Valentine’s Day is coming to the Emma Kelly Theater a couple days early this year with a romantic concert that’s all about love.

On Friday, Feb.12, well-known local pianist Michael Braz will perform Piano Romantico, a concert of beautiful love songs, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

A music professor at Georgia Southern University, Braz is a national and international composer and musician known locally for his extraordinary talent on the piano.

Braz said he is planning an intimate concert and his melodies will include classic pieces as well as selections from his latest CD, Love in a New Key, which has just been released. After the intermission, Braz said he will offer a selection of about 150 songs from which the audience can make special requests.

For the CD, Braz combined an interesting mixture of popular and original works centering on the theme of love. “The songs are all linked together by looking at love in many, many ways, besides the traditional love song,” he said.

Selections include film themes from On Golden Pond and Summer of ‘42, Unchained Melody, classic pieces such as Scarborough Fair, a original fantasy take on Beethoven’s Fur Elise, a Beatles tune and a jazz piece.

“The pieces are an attempt to appeal to people with different tastes ... they’re not homogenized,” Braz said. “They are what I would like to share with people.”

Braz recorded the CD over the holiday with Chris Mitchell and Mary Rigdon at Pladd Dot Music in Statesboro. Mitchell also provided guitar accompaniment on one of the songs.

Proceeds from the concert and CD sales will benefit the Averitt Center for the Arts and the Statesboro Youth Chorale, which Braz directs.