A fun and informative concert featuring ragtime music from the turn of the last century

The University of Wisconsin-Superior Music Department will host the Ragtime Recital Series featuring pianist Martin Spitznagel on Saturday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m. in Webb Recital Hall.

The audience will be treated to a fun and informative concert featuring ragtime music from the turn of the last century.

Whether performing the masterworks of Scott Joplin or the score to “Star Wars,” Spitznagel is at home on the piano bench. He found success early, winning a Yamaha Disklavier at the age of 14 in Calliope Media’s nationwide Crazy for Ragtime competition. His entry, chosen from the hundreds of submissions by a panel of judges that included world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman, coincided with the centennial of the birth of ragtime music in 1897.

In 2011, Spitznagel was selected as the Scott Joplin Foundation’s Artist in Residence. In May he claimed the title “World Champion of Old-Time Piano Playing” at the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest in Peoria, Illinois.

This concert is sponsored by the Lake Superior Ragtime Society, Inc., in partnership with the UW-Superior Music Department. Based in Superior, the Lake Superior Ragtime Society, Inc. has been promoting ragtime and similar music since the 1980s.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors and students. Webb Recital Hall is in the Holden Fine and Applied Arts Center, 1805 Catlin Ave.