Remarkable Russian pianist Vladimir Feltsman will be in town this weekend and will take part in two events.

First, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday in Karl Geiringer Hall (Music 1250) on the UCSB campus, Feltsman will lead a masterclass with UCSB piano students. At 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West, Feltsman will play a solo piano recital.

The program for Saturday’s concert consists of three works — or six, depending on whether you consider the final item one work or four.

He will play Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, BWV. 825; Ludwig Beethoven’s Sonata No. 8 in C-minor, Opus 13 — known as the “Pathétique” — and Frédéric Chopin’s four Ballades (No. 1 in G-minor, Opus 23; No. 2 in F-Major, Opus 38; No. 3 in Ab-Major, Opus 47; and No. 4 in F-minor, Opus 52).

Feltsman will no doubt thrill us with the Bach and the Beethoven, but it’s unlikely he will reveal some hitherto unsuspected dimension of either work. The Chopin Ballades, on the other hand, might prove very interesting indeed.

They are seldom played all on the same evening — seldom enough even recorded on the same disc. It may be that Feltsman has discerned a connection between these mysterious, majestic masterworks that others have overlooked. He may view them as a kind of keyboard symphony. We’ll see (and hear).

The masterclass, co-sponsored by the UCSB Music Department and UCSB Arts & Lectures, is free, and the general public is invited.

Tickets for the concert, also sponsored by Arts & Lectures, are $35 for general admission and $18 for students. For tickets or more information, click here or call the Arts & Lectures ticket office at 805.893.3535.

— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributor. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com.