The Franco-American Heritage Center will host its 9th annual Gala Benefit Concert on Saturday, October 20 featuring a performance by the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra with guest piano soloist George Lopez.

The Franco-American Heritage Center will host its 9th annual Gala Benefit Concert on Saturday, October 20 at 7:30 p.m. featuring a performance by the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra with guest piano soloist George Lopez.

The program will begin with a performance of Claude Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” followed by Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op.19, and will conclude with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Op.35.

The gala concert, which is the first in a series of four concerts that the MSO will perform at the Franco Center this season, is the biggest musical event of the year at the center and serves as a kick-off to its 2012-13 slate of events. In addition to music, the event will feature food and drink receptions both before and after the concert. The theme for the evening will be “Las Vegas.”

Beginning at 6 p.m., concert attendees will enjoy wine and hors d’oeuvres from local restaurants and caterers, including Culinary Concepts, DaVinci’s Eatery, the Green Ladle, Gritty McDuff’s, Margaritas, Naral’s Restaurant, Pat’s Pizza, Rolly’s Diner, and Town and Country Foods. After the concert, there will be a dessert and champagne reception featuring sweets from Bates College, the Bread Shack, Grant’s Bakery, and Starbucks.

The concert will also serve as a symbolic transition in leadership at the Franco Center as Rita Dubé prepares to retire after 12 years as Executive Director by introducing concert-goers to the center’s new director, Louis Morin.

Tickets for the gala are $50 and are only available in person at the Franco Center box office, located on the Oxford Street side of the building. The Franco-American Heritage Center is located at 46 Cedar Street in Lewiston, and the box office is open Monday through Friday from noon to 4 p.m.