Diane Earle, artist in residence and professor of music at Kentucky Wesleyan College, will return to Italy for the fifth time this July to perform in a summer concert series.
Earle will play a pair of outdoor concerts in Rome in addition to making stops for performances in Budapest, Hungary, and Warsaw, Poland.
“The Italian government has a concert series for tourism purposes in the summer,” Earle said. “This year, I’m playing an all-French program the first night and an all-Russian program the next night.”
Each of Earle’s performances will be performed solo and last about 75 minutes.
She said one of the biggest challenges in her preparation efforts for the summer trip is acclimating to the grueling heat, since of all her concerts will be outdoors.
“I need to spend a lot of time outdoors to get used to the heat,” she said. “I’m actually going to be practicing on the painted piano in Smothers Park as much as I can.”
Earle has performed in more than 30 states and 12 countries. She said music has served as a platform for her to travel the world and accrue life experiences.
“The piano has taken me places I would never be able to go on my own,” she said. “It’s wonderful because I get to do what I absolutely love, which is play the piano. I’ve been very blessed.
“I’ve learned no matter where people live, everybody loves beautiful music.”
Sam Osborne, Messenger-Inquirer, (270) 691-7315, email: sosborne@messenger-inquirer.com
Courtesy Messenger-Inquirer