Gabriela Martinez

Versatile, daring and insightful, young Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Martinez is establishing a reputation on both the national and international stages for the lyricism of her playing, her compelling interpretations and elegant stage presence. An artist equally at home with both established and contemporary repertoire by composers ranging from Beethoven and Rachmaninoff to Mason Bates and Adam Schoenberg, she has performed  throughout the United States, and abroad in Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland and Venezuela.  

Highlights of Martinez’s 2014-15 season include debuts with the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.  Her first solo recording is upcoming.  

Respected for her inspiring performances and ability to clearly present the essence of a work, Gabriela Martinez has given world premieres of works by contemporary composers including Mason Bates, Samuel Zyman, and Liduino Pitombeira. American composer Dan Visconti has written a piece for her which premieres in 2015.

Performances in the past two seasons have included orchestral engagements with the symphony orchestras of Houston, Tucson, Pacific, West Michigan, Stockton and Texarkana, the National Philharmonic and Wisconsin Philharmonic in the United States; with Canada’s Victoria Symphony Orchestra, and the Costa Rica National Symphony. Solo recitals included Canada’s Glenn Gould Studio, South Carolina’s Brooks Center for the Performing Arts and New York’s Merkin Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and chamber music appearances included the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth, the El Paso Pro Music Series and the Kansas City Harriman-Jewell Series, to name a few.  

As a soloist, Martinez has played with numerous distinguished symphony orchestras, including San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, New Jersey, Tucson and Fort Worth, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, MDR Rundfunkorchester, Nurnberger Philharmoniker, and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra (Venezuela). Among the conductors whose baton she has performed under are Gustavo Dudamel, James Gaffigan, James Conlon, Marcelo Lehninger and Guilllermo Figueroa. Martinez has performed at such esteemed venues as New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Alice Tully Hall; Salzburg’s Grosses Festspielhaus; Dresden’s Semperoper; Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens, and Paris’s Palace of Versailles. As a chamber musician, she regularly performs in recitals and festivals.  Among the musicians and ensembles with whom she has collaborated are violinists Itzhak Perlman and Elena Urioste, cellist Carter Brey, the Diaz Trio, and the Takács and Calder quartets. Her festival credits include the Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, and Rockport festivals in the United States, Italy’s Festival dei Due Mondi, Switzerland’s Verbier Festival, the Festival de Radio France and Japan’s Tokyo International Music Festival.  

Martinez was a first prize winner in the Anton G. Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Dresden and a semifinalist at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, where she also received the Jury Discretionary Award.

Gabriela Martinez began her piano studies in Caracas with her mother Alicia Gaggioni, making her orchestral debut at age 7. She emigrated to the United States to attend The Juilliard School, where she earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees as a full scholarship student of Yoheved Kaplinsky. She was a fellow of Carnegie Hall’s The Academy, and a member of its celebrated Ensemble ACJW while concurrently working on her doctoral studies with Marco Antonio de Almeida in Halle, Germany. Martinez resides in New York City with her husband.