International pianist, Hamilton native performs today at Fitton Center

File photo Pianist Bryan Wallick is seen here playing the piano at First Baptist Church in Hamilton.

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By Eric Robinette, Staff Writer Updated 9:28 AM Saturday, February 27, 2010

HAMILTON — International pianist Bryan Wallick is coming home for a concert.

Wallick, a Hamilton native, will play a solo piano recital at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27, at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in the latest installment of Fitton’s EntertainmentPlus! Series.

His performance will include works by Scarlatti, Schubert and Debussy. The evening will conclude with “Figaro Fantasy” by the Italian composer Federico Busoni.

Wallick, 31, gravitated toward the piano early.

“It started at a very young age, when I was 4. I heard Christmas (songs) and picked them up by ear,” he said.

Wallick, a graduate of the Hamilton High School class of 1996, went on to study music at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, then to The Juilliard School in New York and the Royal Academy of Music in London. He has competed in both national and international competitions, winning such awards as the 1997 Vladimir Horowitz International Piano Competition in Kiev, Ukraine.

As his set list indicates, Wallick gravitates more toward classical music than pop.

“I pretty much leaned toward the classical stuff. So much of the music written for piano is classical,” he said.

Wallick has been living in South Africa recently because his wife, Gina, has family there, but he’s thankful for his chances to come home. He has also played with the Hamilton Fairfield Symphony Orchestra and at a dedication concert at his home church, the First Baptist Church, in Hamilton.