The Austin Symphony Orchestra will again join forces with a renowned pianist for the sixth time next month.

Italian pianist Roberto Plano will return to Austin to perform with the orchestra at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 2, in Knowlton Auditorium.

Plano first performed with the ASO in 2002 after winning the prestigious Cleveland International Piano Competition the year before. He’s returned in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2012. This upcoming appearance will also feature his wife, Paola Del Negro, also an accomplished pianist, who will join Plano on Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 7” for two Pianos, a song that will be accompanied by the orchestra. This will be the couple’s first joint American performance.

The concerto is one of three that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed in 1776 at the age of 20. Mozart originally finished it for three pianos; however, he eventually rearranged it for himself and another pianist in 1780 in Salzburg, and that is how the piece is often performed today.

Another major work to be featured in the March 2 concert will be “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace” by Karl Jenkins, a Welsh composer. This piece is an account of the descent into war and its consequences. Commissioned by the British Armories and dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo crisis, the work is based on a 15th century French song, “L’homme arme.”

The Austin High School Choir, under the direction of Brian Johnson, will perform this piece with the orchestra.

The orchestra will also perform Johann Strauss Jr.’s “Egyptian March,” written in 1869 to celebrate the future opening of the Suez Canal.

Tickets are available in advance for $12 at Coffee House on Main, Hy-Vee and the ASO’s website, www.austinmnsymphony.org. Tickets at the door are $15. Students and children accompanied by an adult are free.

Further details about Plano are available at his website, www.robertoplano.com.

 Annual fundraiser to follow concert

Following the concert, an Italian-themed dinner with entertainment and silent auction will be held at the Hormel Historic Home.

Tickets for the event are available in advance only at $40 each and must be reserved by Feb. 26. They will be available at Coffee House On Main, Hy-Vee or by contacting Sonia Larson, 507-433-8719, or Marge Dunlap, 507-433-5647.