An award-winning pianist will open Wartburg College’s new Fall Piano Concert Series Sunday, Sept. 27.  

Marian Lee, assistant professor of piano at St. Ambrose University, will perform at 2 p.m. in Bachman Fine Arts Center’s Orchestra Hall. A reception will follow the free performance.

Lee’s accolades include the Artists International Award and a Fulbright grant to the Moscow Conservatory. She has performed in more than a dozen countries as well as at several famous United States venues, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Steinway Hall in New York City.

Her Wartburg appearance was arranged by Ted Reuter, professor of piano and the concert series coordinator. The concert will include selections from Johann Sebastian Bach, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Reuter and his wife, Laurie Braaten-Reuter, senior lecturer in music, started the series to celebrate the rebuilt 1918 Steinway grand piano they donated to the college in memory of Margaret Johnson, Reuter’s aunt and a longtime supporter of the arts.

“It is one of the most beautiful in terms of tone and action of any of the pianos that I have ever played, and I’ve played a lot,” Reuter said.

Reuter hopes the audience will be engaged by the performances and appreciate the sound of the Steinway.

“They’ll get to hear fabulous players, and, in a way, it will give the department a chance to look at the possibilities that this piano brings for us,” he said.

The series continues Sunday, Oct. 18, with Charles Schmidt, assistant professor in music at Augustana (Illinois) College. Sean Botkin, associate professor of piano at the University of Northern Iowa, will perform Sunday, Nov. 22.