Pianist, Dr. Stephen Carlson, professor of music and chair of the Department of Music at Bemidji State University will perform a solo piano recital at Showtime Studio and Coffee on Saturday, March 8th at 2pm.

Carlson, a member of Bemidji State University music faculty since 2006, is a versatile soloist and chamber musician. He has performed at a variety of colleges, universities and festivals throughout much of the United States and eastern Canada. He appeared at the Minnesota Valley Sommarfest in St. Peter, Minn., from 1995- 2003, and in 2005 he made his New York debut as a solo recitalist at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. Carlson has appeared three times with the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra, played for the Bismarck-Mandan (N.D.) Symphony and also has played chamber music with the South Carolina Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony and Greenville (S.C.) Symphony. Carlson holds degrees from Gustavus Adolphus College and the University of Illinois, and earned his doctorate in piano performance and pedagogy at the University of Iowa. Prior to joining the Bemidji State faculty, Carlson was a tenured faculty member at Coker College in Hartsville, S.C., and also taught piano at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Gustavus Adolphus College, and St. Joseph's School of Music in St. Paul, Minn.