LPO showcases new music from piano diva Gabriela Montero and Stephen Dankner in New Orleans
In New Orleans, we’re accustomed to frequent encounters with friends, whether chatting along the parade route or attending a concert by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. This week, the LPO is hosting two good friends: composer Stephen Dankner and Gabriela Montero, the internationally acclaimed Venezuelan pianist.
Montero wowed me with her LPO debut in 2011. She blazed through a Mendelssohn concerto and proved her improvisational chops with an expansively poetic version of “Saints” that steered clear of all clichés.
This week, Montero will play three separate concerts with the orchestra. She begins her run with a free performance of her own composition for piano and orchestra, “ExPatria,” at Tulane University on Thursday (Feb 14). She rejoins the orchestra in Kenner on Friday (Feb 15) for a program that includes “ExPatria” and a solo turn in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2. On Saturday (Feb. 16), Montero will reprise the Liszt concerto at the Mahalia Jackson Theater. Carlos Miguel Prieto will conduct the three concerts.