A self-proclaimed "late bloomer," pianist Joel Hastings, will be performing for the School of Music tonight in a solo recital.

Hastings, a native of Canada, didn't begin playing the piano until age 14. He said he learned to play on the electric organ and his career took off from there.

"I went to the University of Michigan for my undergraduate and master's. I still live in Ann Arbor today," Hastings said. "I've done a lot [of performances] with orchestras in different cities, especially in Canada, including Toronto and Ontario."

Chris Kiver, Penn State School of Music faculty member, said he has known Hastings for two years. They first worked together at a First Baptist Church in Ann Arbor, in which Kiver was the conductor.

"[Hastings] was an incredible talent. He has technical facility and a wonderful sense of musicality, which helps him to speak to the audience," Kiver said. "I admire his work ethic -- he will spend hours repeating a single phrase. And he is such a talented performer, as good an organist as a pianist, which is very unusual."

Hastings said he chose the piano because no instrument has a larger emotional range than the piano.

"It has been called the 'king of instruments.' On the piano, one can create quiet sounds and thunderous sounds. Many great composers chose the piano as their outlet, so a lot of great music is written for the piano," Hastings said. "I enjoy tackling difficult things and much of piano literature is very difficult. I find satisfaction in it."

Hastings will give a free public recital at 8 tonight in Esber Recital Hall, which will include works of Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

"The Mozart piece features variations on a popular tune that I think most audience members will be familiar with," Hastings said.

He added that he will also be playing 12 studies by Chopin written to test the player, as well as a transcription of a Richard Wagner piece by Franz Liszt that "really exploits all pianist techniques."

Kiver said most of the music Hastings will play comes from the Romantic period and will be a program that will impress the audience.

"I think it is always a wonderful opportunity for community members to see artists perform who are not local," Kiver said.

He added that Hastings has "great drama and charisma."

"The audience can see the fun he is having, which makes it that much more enjoyable," he said.

Hastings said this performance will be something unique because it is rare to come by acoustic performances today.

"It won't be amplified, and it's not a visual art. Lots of arts have become very visual, and this performance will be a link to the past," he said. "It's just a piano and the performer. It's a different kind of aesthetic than ones used in the pop arts."

Hastings said he doesn't like to force students to come to his recitals.

"I don't like to bend one's arm to come, but if they do I think they will be pleasantly surprised," he said.