Gabriela Martinez

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, 22-year-old pianist Gabriela Martinez has already amassed an impressive list of recital and concerto performance credits.  Since making her orchestral debut at age 7, Ms. Martinez has appeared as soloist with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Symphonisches Staatsorchester Halle, Tivoli Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, the Longwood, Super World, and Juilliard Orchestras, as well as all the major Venezuelan Orchestras.  She has performed under the batons of Dirk Brosse, Lawrence Foster, Klauspeter Seibel, Giordano Bellincampi, Otto Werner-Mueller, Naozumi Yamamoto, Guillermo Figueroa, David Machado, Anne Manson, James Conlon, Charles Dutoit, Egmon Colomer, Mark Laycock, Pedro and Cristobal Halffter among others.

Ms. Martinez has performed at Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Festspielehaus in Salzburg, Handerhaus en Halle, Tokyo International Forum, and the Semperoper in Dresden. She has concertized both as soloist and chamber musician in over 50 concert halls in the U.S. and Germany, as well as in Salzburg, Copenhagen, St. Moritz, Verbier, Sendai, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Montpellier, Rome, Venice, London, Spoleto, Brussels, Caracas, and Bogota.

A Semifinalist at the XII Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Ms. Martinez also received a “Jury Discretionary Award.” As winner of the 2003 Anton Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Dresden, she also wins the prestigious “Audience Award.” At age 17, Ms. Martinez won the Piano Concerto Competition at The Juilliard School with Prokofiev’s Second Piano concerto, and the New Jersey Symphony's Young Artist Auditions.

Ms. Martinez has been featured on radio and television broadcasts on MDR Kultur, NHK, Radio France, RAI, National Public Radio, Venevision, CNN, Deutsche Welle, PBS, 60 minutes, ABC, and From the Top. She has appeared at the Verbier Festival and Academy, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Festival dei Due Mondi, and at the Mostly Mozart, Bowdoin, Snow and Symphony, and Tokyo International Music Festivals.

Born the 5th generation pianist in her family, Ms. Martinez started her studies with her mother, Dr. Alicia Gaggioni, and studied with Miyoko Lotto at the Perlman Music Program. As a full scholarship recipient, she is a Master of Music candidate at The Juilliard School, where she studies with Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky. She has received grants from the Bagby Foundation for the Musical Arts, and the Meijer-Werner Foundation, through which Ms. Martinez receives Master Classes with Professor Marco Antonio de Almeida at the Institute fur Musikpedagogik er Martin Luther Universitaet Halle-Wittenberg (in Halle, Germany).