Casual Concert

The crack of a whip signals the start of Ravel’s lively and unusually orchestrated piano concerto. What sounds light-footed and cheerful over the next 20 minutes or so places the highest demands on the pianist and the delicately orchestrated ensemble.

Basque motifs from the composer’s homeland blend with blues and jazz influences that Ravel brought back from his trip to America, while fast-paced dances whirl through the hall.

Gabriela Montero is known as much for her incisive and moving improvisations as for her captivating stage presence.

Together with Dalia Stasevska, she will perform this work—as virtuosic as it is entertaining—in the Great Hall at the season’s final Casual Concert. Afterward, the evening will continue seamlessly in the foyer with a live act and a DJ.