When Roberto Plano was a little boy in the village of Varese, Italy, his parents had a dream.

His parents didn't know anything about music, so they sent him to a music teacher, who lived in another village near Milan in northern Italy. He took with him a present from a neighbor: a tiny keyboard set.

After six months of classical music teaching, the teacher could teach her pupil no more. She told the boy's parents to buy him a piano and they did.

The rest is music history.

Plano won his first music competition at the age of 12 and three years later he won his first international competition at the tender age of 15.

That's also when he had a revelation. "I knew it would be my life," he said.

Validation of his decision to become a classical pianist came a year ago, when he earned a coveted first place price at the Cleveland International Piano Competition.

He competed against 52 candidates from 23 countries over a 10-day period and swept the top prize

August 2001, when he was 23.

Among the prizes he earned was two years of professional management and a 25-city tour, plus $15,000.

Austin is one of the stops on Plano's tour.

The now 24-year-old pianist will perform 7:30 p.m. Saturday night at Knowlton Auditorium in Austin High School with the Austin Symphony Orchestra.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for college students in advance at Black Bart's/Nemitz's in downtown Austin the HyVee Food Store or $10 and $8 at the AHS auditorium door Saturday night.

Under the baton of music director and conductor Stephen J. Ramsey, the Austin Symphony Orchestra will open their 46th season with a concert of Scandinavian music.

Plano will be the featured soloist, performing Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor.

Music critics across the nation have sung their praises of Plano's artistry, calling him "poetic" and displaying the confidence of Vladimir Horowitz.

Plano arrived in Austin Thursday afternoon to be a house guest with Jeff and Sonia Larson.

This afternoon, he will critique piano efforts at Riverland Community College at a private appearance with local music teaches and artists.

Saturday night is the concert.

On Monday, there will be two Austin Symphony Orchestra children's

concerts for Austin Public Schools fourth, fifth and sixth graders. For the fifth straight year, the ASO is offering the children's concerts to help attract new fans of classical music. Plano will perform briefly at each concert.

The season debut of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the children's concerts and the presence of a legitimate "phenom" -- in baseball parlance -- of this fall classical music tour suggest an exciting weekend in Austin.

In an interview last night, Plano confessed a passion for the piano, but something less for touring.

"The music I play on the stage is deep music and I like to leave something of that music behind wherever I go," he said. "It is hard work. I practice six or seven hours a day for a concert. Since arriving in America on this leg of his tour, Plano has played in Florida, New York, Idaho, California and now Austin.

"When they told me I would be coming to Austin to play with a symphony orchestra, I was surprised," he said. "I looked it up and found that Austin is a relatively small city with a population of about 22,000 people and yet they have their own symphony orchestra. I was very impressed."

The accolades he has received from critics for his interpretations of Brahms, Chopin and other composers have not changed the young man from a small village in Italy.

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His favorite concert was the one he performed a year ago in his home village of Varese.

Music competitions in Japan and Spain, concerts in the biggest and most prestigious halls and a whirlwind tour across the United States are exciting in their own way, but Plano candidly tells all about the "down side."

"This is what I wanted to do with my life and I am very grateful that I can do something I love," he said, "But the touring is tiring and boring. It seems I am always packing or unpacking in some strange hotel."

This weekend, he will take center stage to leave more of the "deep feelings" he experiences from classical music in another stop on a nation-wide tour.

Plano will treat this stop as well as the next and all others to come the same: the hard work is getting there. The pleasure comes from striking that first note.

The journey from the tiny keyboard in an Italian village to the concert stage and international acclaim goes on.

"I am looking forward to a week off later this year and the opportunity to visit my girlfriend back home in Italy, but first I have to play my music," he said.

(Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at

lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com)