The Center for the Performing Arts will present the fourth performance of this season's Mozart 200 concert series with an "authentic" approach to classical music.

Fortepianist Malcolm Bilson will perform a concert of Mozart sonatas at 8 tomorrow evening in Schwab Auditorium, demonstrating the recent move among some musicians to specialize in 18th-century instruments.

The program will begin with Mozart's Sonata in G Major, K .283, followed by Fantasy in C Minor, K. 475 and Sonata in C Minor, K. 457. The concert's second half will include Sonata in F Major, K. 533 and Sonata in G Major, K. 309.

Steven Smith, professor of piano at the University, said Bilson has developed a career in expanding the repertoire of the fortepiano from works of Mozart to those of early 19th-century composers.

"He's considered the leading exponent of the fortepiano," Smith said. "I'm looking forward to hearing him in person."

The instrument which Bilson uses is a replica of the 18th-century fortepiano, similar to the one used by Mozart. The fortepiano is much smaller than the modern piano, and produces a less sustained sound.

Taylor Greer, assistant professor of music, said there has been an "emerging movement" to specialize in 18th-century instruments in the last 10 years, and that Bilson is an advocate for giving the fortepiano a chance.

Greer said Bilson is eager to point out that there are things a musician can do with the limitations of the fortepiano that he cannot do with the modern piano. For instance, a fortepianist can utilize different playing styles and create music singular to a fortepiano.

There are some, however, who do not agree with this recent movement, and it is debatable whether Mozart would have preferred the modern instrument.

"There are still many conservatives who don't want to be bothered with historical recreations," Greer said.

Smith said that while it is legitimate to perform music from the classical period on authentic instruments, it is not necessarily preferable. He said critics are beginning to back off from their "absolutist viewpoints."

Smith said it is nice to have the older instruments as a comparison, and he and Greer agree there is room for the modern and the historical.

Bilson has been the leader in the revival of the fortepiano for the last 20 years. He has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and toured with John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists.

As a soloist, Bilson has toured Europe and performed at many festivals, including the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. He is currently the director of keyboard studies in the 18th century Historical Performance Practice doctoral program at Cornell University.

As part of the free lecture series "Artistic Viewpoints," Bilson will speak at 7 p.m. tomorrow before the performance in Schwab Auditorium.