Beloved Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero sat down with Radio-Canada International reporter Paloma Martínez Méndez to talk about her week-long “mini-residency” in Ottawa. Ottawans have a unique opportunity to appreciate Gabriela Montero’s playing in two different contexts. Tonight and tomorrow night (May 8 & 9), Montero performs her original and energetic Latin Concerto with NACO, and is performing with the Calidore String Quartet for the Canadian premiere of Canaima: A Quintet for Piano and Strings; the commission of which was generously supported in part by Chamberfriend Millie Mirsky.
In Gabriela’s own words:
The first movement of ‘Canaima; A Quintet for Piano and Strings” opens with a quotation from an indigenous Jivi song recorded by the Venezuelan explorer Charles Brewer-Carías in 1970. The song provides the leitmotif for an elegiac homage to the region and its indigenous people, as it winds its way, river-like, throughout the work.
Canaima, named for Canaima National Park, pays tribute to both the beauty and fragility of the Venezulan landscape, which is under pressure from environmental threats. You can read Montero’s artist statement in full here (scroll down and click “In the Artist’s Words” to read the PDF).
Click to read the article in Spanish and listen to the podcast at Radio Canada International.
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