Pianist Gabriela Montero to perform March 21 at Zankel
Gabriela Montero (Photo by Colin Bell)
Pianist Gabriela Montero is the next artist in Skidmore’s Filene Concert Series, with a performance scheduled at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 21, at the Arthur Zankel Music Center.
Montero’s visionary and nuanced interpretations have won her a rapidly expanding and devoted following. Audiences worldwide applaud her unique personal style and improvisational gifts. According to a recent New York Times review, “Montero’s playing had everything: crackling rhythmic brio, subtle shadings, steely power...soulful lyricism...unsentimental expressivity.”
Her concert repertoire extends to 33 works for piano and orchestra, including Rachmaninoff's “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” which she performed with the New York Philharmonic.
In addition to brilliant classical interpretations, Montero has a signature personal style. She has said, “I connect to my audience in a completely unique way – and they connect with me. Because improvisation is such a huge part of who I am, it is the most natural and spontaneous way I can express myself.”
It has long been her desire to take her improvisations to the next logical step of composition. She has enthusiastically embarked on this new phase of her career by composing a work titled "ExPatria for Piano and Orchestra." The composition received its premiere performances in London and on tour in Germany with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields orchestra. Montero will revisit ExPatria this season with orchestras in the United States and Europe.
Her recordings for EMI Classics include one disc of music by Rachmaninov, Chopin, and Liszt and a second of her deeply felt and technically brilliant improvisations. Her CD Bach and Beyond is a complete disc of improvisations on themes by Bach, which topped the charts for several months. Montero’s most recent recording, Solatino, takes the listener on an imaginative journey with an adventurous collection of works exclusively by Latin American composers, including Alberto Ginastera’s Piano Sonata No. 1 as well as her own improvisations on Latin themes.
Admission to the March 21 Gabriela Montero concert is free for students and children, $8 adults, and $5 seniors and Skidmore community. For advance reservations please click here or call the Zankel box office (518) 580-5321 for more information.
