Beloved Venezuelan pianist and composer Gabriela Montero returns to Chamberfest with the Canadian premiere of her new Piano Quintet. She is joined by her friends, the Calidore String Quartet, in a program made complete with a Mozart “Haydn” quartet and Shostakovich’s grandiose Piano Quintet.

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.”

The Calidore String Quartet are renowned for their “deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct” (New York Times). Their unique “balance of intellect and expression” (Los Angeles Times) is complemented by the feeling that “four more individual musicians are unimaginable, yet these speak, breathe, think and feel as one” (Washington Post). After over a decade of performances and residencies in the world’s most esteemed venues and festivals, the release of numerous critically acclaimed recordings, and lauded with significant awards, the Calidore String Quartet is recognized as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of a vast repertory; from the cycles of quartets by Beethoven and Mendelssohn to works of celebrated contemporary voices like Grygory Kurtag, Jörg Widmann, and Caroline Shaw.

• Gabriela Monteropiano
• Calidore String Quartetstring quartet
• Jeffrey Myersviolin
• Ryan Meehanviolin
• Jeremy Berryviola
• Estelle Choicello

Programme

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)
String Quartet No. 16 in E-flat major, K. 428
I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Andante con moto
III. Menuetto and Trio – Allegretto
IV. Allegro vivace

Gabriela Montero (b. 1970)
Canaima: A Quintet for Piano and Strings

Intermission

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975)
Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57
I. Prelude
II. Fugue
III. Scherzo
IV. Intermezzo
V. Finale

Download Programme PDF In the artist’s words

This concert is presented with support from Steinway Piano Gallery Ottawa.

The commission of Gabriela Montero’s Canaima is generously supported by Millie Mirsky.