Musical May in Montreal on medici.tv, with Kent Nagano leading the Montreal Symphony (May 29), and an Improvisational Performance by Pianist Gabriela Montero (May 20)

May on medici.tv brings exciting music from Montreal, including an improvisational concert by intrepid pianist Gabriela Montero that will be streamed live on May 20 at 8 p.m. EST. Performing as part of the Montreal International Music Competition at McGill University, Montero will offer a one-of a kind, evening-length program of improvisations crafted in-the-moment in response to themes suggested by the audience. The Venezuelan-American pianist is famed for her real-time improvisation of complex pieces based on musical ideas supplied by her listeners, with the Associated Press dubbing her the classical “Queen of Improvisation.” Montero began piano lessons at age 4 and has always loved improvising, but it was the great Martha Argerich who encouraged her to finally improvise in public. Montero’s career has seen her perform with such orchestras such the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London’s Philharmonia and Rotterdam Philharmonic. She has also released several lauded recordings on EMI, covering works by Bach, Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninoff as well as improvisation that earned her such praise as “extraordinary” from the Wall Street Journal. Her improvisational concert in Montreal takes place on the same day as the presentation of the Richard Lupien Improvisation Prize, with Montero a juror in the competition. 

Also live from Montreal on medici.tv, on May 29 at 8 p.m. EST, comes the inauguration of the new organ of the Maison symphonique de Montreal byorganist Olivier Latry, who will perform the Saint-Saëns “Organ” Symphony in league with Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Declared “the best organist in the world” by no less a judge than Liszt, Saint-Saëns possessed an almost superhuman mastery of the qualities so particular to the instrument. Along with the Saint-Saëns symphony, Latry will break in the new organ with J.S. Bach’s iconic Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Liszt’s Prelude and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H, and world premieres by Kaija Saariaho and Samy Moussa.

As usual with medici.tv, the Montero and Latry concerts in Montreal will be available free to watch for 90 days after the initial live Webcast.

New medici.tv app

The latest innovation from medici.tvis a thoroughly updated new app for Android and Apple devices that offers music lovers a free virtual seat at the greatest classical performances and one-of-a-kind events from around the world. The previous edition of the app had already been named one of the top five classical apps by New York’s WQXR, which pointed out that the app “allows you to peek inside great European concert halls.” Part of the medici.tv all-devices strategy, this new, improved app for tablets and smart phones gives users the ability to intuitively navigate through more than 1,300 HD videos, including both performances and documentaries. Available for free at the Apple App Store and Google Play store, the app gives users access to more than 100 live concert webcasts each year from top classical artists and the finest music institutions across the globe – without ads and in the ideal video quality according to your internet connection. Users can watch a live event and then watch it again whenever and wherever they want. More than 60,000 music lovers have downloaded the medici.tv app since it was first created, enjoying an enriched experience of classical music unrivaled on the web. Read more about medici.tv apps here: http://www.medici.tv/#/mobile-apps. 

About medici.tv

Since its official launch in May 2008, medici.tv has gained international recognition, bringing together a community of 180,000 music and arts lovers from 182 countries. In addition to offering live concert hall events that music lovers can experience on their computers and entertainment systems, medici.tv now offers a free application (available at the Apple App Store and at Google Play for Android) that makes it possible to experience world-class artistry on iPads, iPhones and Android devices. Consumers of Samsung Smart TVs can now access the medici.tv application worldwide in 170 countries on the 2011, 2012 and 2013 models, as well as all future ones. More than 70 client universities around the world take advantage of medici.tv, including Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music.

In addition to webcasts of more than 100 live events each year, medici.tv has partnered with the world’s top artists and music institutions to offer subscriptions that give music lovers the opportunity to watch more than 1,300 video-on-demand programs. They include concerts, operas, recitals, documentaries, masterclasses, artist portraits and archival material by such legendary musicians as Maria Callas, Glenn Gould, Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Arthur Rubinstein, Georg Solti and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

Coming events on medici.tv

May 20, 2014, 8:00 p.m. EST

Gabriela Montero: Improvisational Concert

Montreal International Musical Competition

May 21, 2014, 2:00 p.m. EST

Violinist Christian Tetzlaff, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt play Brahms

Louvre Auditorium, Paris, France

May 28, 2014, 2:00 p.m. EST

Les Arts Florissants, Paul Agnew

Monteverdi: Madrigals, Book VII

Cité de la musique, Paris

May 29, 2014, 8:00 p.m. EST

Kent Nagano conducts Bach, Liszt, Saint-Saëns, Saariaho and Moussa

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal with Olivier Latry, organ

Maison symphonique de Montréal, Canada

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