Once again, the Schoolcraft College Foundation and the Music Department are sponsoring the Friday Evening Music Series, bringing world-renowned musicians to the Schoolcraft College campus.

Ralph Votapek, pianist, will perform Friday, October 16 at 8 p.m. in the Presentation Room of the VisTaTech Center, located on the college’s main campus in Livonia, Haggerty Road between Six and Seven Mile Roads.

Votapek  is the first gold medalist of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and winner of the prestigious Naumberg Award. Born in Milwaukee, he studied at Northwestern University, the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School. He has made hundreds of appearances with most of the major American orchestras, including sixteen appearances with the Chicago Symphony.

Votapek recently retired from Michigan State University where he had served as artist-in-residence for 36 years. His performance career however, continues unabated in Latin America, Germany and in many cities across the United States.

He will be performing “Two Sonatas” by Scarlatti; “Sonata in B Flat Major, D 960” by Schubert; “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 14 and Serious Variations, Op. 54” by Mendelssohn; “Nocturne in F# Major, Op. 15, No. 2” by Chopin; and Ravel’s “La Valse.”

Three other performances round out the 2009-10 Friday Evening Music Series including Robert deMaine, cello and Pauline Martin, piano, on December 4; violinist Emmanuell Boivert and Pauline Martin, piano, on March 19; and pianist James Tocco April 23.

Tickets for the October 16 performance are $20 per person, $10 for students. Season tickets for the full 2009-10 series are $70. To order tickets visit www.scboxoffice.com or for more information on this or any of Schoolcraft College’s other music programs visit  www.schoolcraft.edu/music or call the Music Office at 734-462-4403.

Schoolcraft College is a public two-year college, offering classes at the Livonia campus, at the Radcliff Center in Garden City and online at schoolcraft.edu.