Gabriela Montero’s visionary interpretations and unique improvisational gifts have won her a quickly expanding audience and devoted following around the world. “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.” Today, in both recital and after performing a concerto, Gabriela often invites her audience to participate in asking for a melody for improvisations.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Gabriela gave her first public performance at the age of five. Aged eight she made her concerto debut with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra conducted by Jose Antonio Abreu and was granted a scholarship from the Venezuelan Government to study in the USA.
Gabriela’s previous engagements include acclaimed performances with the New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, Rotterdam Philharmonic, with the UBS Verbier Chamber Orchestra at the Tuscan Sun Festival, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Koln Philharmonie, Tonhalle Dusseldorf, Istanbul International Festival, Kennedy Center Washington DC, National Arts Centre Ottawa, Orchard Hall Tokyo and at the ‘Progetto Martha Argerich’ Festival in Lugano where she is invited annually.
This season, Gabriela made her debut with the WDR Sinfonieorchestre Köln. Other engagements included Sydney Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Colorado Symphony and in recital she made her debut tour with DEAG to include the Konzerthaus Berlin, Alte Sendersaal Frankfurt and the Kampnagelfabrik Hamburg. She concluded the season with her San Francisco Symphony debut.
The summer includes an appearance in her native Venezuela with Gustavo Dudamel and the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolivar, the current tour with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, and two debuts at major summer music festivals. In August, she will debut in Austria’s Salzburg Festival together with French cellist Gautier Capuçon before traveling to Highland Park, IL for the Ravinia Festival.
Gabriela’s first EMI/Angel CD consisted of one disc of music by Rachmaninov, Chopin and Liszt and a second of her deeply felt and technically brilliant improvisations. Her EMI CD Bach and Beyond is a complete disc of improvisations on themes by Bach which topped the charts for several months. In February 2008 her follow up EMI recording of improvisations Baroque, was released with great critical acclaim receiving 5 star reviews from BBC Music Magazine and Classic FM. Solatino, a disc of piano music by South American composers along with Gabriela’s own improvisations, is scheduled for release in 2011.