LEWISTON — Since his Franco Center debut nearly five years ago, concert artist and teacher Mauro Bertoli has traveled many miles on concert tour from his adopted home in Ottawa, Ontario, and he returns to Lewiston on Wednesday, May 20, to perform a recital closing out the 9th Piano Series season at the Franco Center. His program, which begins at 7:30 p.m., will include works by Italian composers Giuseppe Martucci, Domenico Scarlatti, and Muzio Clementi, as well as compositions by Beethoven, Debussy, Erik Satie, and Poulenc, and close with the solo piano version of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

A native of Brescia in Northern Italy, Bertoli began his piano study at an early age. He received his undergraduate degree with distinction from the Giuseppi Verdi Academy in nearby Milan, then continued his studies at the Academy of Saint Cecilia in Rome, as well as at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris.

A prize winner at many national and international competitions, Bertoli received the prestigious Giuseppi Sinopoli Prize in 2006, presented personally by the President of Italy. His performances in solo recital, with orchestra, and in chamber music programs have been enthusiastically welcomed in Europe, Israel, Asia, and North and South America. In 2009, his interpretations of Brahms, Granados, and Liszt were received with great acclaim at the Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Festival in Beijing. Just last month, in St. Augustine, Florida, he appeared with Sinfonia Toronto in a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12.

Now completing its 9th season, the Franco Center’s Piano Series is unique in New England, presenting six programs over each season, offering recitals by world-class artists as well as rising stars, in one of the world’s best venues for classical piano performance.

Reserved seating tickets are $20, $15 for seniors, and all students are admitted for free. To purchase tickets, visit the Box Office at 46 Cedar St., Lewiston, go online at www.francocenter.org, or call (207) 689-2000. Box office hours are Monday thru Friday from noon to 4 p.m.