Teenage pianist Evan Nelson, a senior at Redmond High School, entertained the crowd with his repertoire of eight pieces composed by Beethoven, Chopin and Tchaikovsky at a benefit concert at Northwest Pianos Academy of Music in Bellevue earlier this month. With ticket donations and sales of his CDs, the benefit raised nearly $700 for the Redmond Boys and Girls Club.

Nelson has studied under the instruction of Russian-born piano teacher Yelena Petrov for the last 4½ years.

The event was originally going to be part of Nelson’s senior culminating project (CP). But with the change in the CP requirements this year and school budget cuts, it was not feasible to proceed as expected. Determined to hold the concert, Evan pursued other avenues. Fortunately, NW Pianos heard about Evan’s dilemma and donated their store space for his concert.

“My parents organized many of the details so that I could focus on the music and not have to worry about the planning,” he said.

Nelson said that he plans to do some performances at local nursing homes and retirement centers. He said he plans to major in engineering in college, but also wants to continue with his piano training.