LEWISTON — Mauro Bertoli, a 27-year-old native of northern Italy, will open the 2010-2011 Piano Series season at the Franco-American Heritage Center on Friday, Oct. 8. He will give a solo recital featuring works by Scarlatti, Mozart, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms and Granados.

Praised by such renowned keyboard artists as Philippe Entremont and Louis Lortie, Bertoli has already made a name for himself in eastern Canada, where he moved in 2008. He has performed in solo recitals, with orchestras and in chamber music recitals in Europe, Israel, North America and Asia. His interpretations of Brahms, Granados and Liszt at the 2009 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli International Piano Festival in Beijing earned rave reviews.

Bertoli studied at the Giuseppi Verdi Academy of Music in Milan, where he received his undergraduate diploma with highest marks and distinction. He 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 “Alfred Cortot” in Paris.

A prize winner at many national and international competitions, Bertoli received the prestigious Giuseppi Sinopoli Prize in 2006. He has recorded CDs, with his latest recording, his first with violinist Lucia Cooreman Luque, featuring works by Brahms, Franck, Sarasate and Paganini.

His North American career has included performances in Texas, Palm Beach, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, including a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the University of Ottawa Symphony Orchestra.

Bertoli and his wife, Elisa Cavalleri, live in Ottawa, where he is also a performance faculty member at Carleton University.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $16 for adults, $14 for seniors; students 21 and younger admitted free. All seats reserved. Call 689-2000 or visit www.francoamericanheritage.org. The Franco center is at 46 Cedar St.