MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University will present a two-day American Piano Festival featuring concert pianist Avguste Antonov Sunday, Feb. 21, and Monday, Feb. 22.

Antonov will headline the festival with an evening piano recital at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21 in the Charles Johnson Theater at the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building. The festival also includes an afternoon lecture about living American composers at 2 p.m. in Room 244 at the Fine Arts Building. At 3 p.m., Northwest music students will perform piano pieces by American composers in the Charles Johnson Theater.

The evening recital will feature all-American music by:

· “Preludes 1 and 2” by George Gianopoulos, composer and assistant manager of Los Angeles Philharmonic

· “Blue Fantasy” by Robert Rollin, professor emeritus of composition at Youngstown State University

· “Starry Wanderers: Venus, Earthly Hope and Stillness at the Edge” by Matthew Saunders, music chairman at Lakeland Community College

· “Graceful Ghost Rag and The Serpent Kiss” by William Bolcom, professor of emeritus of composition at University of Michigan

· “The Melancholy Rags, Book 1: The Farewell Rag and the Redline Shuffle” by Gregory Hutter, professor of composition at De Paul University

· “The Bills” by Carter Pann, professor of composition at University of Colorado Boulder

· “Interlude and Lord, I Want to Be a Christian” by Brad Nix, composer and former music chairman at Sterling College

Antonov, an artist-in-residence at the Master’s Touch School of Music and Performing Arts, is a dedicated performer of 20th- and 21st-century American living composers. He also has performed world and USA premieres at venues across North America.

Recently, Antonov performed a recital at the Bulgarian Ambassador Residence in Washington, D.C., and the Carter Pann “Concerto Logic” with the San Jose University Wind Ensemble. He was featured in a live performance for the Kansas Public Radio and the world premiere of Matthew Saunders “Piano Concerto” with the University City Symphony.

After the 2015-2016 season, Antonov will have appeared in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Colorado.

At 8 a.m. Feb. 22, the festival concludes with Antonov working one-on-one with select Northwest students in a master class.

All events are free and open to the public.