Lorin Hollander, a U.S. pianist considered one of the best in the world, plans to visit Costa Rica to promote music education here, Culture Minister María Elena Carballo announced yesterday.

Hollander is launching a campaign to raise money to help the National Music Institute open new music schools around the country, she said. The goal is to inaugurate 12 new schools, improve nine existing schools and provide instruments for these schools.

During his visit, Hollander plans to give a master class to teachers from Costa Rican music institutes, hold a conference on creative music education, play a concert with his wife, Tara Hollander, and direct the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra.

He and Tara will also travel around the country to give talks on music education in hopes that the idea catches on.

Hollander's campaign has a budget of more than $500,000 and is seeking additional funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (BID), which has financed similar programs in Venezuela and Colombia.

The musician is from the U.S. city of New York, where he debuted at age 11 at Carnegie Hall. During his 50-year career, he has given concerts with orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cincinnati Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

He is also a co-founder of the Oliver Sacks' Institute for Music and Neurologic Function and an active participant in “creating new paradigms for medicine and integral healing,” according to a biography on his Web site.