Hastings College will host Karine Gil-Weir, Venezuelan concert pianist and piano teacher, Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 7:30 p.m., in Perkins Auditorium, Fuhr Hall of Music.

Gil-Weir will perform “Piano Music of Venezuela from the 19th to the 21st Centuries.”

The recital is free and open to the public.

  
Gil-Weir will perform a variety of waltzes and folk dances including: Brisas del Zulia, LaBartolada, Danza Venezolana, El Porteno, and Concierto en la Llanura.

Gill-Weir is an ecologist at the Platte River Whooping Crane Trust, Wood River, Neb., specializing in avian ecology.

In 1989, Gil-Weir founded FUNDACEM (Fundación Centro de Estudios Musicales “Karine Gil de Weir”) music school, an institution which served 400 students.  She also taught music at pre-school, elementary, middle school, and college levels.

Gil-Weir performed as a soloist with the Orchestra of Conservatory "Juan Jose Landaeta," conducted by Pablo Castellano, and with the Zulia Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Jerzy Luckaszewski. In 2000, Gil-Weir was awarded the recognition "Valor Artistico del Zulia" (merit towards the arts, State of Zulia, Venezuela). She also has recorded an album of piano music of Venezuela, and will record a second CD with her piano music compositions.  

  Gil-Weir holds a bachelor's degree in biology (Universidad Simon Bolivar, 1984); a master's degree in applied ecology (Universidad del Zulia, 2000); and a doctoral degree in wildlife and fisheries sciences (Texas A&M University, 2005). She has done post-doctorate work at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.
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