Gabriela Montero (born May 10, 1970) is a Venezuelan pianist, known in particular for her real-time improvisation of complex musical pieces on themes suggested by her audience and other sources, as well as for performances of standard classical repertoire.

Biography

Born in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, of an American-born mother and a Venezuelan father, Montero was seven months old when her parents introduced her to the piano. She used her right index finger to play individual notes. When she was fifteen months old, her parents noticed she was picking out a familiar tune on the little piano. Three months later, before she could speak, she had picked out the melody of the National Anthem. Montero began formal piano lessons at age four and gave her first public performance at the age of five. Aged eight, she made her concerto debut at the National Theater in Caracas, performing the complete Haydn D Major Piano Concerto with the Orquesta Nacional Juvenil de Venezuela (National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela), conducted by

José Antonio Abreu José Antonio Abreu Anselmi (May 7, 1939 – March 24, 2018) was a Venezuelan orchestra conductor, pianist, economist, educator, activist, and politician best known for his association with El Sistema. He was honored with the 2009 Latin Grammy T ...

. At the age of nine, she was awarded a government scholarship to study in the US. From 1990 until 1993, she studied at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

in London with

Hamish Milne Hamish Milne (27 April 1939 – 12 February 2020) was an English pianist known for his advocacy of Nikolai Medtner. Milne studied at Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury and then at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he taught, and ...

. In 1995, she won third prize at the

XIII International Chopin Piano Competition The XIII International Chopin Piano Competition ( pl, XIII Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina) took place in Warsaw from October 1–22, 1995. As in the XII International Chopin Piano Competition, previous competition five ...

Concerts

In both recital and after performing a concerto, Montero often invites her audience to participate in asking for a melody for

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

s. At times, also the orchestra may suggest a theme. "When improvising," Montero says, "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. I have been improvising since my hands first touched the keyboard, but for many years I kept this aspect of my playing secret." Montero has performed with the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

; debuted with

Lorin Maazel Lorin Varencove Maazel (, March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in th ...

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

at the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...

;

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...

at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

; Rotterdam Philharmonisch Orkest at De Doelen; and NDR Hanover at the Bergen Festival. In recital, her engagements include the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

Vienna Konzerthaus The Konzerthaus is a concert hall located in Vienna, Austria, which opened in 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both traditional and ...

, Klavier-Festival Ruhr,

Kölner Philharmonie The Kölner Philharmonie is a symphonic concert hall located in Cologne, Germany. It is part of the building assemble of the Museum Ludwig and was opened in 1986. The Kölner Philharmonie is located close to the Cologne Cathedral and the Cologn ...

Tonhalle Düsseldorf Tonhalle Düsseldorf is a concert hall in Düsseldorf. It was built by the architect Wilhelm Kreis. The resident orchestra, the ''Düsseldorfer Symphoniker'', play symphonic repertoire at the Tonhalle as well as opera at the Deutsche Oper am Rhei ...

Konzerthaus Berlin The Konzerthaus Berlin is a concert hall in Berlin, the home of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Situated on the Gendarmenmarkt square in the central Mitte district of the city, it was originally built as a theater. It initially operated from ...

, Alte Sendersaal Frankfurt,

Kennedy Centre The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

Washington, D.C., and at the ‘Progetto

Martha Argerich Martha Argerich (; Eastern Catalan: �ɾʒəˈɾik born 5 June 1941) is an Argentine classical concert pianist. She is widely considered to be one of the greatest pianists of all time. Early life and education Argerich was born in Buenos Ai ...

’ Festival in Lugano where she is invited annually. Montero performed

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

' "

Air and Simple Gifts ''Air and Simple Gifts'' is a quartet composed and arranged by American composer John Williams for the January 20, 2009, inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. The first public performance of the piece was in ...

" with

Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman ( he, יצחק פרלמן; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist widely considered one of the greatest violinists in the world. Perlman has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that hav ...

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

, and

Anthony McGill Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of retired snooker player Alan McManus. McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. He wo ...

at the

inauguration In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugu ...

of U.S. president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

on January 20, 2009, although the music played was a recording made two days beforehand because of concerns over the cold weather damaging the instruments. Montero has a partnership with the French cellist

Gautier Capuçon With Jean-Claude Casadesus Gautier Capuçon (born 3 September 1981) is a French cellist. Biography Gautier Capuçon was born in Chambéry, Savoie, the youngest of three siblings. His brother is the violinist Renaud Capuçon. He started learni ...

, appearing at various European festivals.

Awards for CD releases

Montero's first CD release consisted of one disc of music by

Rachmaninov Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of ...

, Chopin, and

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, and a second of improvisations. Her CD ''Bach and Beyond'' contains improvisations on Bach themes, and topped the charts for several months. In February 2008, her follow-up recording of improvisations, ''Baroque'', received 5-star reviews from BBC Music Magazine and Classic FM. Montero's ''Bach and Beyond'' was given the "Choc de la musique de l'année" award in 2006 from the French magazine ''

Le Monde de la musique ''Le Monde de la musique'' was a French monthly musical magazine published from 1978 to 2009 with a circulation of 20,000 copies in 2008. It was founded in 1978 by ''Le Monde'' and ''Télérama ''Télérama'' is a weekly French cultural and tel ...

''. She also received the Keyboard Instrumentalist of the Year award at the ECHO Preis Award in Munich. In 2007, ECHO Preis awarded her the Klassik-ohne-Grenzen Award for her ''Bach and Beyond'' CD. In 2009, her album ''Baroque'' was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

in two categories (Best Crossover Category and Best Producer Category). A more recent album (2015) - featuring her own composition for piano and orchestra "Ex Patria", Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2, and 3 freestyle improvisations - won the Grammy for Best Classical Album at the 2015 Latin Grammy Awards. She has also been profiled on CBS's ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

'' in a segment entitled "The Gift".

Compositions

* Op. 1, "Ex Patria", for piano and orchestra * Piano Concerto No. 1, "Latin Concerto"

Discography

* Gabriela Montero: Montero: Piano Concerto No. 1; Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major, M.83 (Orchid Classics, 2019) * Gabriela Montero: Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18; Montero: Ex Patria, Op. 1 & Improvisations (Orchid Classics, 2015) * Gabriela Montero: ''Solatino'' (EMI Classics, 2010) *

and Gabriela Montero: ''Rhapsody - Rachmaninov, Prokofiev Cello Sonatas'' (Virgin Classics, 2008) * Gabriela Montero: ''Baroque'' (EMI Classics, 2007) * Gabriela Montero: ''Bach and Beyond'' (EMI Classics, 2006) * Gabriela Montero: ''Piano Recital'' (EMI Classics, 2005) * Gabriela Montero: ''Gabriela Montero en Concert a Montreal'' (Palexa, 2006) * Gabriela Montero: ''Chopin: Piano Works'' (Palexa, 2007)

References

External links

Gabriela Montero official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montero, Gabriela Venezuelan classical pianists Venezuelan women pianists Women classical pianists Prize-winners of the International Chopin Piano Competition Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Musical improvisation Musicians from Caracas 1970 births Living people 21st-century women pianists