Venezuela Pianist Gabriela Montero Joins Houston Symphony in Concert This Weekend

Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada will lead the Houston Symphony in a performance of concert works from two leading composers of the Romantic period and composer-in-residence Gabriela Lena Frank during Andrés Conducts Symphonie fantastique this weekend, at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 21 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 22.

The program will commence with Escaramuza for Strings, Percussion, Harp and Piano from composer-in-residence Gabriela Lena Frank. The rhythmic and high-energy piece, whose title means "skirmish" in Spanish, is inspired by the kachampa music of the Peruvian Andes mountain region.

Next on the program, guest pianist Gabriela Montero will join Andrés and the orchestra to perform Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor - the composer's only completed concerto. A native of Venezuela, Grammy Award-winning Montero is known for her crowd-pleasing improvisations of complex musical pieces. The concerto celebrates the power and poetry of the piano and exemplifies Grieg's interest of Norwegian folk music.

French composer Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, a popular work with concert audiences worldwide, will complete the evening's repertoire. A program symphony, Symphonie fantastique tells the story of a lovesick musician who has poisoned himself with opium in an attempt to escape his heartache and proceeds to experience drug-induced visions. An additional performance of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique will be given at Rice University's Stude Concert Hall as part of the "Musically Speaking with Andrés" series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 19.

The concert will take place at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street, in Houston's Theater District. For tickets and information, call (713) 224-7575 or visit www.houstonsymphony.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the Houston Symphony Patron Services Center in Jones Hall (Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). All programs and artists are subject to change.

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