Simon Trpceski brings a varied piano program

Pronouncing the name may be a bit of a challenge, but Simon Trpceski ("Trrrrp-chess-key") is pure pleasure on the ears. The gifted young Macedonian-born pianist, 28, returns to Seattle for a Tuesday recital in the President's Piano Series in Meany Theater, a hall that's a near-perfect ambience for the keyboard.

It's Trpceski's third appearance on this series; his program has what you might call a wide emotional range, from the serene "Children's Corner" of Debussy to the wild and warlike Sonata No. 7 of Prokofiev. In between comes Prokofiev's seldom-heard "Tales of an Old Grandmother" (Op. 31) and Toccata in D Minor (Op. 11), plus a selection (as yet unidentified) of pieces by Rachmaninoff.

More piano

Two performances remain of a Seattle Symphony program featuring another top-flight pianist, Horacio Gutiérrez, who plays one of the world's most famous concertos — the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 — with the orchestra and the Munich-born guest maestro Jun Märkl (music director of the Orchestre National de Lyon in France, soon to be music director of the MDR Symphony in Leipzig).

The main event on the program — repeating Saturday and Sunday — is the spectacular "Organ Symphony" (No. 3) of Saint-Saëns, whose finale features surging passages for the full orchestra augmented by the "king of instruments." Joseph Adam will be at the Watjen Concert Organ for these performances.

Gutiérrez, born in Cuba, made his debut at 11 as soloist with the Havana Symphony, and went on to the Juilliard School — followed by a concert career that has spanned several continents. He now is known not only as an advocate of contemporary music, but also as a pianistic powerhouse whose remarkable technique makes complicated scores sound easy. Last August, Gutiérrez canceled his concert engagements through January of this year to complete treatment for gastric lymphoma; he has since returned to the concert stage.

Then on Wednesday evening, the great violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter arrives at Benaroya for a recital with another terrific pianist, Lambert Orkis. The multiple Grammy-winning Mutter, now 44 and one of the classical world's most glamorous figures, performs all three of Brahms' Violin Sonatas with Orkis, a noted soloist who has been her keyboard partner for two decades.

The German-born violinist, much honored with awards from the German and Austrian governments, has established a foundation — the Anne-Sophie Mutter Circle of Friends — in Munich, providing scholarships for instruction, travel and instrument loans for aspiring young artists. This season, Mutter is touring Europe with the Berlin Philharmonic and performing Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" in Asia, as well as her collaborations with Camerata Salzburg, violist/conductor Yuri Bashmet and cellist chamber performances.

Don't forget

Seattle Opera Young Artists' spring operas open this weekend at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Center — a double bill of Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi" and Ravel's "Enchanted Child."

Performance details: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, with the same performance schedule next weekend, at Meydenbauer Theatre, 11100 N.E. Sixth St., Bellevue; $15-$35 ($125 patron tickets cover the full cost of the production; 206-389-7676 or www.seattleopera.org).

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com