International concert pianist Gabriela Montero will return to 92nd Street Y (92NY) on Thursday, 14 May 2026, for a recital programme centred on Spanish and Spanish-inspired classical music, as the New York venue continues its 2025/26 performance season with a high-profile solo piano engagement.
The concert will take place at 7:30pm on the David Geffen Stage at Kaufmann Concert Hall in Manhattan, with ticket prices starting at $45 for in-person attendance and $25 for livestream access.
Montero, who is internationally recognised for both her interpretations and original compositions, will present a programme featuring works by composers including Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt. The recital will also include rarely performed miniatures by acclaimed Spanish pianist and composer Alicia de Larrocha.
The performance marks another major appearance in a season that has seen Montero expand her international profile through orchestral debuts, touring engagements and artist residencies across Europe and North America.
“The dazzling, internationally renowned pianist Gabriela Montero returns to 92NY with a recital of Spanish and Spanish-inspired music,” organisers said in the event announcement.
A review quoted in promotional material from The New York Times described her musicianship as: “Montero’s playing had everything: crackling rhythmic brio, subtle shadings, steely power … soulful lyricism … unsentimental expressivity.”
Programme Combines Classical Favourites With Rarely Performed Works
The recital programme spans music from the Baroque through to Romantic and modern classical repertoire, opening with keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti and Antonio Soler before moving into major piano works by Chopin, Granados and Liszt.
Highlights include Chopin’s Scherzo in C-sharp Minor, Op. 39 No. 3, Albéniz’s Triana from Iberia, Book II, and Liszt’s Rhapsodie espanole, S.254.
The programme will also showcase compositions by Alicia de Larrocha, including Sueño infantile and Minué trieste from Pecados de juventud, offering audiences the opportunity to hear works less frequently performed in mainstream recital settings.
Montero, who was born in Venezuela and is now based in Barcelona, has built an international reputation for combining technical precision with emotionally driven interpretations and improvisational skill.
Expanding International Presence During 2025/26 Season
The New York recital comes during a significant period in Montero’s career. The 2025/26 season includes her appointment as artist-in-residence at Barbican Centre in London, where she is scheduled to present the UK premiere of her piano quintet Canaima, alongside her debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Her current season also includes a new recital programme titled Iberia, reinforcing her focus on Spanish-influenced repertoire.
Recent and upcoming engagements include appearances with major European orchestras such as the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic and Orchestre National de France, as well as performances alongside renowned pianist Martha Argerich in Munich and Lisbon.
Montero has additionally continued performances of her own composition, the “Latin Concerto”, with orchestras across North America and Europe. The work, officially titled Piano Concerto No. 1, has now been performed more than 50 times internationally.
In 2025, she also appeared at the Harmonies of Hope concert in Vatican City, where participants were granted a private audience with Pope Leo XIV.
Composer and Human Rights Advocate
Alongside her performing career, Montero has gained recognition for her original compositions and public advocacy work.
Her orchestral tone poem Ex Patria, first released in 2011, was written as a response to conditions in Venezuela and aimed to portray what organisers described as the country’s “descent into lawlessness, corruption, and violence”.
Recordings of her work on the Orchid Classics label have also received industry recognition. A previous release featuring Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Ex Patria won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Classical Album.
Montero is also the recipient of the International Beethoven Award and, in 2024, received the Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent from the Oslo Freedom Forum for her human rights advocacy.
Her musical career began early, making her concerto debut at the age of eight in Caracas before continuing her studies in the United States and later at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
She currently serves as the Jonathan and Linn Epstein Artist in Residence and piano faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
