Gabriela Montero’s Season Three Concert Series at the Ebenezer Theater in Easton opened on Saturday night with one of the best pianists I have heard in my lifetime—yet another indication that Easton is becoming a destination city for classical music lovers.
The featured pianist was Khatia Buniatishvili from Tbilisi, Georgia. Buniatishvili named her program Labyrinth—a place constructed of intricate passageways. And what an appropriate name it was! The program featured pieces by Satie, Chopin, Bach, Schubert, Liszt, and Couperin. The music was riveting, eliciting complex imaginative, tender, and emotional responses. It was truly a philosophical journey for the senses, evoking hesitation, sensuality, pleasure, and pain.
Buniatishvili began studying piano at the age of three. She performed in her first concert at the age of six, appeared internationally at the age of 10, and then studied piano for several years at the Villa Schindler in Austria. She signed with Sony Classical as an exclusive artist in 2010, and released her first album in 2011 and several more after that. Buniatishvili’s album Labyrinth was recorded at La Grande Salle Pierre Boulez at the Philharmonie de Paris and was produced by Sony in 2020.
Of the 10 pieces Buniatishvili played on Saturday night, my favorites included a delicate and nuanced rendition of Satie’s Gymnopedie, Chopin’s Polonaise, Bach’s Prelude and Fugue for Organ, and Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody Number Two.
Buniatishvili demonstrated great versatility in performing all pieces, apparently by memory. The performance of Chopin’s Polonaise Op 53 in A Flat Major was exceptional. Among Chopin’s most beloved pieces, it is physically demanding and requires virtuosity and exceptional piano skills.
When playing Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody, as arranged by Vladimir Horowitz, Buniatishvili captured Horowitz’s emotion and spirit. When Liszt performed, he was known to play pieces so vigorously (some would say violently) as to endanger the piano. Buniatishvili too gave the Ebenezer Steinway quite the workout, rising from the bench to strike the keys harder than possible while seated.
A highlight of the evening was the presence of Gabriela Montero in the audience, who presented Buniatishvili with flowers at the end of the concert, which included two encores.
My one disappointment about this wonderful Gabriela Montero concert series is that it does not publish the specific pieces that will be played in advance of the concert. Instead, it provides only a short phrase about the concert’s content. It has been my experience that many concertgoers enjoy playing the music in advance to refamiliarize themselves with the pieces before attending the concert.
In short, Saturday’s concert was exquisite food for the soul–an excellent performance by a remarkable pianist playing an engaging series of short pieces.
The next concert in this series is on October 26 and features Gabriela Montero playing music by Robert Schumann. Information on upcoming concerts and tickets may be found here.
A sincere thanks to Paul and Joanne Prager for making these outstanding musical experiences happen.
Maria Grant was the principal in charge of the federal human capital practice of an international consulting firm. While on the Eastern Shore, she focuses on writing, reading, piano, and nature.
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