MANCHESTER -For its eighth season of providing a single concert experience with a talented artist at the upper reaches of the classical music genre, Northshire Performing Arts is heading back to the keyboards.

The previous seven years have seen something of an alternating cycle of vocalists and pianists taking the stage at the Arkell Pavilion on the campus of the Southern Vermont Arts Center. Salvatore Licitra, twice before his untimely death at the age of 43 last year, and Frederica Von Stade were two operatic vocalists who appeared before local audiences since 2005; pianist Ingrid Fliter and The Five Browns, a family of pianists have been others. In between, they were joined by Midori, a violinist of some small measure of renown.

This

Gabriela Martinez (courtesy photo)
year, a young 28 year-old pianist from Venezuela will be joining that elite group.

In a relatively short time, Gabriela Martinez has already won much recognition for musical skill and talent. She has performed as a soloist with the Chicago, New Jersey, Fort Worth and San Francisco symphonies, the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, as well as a long list of orchestras and prestigious musical ensembles in Latin America and Europe. Her recital in Manchester on July 24 will be her first ever performance in Vermont, and will add to a growing list of venues she has played in that already include Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York, Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, and many more.

She has been playing piano since she was 6, after an

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initial, and not-so-successful flirtation with the violin. Perhaps that was the way it was supposed to be. Four generations of women in her family before her were pianists and all studied at a musical conservatory, but also obtained university degrees. She attended The Julliard School where she earned both bachelor and masters degrees, but was the only woman in her family so far to venture into performing on a regular basis, she said.

"Maybe I'm a bit of a rebel because I only went to conservatory," she said. "They were all dedicated to teaching, and I'm the only one who performed professionally."

Her concert program on July 24 will include Beethoven's Bagatelles for piano, Op. 33; Schumann's Carnaval, Op. 9; Rachmaninoff's Moments Musicaux for piano, Op. 16, and Szymonowski's Variations for piano in B flat minor, Op. 3. They are among her favorite pieces to perform, she said.

A lot of thought goes into choosing a program of music for a concert, which should incorporate a general story line through the entire recital, she said. "You want to make sure you're passionate about it and keeping in mind (how) will people enjoy listening to this in combination," she said. "And in this program a lot of the pieces have a theme, a variations feel to them. There's a feel of small pieces that are tied together by a larger story line."

When she's not performing - which she does about 50 times a year - she is a member of the teaching faculty at Kean University in New Jersey. She and her family moved to the Garden State when she was 11, so she could attend the Julliard pre-college division, which she did while also going to high school.

The fact that she was named to the concert artist faculty at Kean when she was only 24 and right out of Julliard drew the attention of Connie Ferguson, a co--president of Northshire Performing Arts.

"We were very impressed by her list of performance credits and awards," Ferguson stated. "One thing that made her stand out to me is that she plays in a trio with Carter Brey, the principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic who I think is particularly fabulous. So she has a proven track record as did Salvatore Licitra, Ingrid Fliter and The Five Browns."

Northshire Performing Arts does more, however, than mount one major concert each year. The nonprofit organization's mission also includes educational outreach, and later this year they will be sponsoring an appearance by The National Players of Olney, Md. to Manchester in October. While here, they will perform Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" at the Manchester Elementary Middle School, in contemporary costume and location, and updated somewhat to the digital world. They will also be giving acting workshops for middle school-age students, on Oct. 10.

Gabriela Martinez's concert will he held at the Arkell Pavilion on July 24, and start at 8 p.m.

For tickets, call 802-867-4146 or email npa2005@me.com; for more information, visit www. northshireperformingarts.org.