PhD ’04) -- a musicologist and professor at Wellesley College -- will discuss the significance of ornamentation in the work of Debussy and his contemporaries, including Maurice Ravel and Gabriel Fauré.

The lecture is at 7 p.m., with the recital to follow at 8 p.m.

Presented by the Smart Museum of Art and the University of Chicago's Department of Music in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Claude Debussy's birth and in conjunction with the special exhibition Awash in Color: French and Japanese Prints, on view at the Smart through January 20, 2013.

This program is made possible with generous support from the France Chicago Center, the Department of Music, and the Department of Art History, as well as Mrs. Betty Guttman.

About François Chaplin

Called "one of the most original and engaging French pianists" of his generation, François Chaplin studied at the Paris Conservatory with Ventsislav Yankoff, Jacqueline Robin, and Jean-Claude Pennetier, earning first prizes in piano and chamber music. Prizes won at the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 1989 marked the start of an active international career. Chaplin has appeared as soloist with many orchestras in France and beyond, in recital at numerous festivals, and in important concert venues such as the Wigmore Hall in London and the St. Petersburg Philharmonia. He regularly gives master classes on French music in countries including Russia, Canada, Japan, and Norway.

He has recorded the complete piano works of Claude Debussy, and also the complete Nocturnes of Frédéric Chopin, marking that composer’s bicentenary in 2010. Other critically acclaimed recordings include piano works of Robert Schumann, Francis Poulenc, C.P.E. Bach, and W.A. Mozart. Most recently, to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Debussy’s birth in 2012, Chaplin has released a CD of Debussy’s four-hand works for two pianos, recorded with the French pianist Philippe Cassard.