September 4, 2007
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Music presents the 2007-08 UAB Piano Series, featuring pianists Roberto Plano Nov. 11, Drew Mays Jan. 27 and Christina and Michelle Naughton March 30.

The UAB Piano Series brings to UAB the world’s preeminent pianists. Each performance begins at 4 p.m. in the Alys Stephens Center’s Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall, 1200 10th Ave. S. Season tickets for all three UAB Piano Series performances are $30. Single tickets are $15 for the general public and $5 for UAB students, faculty and staff with valid ID. Call 205-975-2787 for ticket information.
 
In 2005, Roberto Plano was the top prizewinner of the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He won first prize at the 2001 Cleveland International Piano Competition, third prize at the 2003 Honens International Piano Competition and is a top prizewinner of several major international competitions. Plano regularly performs in Europe, including debuts at prestigious concert venues such as Sala Verdi in Milan, the Salle Cortot in Paris and at the Herculessaal and Gasteig in Munich.

Drew Mays is a winner of the 2007 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs. Mays pursued advanced music studies as a graduate student at both the Manhattan School of Music and the conservatory of music in Hannover, Germany. He began working toward his Ph.D. in medicine in 1987, the same year he earned a master’s in music from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Mays has maintained a private practice specializing in glaucoma in Birmingham for 11 years, is on the staff of the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in Birmingham and also is residency program director for the UAB Department of Ophthalmology. In 2002, following a 15-year period of “musical silence,” Mays began practicing again, in part to serve as an example to his four children. Four years later, he was named second-prize winner at the Rocky Mountain amateur competition.

Christina and Michelle Naughton each began their piano studies at the age of 4. In the fall of 2007, both began studies at the Curtis Institute of Music on full merit scholarships. Christina was the bronze medalist at the quadrennial Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and most recently won the gold medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Michelle won first prize at the PianoArts Biennial National Piano Concerto and Solo Competition and was the gold medal winner in the quadrennial Virginia Waring International Piano Competition. Both sisters have performed with Cleveland’s Red Orchestra, the Gulf Coast Symphony, the Madison Symphony, Chicago’s Ars Viva and Park Ridge orchestras. Each has performed extensively as a soloist, with orchestra and in piano duo with her twin sister.

In 2007-08 Christina and Michelle will appear on the Artist Series of Sarasota, on the Chamber Music San Francisco Series, and at the Martin Theater at Ravinia, as well as in performances with the Sheboygan Symphony, the Erie Philharmonic and the Gathering on the Green Orchestra.