Description:

Part of the Skyline Piano Artist Series

“Montero’s playing had everything: crackling rhythmic brio, subtle shadings, steely power in climactic moments, soulful lyricism in the ruminative passages, and, best of all, unsentimental expressivity” —New York Times 

Celebrated for her exceptional musicality and ability to improvise, Gabriela Montero has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony, and Belgian National Orchestra. A graduate and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London, Montero is a frequent recitalist and chamber musician, having given concerts at such distinguished venues as London’s Wigmore Hall and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. Montero’s 2008 album Baroque received a Grammy nomination, and her recording of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and her first orchestra composition, Ex Patria, won her a Latin Grammy Award for Best Classical Album. Montero is a committed advocate for human rights and was named an Honorary Consul by Amnesty International in 2015. She was also awarded the 2012 Rockefeller Award for her contribution to the arts and was a featured performer at Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Inauguration. 

Program: "Westward"
Sergei Prokofiev, Sarcasms, Op. 17 
Sergei Prokofiev, Piano Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 14 
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 36 
Igor Stravinsky, Piano Sonata in F-sharp Minor 
Improvisations to Charlie Chaplin’s The Immigrant