The department of performing arts at McNeese State University will present pianist Amber Shay Nicholson in a guest recital at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17, in Ralph Squires Recital Hall at the Shearman Fine Arts center.

Nicholson performs regularly as a soloist and collaborative artist throughout the United States. Performance highlights include a Mississippi concert tour with the Southern Miss Symphony Orchestra and choirs, solo and collaborative performances at the International Workshops in Stavanger, Norway, and solo performances at the 2002 International Summer Music Academy in Leipzig, Germany. Nicholson, a faculty member with the University of Southern Mississippi, also won the 2001 Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3 competition at the Eastman School of Music and performed the work with the Eastman Philharmonia under Mendi Rodan.

Nicholson, a Liberace Scholar with the Eastman School, is the only U.S. citizen to be accepted into the 2001 Texas Christian University/Van Cilburn International Piano Institute in Fort Worth, Texas.

Admission is $5. Students with a valid ID are admitted free.