Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center Presents

Tuesday Matinees: Gabriela Martinez, Piano

Tuesday, Feb 12, 2013 at 2 pm

RACHMANINOFF Moment Musicaux, No. 1 & No. 4

DIRK BROSSE Selection of Nocturnes (WORLD PREMIERE)

BEETHOVEN Bagatelles, Op. 33

LISZT Sonetto del Petrarca 104

BARBER Ballade

BATES White Lies for Lomax

SZYMANOWSKI Variations in b flat minor

Lauded by the New York Times as “compelling, elegant, and incisive,” Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Martinez is quickly establishing a reputation and earning praise as a versatile artist who combines “panache and poetry” (Dallas Morning News) with a “sense of grace and clarity” (The Star Ledger).

Ms. Martinez has already amassed an impressive list of recital, concerto and chamber music performance credits. Since making her orchestral debut at age seven, she has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the Chicago, New Jersey, Fort Worth, Pacific and San Francisco Symphonies, the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, MDR Rundfunkorchester, Nurnberger Philharmoniker, Symphonisches Staatsorchester Halle and Tivoli Philharmonic, and regularly performs with the Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with numerous musicians and ensembles including and the Takacs and Calder quartets. Ms. Martinez has performed under the batons of conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Lawrence Foster, James Gaffigan, Dirk Brosse, Klauspeter Seibel, Giordano Bellincampi, Diego Matheuz, Christian Vasquez, Guillermo Figueroa, David Machado, Susanna Maelkki, Andrew Manze, Matthias Pintscher, Anne Manson, James Conlon, Charles Dutoit, Egmon Colomer and Pedro and Cristobal Halffter among others.

Ms. Martinez has performed at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York; Davies Hall in San Francisco; Bass Hall in Fort Worth; Palace of Versailles in Paris; Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg; Semperoper in Dresden; Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen; the Verbier Festival; Ravinia Festival; Dresden Music Festival; Snow and Symphony Festival in St. Moritz; Festival de Radio France et Montpellier; Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto; the New Hampshire Music Festival; the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center; and the International Music Festival. She has performed both as soloist and chamber musician in over 50 concert halls in the U.S. and Germany, as well as in Salzburg, Copenhagen, Paris, The Netherlands, St. Moritz, Verbier, Sendai, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Montpellier, Rome, Venice, , Spoleto, Brussels, Caracas and Bogota.

Ms. Martinez has won numerous national and international prizes and awards. Her most recent accomplishments include first prize and audience award at the Anton G. Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Dresden. She was a semi-finalist at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, where she also received a Jury Discretionary Award. Ms. Martinez’s wide-ranging career includes world premieres of new music, live performance broadcasts and interviews on TV and radio. Her performances have been featured on MDR Kultur (Germany), NHK (Japan), Radio France (France), RAI (Italy), Deutsche Welle (Germany), WQXR, WNYC, National Public Radio, CNN, PBS, 60 minutes, ABC, From the Top (USA) and numerous television and radio stations in Venezuela.

This performance is generously underwritten by Susan and Arthur L. Rebell.

About Tuesday Matinees Merkin Concert Hall’s Tuesday Matinees series presents some of the brightest young classical stars from around the world in the early stages of what are sure to be long and successful careers. The 2012-13 season continues with the Henry Schneider Scholarship Concert (3/12/13); Harlem Quartet (4/6/13); and Benjamin Beilman, violin with Yekwon Sunwoo, piano (5/7/13).

Kaufman Music Center is New York’s creative home for music education and performance. Kaufman Music Center is where music lovers, from curious fans to renowned performers, come together to explore their musical passions. Founded in 1952 as a community school for pre-conservatory music training, today's Kaufman Center is home to Merkin Concert Hall; Lucy Moses School, New York’s largest community arts school; and Special Music School, a K-12 public school for musically gifted children.

Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center 129 West 67th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam)

Ticket Information Single tickets: $18 Students: $9 Tickets at 212 501 3330 or http://kaufman-center.org/mch

Press Contact Joan Jastrebski 212 501 3386 [email protected] Press releases and hi-res images: http://kaufman-center.org/press

Kaufman Music Center presentations in Merkin Concert Hall are made possible, in part, with institutional support from: Bloomberg Philanthropies, BMI Foundation Inc., The Edward T. Cone Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, The Barbara Bell Cumming Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, The Friars Foundation, Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Rodgers and Hammerstein Foundation, The Janis and Alan Menken Foundation, The Edith Meiser Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation and TD Charitable Foundation.

Presentations in Merkin Concert Hall are supported, in part, by public funds from the Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and from the New York City Council through the good offices of Councilmember Gale Brewer. Kaufman Center presentations in Merkin Concert Hall are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Merkin Concert Hall has also been awarded support from the National Endowment for the Arts.