Winter Symphony Season

Saturday 23 August

Artscape Opera House, 20:00

       Benjamin Zander                             Gabriela Montero

BENJAMIN ZANDER has established an international reputation as one of America’s most innovative conductors, especially with the music of Beethoven and Mahler. He is worldwide known as a leadership speaker and co-authored the international best-seller The Art of Possibility. He has been the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra since 1979 and is also a popular guest conductor all over the world. He has a unique relationship with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London with whom he is recording a series of Beethoven and Mahler symphonies for the Telarc label. The phenomenal success of these discs is in part due to the eloquent and informative discussion discs which accompany each disc. High Fidelity named his recording of Mahler 6th as the best classical recording of 2002, while his recording of Mahler's 9th was nominated for a Grammy Award.

GABRIELA MONTERO  has appeared with orchestras across the world. She recently made her début with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Lorin Maazel.Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Gabriela gave her first public performance at the age of five. When she was eight years old she made her concerto début 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. At twelve she won the Baldwin National Competition and AMSA Young Artist International Piano Competition, performing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.