Pianist Robin Spielberg is the first to take the stage 5 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Fripp Island Community Center and All Faiths Chapel.

A classically trained pianist from a young age, Spielberg received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from New York University. After graduation, she remained in New York for nine years, working in many piano rooms and hotel lobbies, performing several hours a day. She used this time to hone her composing skills.

Spielberg grew up minutes from Broadway and said her love for great melodies probably came from the sounds of musicals. Not the only member of her family to achieve musical success, her grandfather was a flutist for the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Arturo Toscanini.

"My mother would tell you I came from the womb playing the piano," Spielberg said. "She is partially right. I played before I could speak."

Spielberg's music has special meaning for her family. Her daughter, Valerie, was born four months premature. Doctors gave her a 10 percent chance of surviving her first night. In an attempt to calm her baby from all the fluorescent lights and machines beeping in the neo-natal intensive care unit, Spielberg asked if it would be OK to have her piano music playing near Valerie's area.

Several nurses noticed that Valerie's vital signs improved when the music was playing. Spielberg said she had never heard of musical therapy before and couldn't understand how a tiny baby could have a physical response to her music. She went on to become a celebrity artists spokesperson for the American Music Therapy Association.

She likes to do a lot of storytelling during her concerts. "This gives insight as to what inspired the music -- some stories are funny, some poignant, but all of them are entertaining and give the audience a better appreciation of the music," said Spielberg. "The stories help the audience 'connect' with what they are hearing."