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Gabriela Montero

Rachmaninov - Montero

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Gabriela Montero, "ExPatria". A mini-documentary
1 Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18 / Moderato
2 Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18 / Adagio sostenuto
3 Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18 / Allegro scherzando
4 Montero: Ex Patria, Op. 1
5 Montero: Improvisation No. 1
6 Montero: Improvisation No. 2
7 Montero: Improvisation No. 3
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Gabriela Montero makes her Orchid Classics label debut with the world premiere of her first formal composition, Ex Patria, as well as her first concerto recording, Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2. She is joined by the YOA Orchestra of the Americas under Carlos Miguel Prieto. 

She says, "In recognition of the purest classical traditions, and in homage to the 19th century philosophy of Gesamtkunstwerk, I am attempting to focus on the totality of the artist's contribution to his or her art form, and to society as a whole. I am a pianist, a composer, and an improviser but, above all, I am a member of society."

Montero has long been a passionate advocate for the people of her native Venezuela and a vocal opponent of its Chavist government. It was in this that she found her inspiration as she sat down to write her opus 1. She says, "I had been waiting for the right story to tell. Feeling a profound sense of the loss of my native Venezuela to unprecedented levels of violence and corruption, I wrote Ex Patria. Dedicated to the 19,336 victims of homicide in my homeland in 2011, it is a polemical tone poem, an unapologetic vision of Venezuela's accelerating civic collapse and moral decay, manifested by a further 21,692 homicides in 2012 and 24,763 in 2013."

Montero adds, "Ex Patria is a portrayal of a country barely recognizable from that of my youth. It is my emotional response to the loss of Venezuela herself to lawlessness, corruption, and chaos." This album marks an important point in the evolution of Montero's career. Long acclaimed as a pianist and for her thrilling improvisations, with Ex Patria, Montero pays homage to the great tradition of composer/performers, in which Rachmaninov himself is indelibly etched. Like Rachmaninov, Montero is effectively an artist in exile, but the love of her homeland is never far from her creative mind. "Only a man who loves his country could compose this way", said Rachmaninov's friend Vladimir Wilshaw in a quote cited by journalist Jeremy Pound in the album booklet's essay, ‘Raising Voices: History and the Performing Composer'.

 

  • Gabriela Montero is featured soloist in Mining Symphony Orchestra 45th anniversary concerts / Nation World News
    Posted At: October 18, 2023 12:00 AM
    Gabriela Montero’s visionary interpretations and unique compositional gifts have garnered her critical acclaim and a devoted following on the world stage. Anthony Tommasini remarked in The New York Times that “Montero’s playing had everything: crackling rhythmic brio, subtle shadings, steely power…soulful lyricism…unsentimental expressivity.”Recipient of the 2018 Heidelberger Frühling Music Prize, Montero’s...
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  • Gabriela Montero pushes 'Music of the Baroque' with a spirited Mozart / Chicago Classical Review
    Posted At: January 22, 2023 12:00 AM
    Gabriela Montero played Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 with Music of the Baroque on Saturday night at the Harris Theater.Gabriela Montero’s visionary interpretations and unique compositional gifts have garnered her critical acclaim and a devoted following on the world stage. Anthony Tommasini remarked in The New York Times that “Montero’s playing had everything: crackling rhythmic brio, subtle shadings, ste...
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  • Gabriela Montero begins BSO:artist in residence tenure / DAILY ECHO
    Posted At: February 20, 2020 12:00 AM

    She is the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's artist in residence, the latest in a succession of supremely talented musicians to have held that post, including Sunwook Kim, Johannes Moser and Nemanja Radulovic. In a move that signals that she is different, Gabriela Montero began her tenure with an impromptu piano performance on Bournemouth Pier last October. The term ends on February 26 with a rec...
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  • Venezuelan expatriate and pianist; Gabriela Montero applies muscle, emotion, and wonderful improv skills to Russian program / Portland Press Herald
    Posted At: January 27, 2020 12:00 AM

    It is only natural that musicians use their own experience as a template for broader commentary on social issues and the world around them – assuming, of course, that they are willing to air their views publicly. Gabriela Montero, an expatriate Venezuelan pianist, has long been outspoken, in interviews and on Twitter, about human rights abuses in her homeland, which she has described as a narco-kle...
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  • Gabriela Montero receives Beethoven prize for human rights
    Posted At: October 10, 2018 12:00 AM

    The Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero will receive the 4th International Beethoven Prize for Human Rights, Peace, Freedom, Poverty Reduction and Inclusion. Montero is honored for her active social and political engagement, said the Beethoven Academy in Bonn. She has become an important advocate for the people of her country of birth, Venezuela, through her articulate and significant public statements. ...
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  • With help from Gabriela Montero, Luis Magallanes is plucked from obscurity to Royal Irish Academy of Music / IRISH TIMES
    Posted At: August 29, 2018 12:00 AM

    For Luis Magallanes the move to Barcelona from poverty-stricken Venezuela has been doubly significant. Not only does it mean escaping economic hardship, but it is also allowing him to realise his dream of becoming an opera singer. "I've gone from being in the middle of a bad humanitarian crisis to being here, where I have a chance of a normal life and wonderful artistic opportunities," he says. "The...
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  • Gabriela Montero interviews with WCVE Radio
    Posted At: September 18, 2015 12:00 AM

    I recently spoke with pianist Gabriela Montero about her new CD release that includes her own composition "Ex Patria," a very moving work written as a memoriam to her native country Venezuela. Also on the CD are three improvisations and the famous Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Montero and I sat down to discuss her approach to performing, composing and improvising. She talked about her ...
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  • New Classical Tracks: Gabriela Montero
    Posted At: September 9, 2015 12:00 AM

    New Classical Tracks is a Syndicated Feature airing Nationally on Classical 24 & Statewide on Minnesota Public Radio. Listen to Julie Amacher's Feature with Gabriela Montero. READ THE TRANSCRIPT - Gabriela Montero is a Venezuelan performer, composer and improviser. "They're not separated and there's no need to separate them," she explains. "And that's why I wanted to make a r...
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  • WFMT shares Gabriela Montero's music and spreads awareness about Venezuela
    Posted At: August 26, 2015 12:00 AM

    Pianist, composer, and improviser Gabriela Montero is speaking out against corruption in Venezuela, her home country, using the most powerful way she knows how: music. During Hugo Chávez's term serving as "Eternal President of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela" from 1999-2013, tens of thousands of Venezuelans have been murdered by the government. In 2008, the Economis...
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  • Gabriela Montero celebrates National Radio Day with 9 station interviews
    Posted At: August 20, 2015 12:00 AM

    Gabriela Montero recently made her Orchid Classics label debut with the world premiere of her first formal composition, Ex Patria, as well as her first concerto recording, Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2. She is joined by the YOA Orchestra of the Americas under Carlos Miguel Prieto. Montero says, "In recognition of the purest classical traditions, and in homage to the 19th century philosophy of Ge...
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  • Gabriela Montero's Orchid Classics debut gets KDFC: Download Of the Week
    Posted At: July 8, 2015 12:00 AM

    Each week KDFC: San Francisco members can download a free mp3 from some of the biggest releases in the world of Classical music. Gabriela Montero makes her Orchid Classics label debut with the world premiere of her first formal composition, Ex Patria, as well as her first concerto recording, Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2. She is joined by the YOA Orchestra of the Americas under Carlos Miguel Pri...
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  • Gabriela Montero's Memorial for the Victims of Venezuela's Corrupt Government / Epoch Times
    Posted At: June 8, 2015 12:00 AM

    Gabriela Montero occupies a unique position in the music world. A classical artist who performs the core piano literature with leading orchestras around the world, she is also an intrepid improviser. At her concerts, she often asks the audience to suggest songs and she then plays them as baroque, romantic, or whatever style occurs to her at the moment. Montero is also an outspoken critic of the corru...
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  • Gustavo Dudamel, Gabriela Montero sound 2 different notes on Venezuela
    Posted At: June 1, 2015 12:00 AM

    "This is quite simply the future of music," Berlin Philharmonic music director Simon Rattle famously exclaimed in 2004 after conducting a student orchestra in Venezuela. Gustavo Dudamel, whom Rattle made an assistant conductor in Berlin, has gone on to prove that. The national and international importance of the country's music education program, El Sistema, has also proven that. This Venezuelan ...
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  • Gabriela Montero's 'Ex Patria, Op 1' / WFMT: New Release of the Week
    Posted At: May 31, 2015 12:00 AM

    Gabriela Montero's debut orchestral recording rejoins an age-old tradition of the pianist as composer and improviser. Both a personal lament and the collected protest of muted voices, Ex Patria reveals a Venezuelan homeland ravaged by societal collapse. It is accompanied by the Piano Concerto No 2 of Rachmaninoff. Three improvisations conclude, each composed and recorded spontaneously. Gabriela Monte...
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  • Gabriela Montero: improvising in Montreal / Huffington Post
    Posted At: May 28, 2014 12:00 AM

    The 2014 Piano Edition of the Montreal International Musical Competition, which kicked off on Monday with 16 hopeful young quarter-finalists, was preceded on May 20th by the inaugural Richard Lupien Improvisation Prize. Intended to promote classical piano improvisation, a once traditional discipline now taught at only a few major music schools and conservatories, the Lupien Prize is claimed to be the fir...
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  • Gabriela Montero expresses her joy of improvising in Piano Recital & Improvisations
    Posted At: August 26, 2013 12:00 AM

    The joy of improvising - Ever since I first placed my hands on a piano I have been improvising. It is an intimate experience – I have always felt the need to 'purge' my soul and my experiences in some way defined in my own personal language. It became the easiest way to deal with encores too: if I hadn't prepared anything I would improvise. It couldn't be easier! - Gabriela Mon...
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  • Gabriela Montero plays 'Baroque'
    Posted At: August 12, 2013 12:00 AM

    "Improvisation is an art usually associated with jazz. Yet no jazz musician today plays with Ms. Montero's sweeping command and technical flair, her ability to sail through myriad stylistic palettes and generate intricate counterpoint at a moment's whim."  – The Wall Street Journal Bach and Beyond, Gabriela Montero's second album for EMI Classics, was a sensation: an instant Bi...
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