Gabriela Montero’s visionary interpretations and unique improvisational gifts have won her a quickly expanding audience and devoted following around the world.  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 engagements include her acclaimed performances with the New York Philharmonic debut with Lorin Maazel, LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, Rotterdam Philharmonic and with the UBS Verbier Chamber Orchestra at the Tuscan Sun Festival with Antonio Pappano and in recital at the Edinburgh Festival, Verbier Festival, Wigmore Hall, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Koln Philharmonie, Tonhalle Dusseldorf, Istanbul International Festival, Kennedy Centre Washington DC, National Arts Centre Ottawa, Orchard Hall Tokyo and at the ‘Progetto Martha Argerich’ Festival in Lugano where she is invited annually.   

This past season, Gabriela made her debut with the WDR Sinfonieorchestre Köln where she hosted the entire evening at the Konzerthaus Dortmund. This engagement aired nationally in a premiere German classical music station. The evening was divided into three parts where she performed Beethoven Emperor Concerto, chamber music and concluded with late night improvisations.  She made her Vienna debut at the Konserthaus in recital and with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi. 

Engagements in the 2008/2009 season include Sydney Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony and Colorado Symphony. North American recitals include a return to the Shedd Institute in Eugene, Portland Piano International, University of Washington, University of Baltimore, University of California at Santa Barbara, Mexico City and Fresno for the Fresno Keyboard concerts. In Europe she makes her debut tour with DEAG to include the Konzerthaus Berlin, Alte Sendersaal Frankfurt and the Kampnagelfabrik Hamburg. Recitals include Munich Herkulessaal der Residenz, Koln Philharmonie, Dresden Musikfestspiele, Thuringian Bach Festival, Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi, Bilbao Philharmonic Society and Tivoli Concert Hall.  Gabriela has a long-established relationship with the French cellist Gautier Capucon and they will appear in Munich, Bonn, Hamburg, Dortmund and Heidelberg in April 2009 as well as the Theatre du Chatelet, Paris, in May 2009.

In both recital and after performing a concerto, Gabriela often invites her audience to participate in asking for a melody for improvisations.  They ask for themes from a Mozart Symphony to Star Wars and at times, even the orchestra have a chance to suggest a theme if they so wish.  “When improvising,” Gabriela 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.  Then Martha Argerich heard me improvising one day and encouraged me to make this part of my concert presentations.  It was Martha who persuaded me that it was possible to combine my career as a serious ‘classical’ artist with the side of me that is rather unique.”


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.  Standing alongside inspired performances of core repertoire, improvisations plays as important a part in Gabriela’s life as it did for Bach and Mozart and, to show the link, 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. 

Gabriela’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.  She rounded off her triumphant year with the Keyboard Instrumentalist of the Year at the ECHO Preis Award in Munich and in 2007, they awarded her the Klassik-ohne-Grenzen Award for her Bach and Beyond CD for the second year in a row.  Gabriela has also been heard on NPR’s Performance Today “Sing It and Wing It”, where listeners call in with a melody upon which Gabriela improvises.  She has also been profiled on CBS’s 60 Minutes.