Accomplished concert pianist ALEKSEI FEDOROV has been making his mark on the world since the age of 9, when he gave his first solo recital. Now, eight years later, he hasn't slowed. Armed with experience, education and extraordinary opportunities in the music world, Fedorov is ready to finish high school and enter one of the top music schools in the world — but not before performing two new recitals for his Greater Houston fans.

Fedorov will play at CHRIST CHURCH UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, 6363 Research Forest Dr., The Woodlands, 7 p.m., Saturday, December 1.

A second recital will be held at 7:30 p.m., Friday, January 11 at DUNCAN RECITAL HALL on the campus of Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. Both recitals are free of charge and open to the public.

Aleksei Fedorov

Fedorov will perform works by Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Liszt and Shostakovich, offering some contrasting moods and styles for his audience.

The young pianist says he is proud of what he has accomplished so far. "I realize that I am talented, but I also know that I have a long way to go before I become as good as I could be,” he said. What he likes most about performing is "the feeling of a content audience,” although he admits that he is rarely content himself — a product of the extremely high standards he places on himself.

That level of commitment to his craft has won Fedorov numerous awards in international competitions, and in 2006 he was accepted into the International Artists Certification Program in Paris, France.

The Woodlands High School senior was born in Russia and came to live in The Woodlands at the age of 3. He is fluent in Russian and English and hopes to learn French and German in the future. His graduation is set for May and he has already applied to five of the top music schools in the U.S., including The Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, and has already received an offer to study at Ecole Normale de Paris with Nelson Delle-Vigne Fabbri and Philippe Entremont.

His passion for piano began with his mother, a piano teacher, who taught him to play at age 6. "There was a grand piano in our home and I became curious,” he said. That curiosity sparked a desire to learn and then to excel.

Fedorov is currently enrolled in the Shepherd School of Music Prepatory Program at Rice University. There, Dr. Robert Roux, professor of Piano, and Chair of the Keyboard Department, is his instructor.

"Aleksei has qualities that great pianists are made of: expression, will power, confidence, temperament and technical skills,” Roux said. Roux added that although Aleksei was an early bloomer there is still no limit to how far his talent will take him.

"The standards for competition are getting higher and higher, but he is reaching those standards,” he said. "We are hoping that he continues to do well and goes on to perform professionally.” Those are Fedorov's hopes for himself as well.