Spotlight shines bright on outspoken pianist
Should art and politics mix? Or should the arts stand apart, avoiding partisan disputes and ideological conflicts?
Different artists will have different answers to these questions. But ask Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero and you’ll soon know where she stands.
“I’m a citizen of the world, and I live in the world,” says Montero, from her home in Barcelona, Spain. “I feel that it’s a cop-out for people to say, ‘We’re artists, and we don’t speak about that.’ We are the ones who should be carrying the flag for human rights.”
Montero, playing Edvard Grieg’s “Piano Concerto No. 1” with the Houston Symphony this weekend at Jones Hall, was recognized as a child prodigy in her native Venezuela and gave her first public performance at the age of 5.
In the 1990s, the glamorous pianist began to scale the heights of the classical music world — and today, her credits include appearances with the orchestras of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and numerous European orchestras. In 2008, she played at President Barack Obama’s inauguration.
Montero has eight albums to her credit — and the most recent, featuring Sergei Rachmaninoff ’s “Piano Concerto No. 2” and other works, won a Latin Grammy last year. As well, she appears as a guest artist on records by Argentinean superstar pianist Martha Argerich, who is a close friend and mentor.
Also a composer, Montero recently premiered her own “Piano Concerto No. 1” in Leipzig, Germany.
“It’s a Latin concerto,” she says. “It has the richness and spirit of Latin-American culture. But it also evokes discord and dysfunctionality.”
“Discord and dysfunctionality?” Those words are a reference to her homeland. And where Venezuela is concerned, she has plenty to say. The musician is deeply opposed to the current government in Caracas and blames it for a social and economic breakdown in the South American country.
Because of her vocal criticism of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro (and, before him, Hugo Chavez), she hasn’t been to Venezuela for six years.
“Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to return because of my political statements,” she says. “It’s a very dangerous situation. And it’s my own way of protesting the conditions most Venezuelans live under, by saying I won’t return until the current regime is gone. I don’t want to go home surrounded by bodyguards and drive around in bulletproof cars. I won’t tolerate being a hostage in my own country.
“The situation in Venezuela has gotten to this point because of corrupt politics,” she continues, “but now it’s a humanitarian crisis — there are 28,000 murders every year. It would be easier not to speak about it. It would make life easier, and I would be immune from the many attacks that I’ve suffered because I am vocal, but I can’t. There are people who can look the other way, and there are others who can’t.”
High on her list of people looking the other way is her compatriot Gustavo Dudamel, the flamboyant Venezuelan conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Last year, she publicly called him out for performing in Venezuela.
“What he is doing is collaboration,” she told a German newspaper.
Dudamel replied that, “Music represents the universal language of peace,” adding, “we declare an absolute ‘no’ to violence and a resounding ‘yes’ to peace.”
“His actions speak very loudly,” Montero says. “If people want to understand what is happening, all they have to do is see where Dudamel has performed, representing the Venezuelan government. It’s very clear. I think it’s criminal that an artist of such prominence doesn’t speak out about horrific things.”
However, in the cautious world of classical music, Dudamel is the rule and Montero is very much the exception. Most musicians and musical institutions avoid controversy like the plague.
(This looks to be true of the Houston Symphony. Before Montero’s interview with the Chronicle, a publicist wrote in an email: “We would appreciate if it can be made clear that her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of the Houston Symphony; we try to remain as apolitical as possible.”)
And, to be sure, being outspoken can lead to repercussions. Last year, following Ukrainian pianist Valentina Lisitsa’s controversial statements about the war in Eastern Ukraine, protesters picketed her concerts, and one skittish orchestra canceled her engagement altogether.
Is Montero concerned that her opinions could harm her career?
“I’ve had threats,” she says. “And there are some people who are working behind the scenes to harm my career. But they are very few — and the support I’ve received has been overwhelming.”
Montero has even commented on American politics, although in a very light and coy way. In 2012, during the last presidential election, she improvised a composition intended to portray a musical debate between Obama and Mitt Romney.
“It was so funny!” she says with a laugh. “Everyone in the audience understood the metaphor of who was who. Maybe I could do the same kind of piece for the 2016 election. But I don’t know what it would sound like.”