Piano Spheres co-founder Vicki Ray presents a program exploring the four elements at REDCAT on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 8:30 p.m. The concert includes Luciano Berio’s Luftklavier, Erdenklavier, Wasserklavier, Feuerklavier, Takemitsu’s “Between Tides,” the Piano Spheres commission premieres of “Aufwind” by Dominique Shafer and “Pale Fire” by Mu-Xuan Lin. Also featured is John Luther Adams’ work “Nunataks,” and the premiere of “Four Elemental Songs,” a new song cycle by Ray and sung by soprano Elisa Johnston.

Piano Spheres is co-presented with REDCAT with recitals held at REDCAT Theatre, 631 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles. Tickets and information are available at www.pianospheres.org and www.REDCAT.org.

Ray is currently head of the piano department at the California Institute of the Arts, where she has been on the faculty since 1991. In 2010 she was awarded the first Hal Blaine Chair in Music Performance. For the past eight years she has served on the faculty at the Bang on a Can summer festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Ray is a Steinway artist.

Piano Spheres supports and encourages the composition and performance of major new works for the piano. It expands the piano repertoire by commissioning new music and sustaining a concert series of the highest artistic quality that focuses primarily on pieces by contemporary composers. In its concerts, Piano Spheres provides a context for these new works by including lesser-known music by established composers whose compositions influenced the course of piano music.