15-year-old plays well beyond his years

The College of Charleston's International Piano Series filled the Sottile Theatre on Tuesday night for a concert by the 15-year-old Charleston native Micah McLaurin, a gifted musician with a special natural ability and uncanny maturity.

McLaurin presented a challenging program that demonstrated technical prowess and musical insight far beyond his age. Opening with J.S. Bach's "French Suite No. 5," McLaurin showed Bach on the piano, instead of the harpsichord, works just as well, with the suite's seven dance movements engaging and animated. Chopin's "Ballade No. 4" was a good choice with the unflappable McLaurin tackling this tough and intense essay with all the gravity it needed.

Prokofiev's "Sonata No. 3" (1917) is an aggressive work. McLaurin charged ahead with this sophisticated piece, with its muscular and passionate interchanges. By this time it was obvious that McLaurin performed with an awareness of each composer's unique style.

Haydn's "Piano Sonata No. 23" was short but sparkled with good spirits under McLaurin's touch.

He closed with Rachmaninoff's "Sonata No. 2" (1913/rev. 1931), demonstrating the required impassioned and, at times, overwrought qualities in this example of late romanticism.

A standing ovation yielded one encore from McLaurin: Liszt's transcription of the Liebestod from Wagner's "Tristan und Islode."