It’s not every day a world-renowned pianist sits down and tickles the ivories at Connolly Station but that’s exactly what Gabriela Montero did last week.
Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero was in Dublin recently to perform at the National Concert Hall alongside Spanish conductor Jaime Martin and the RTE National Symphony Orchestra. It seems that while she was here she very much enjoyed the charms of our city because one morning she was unable to find the time to practice.
In what should be a lesson to all of us, Montero improvised by taking a seat at the public piano as she passed through Connolly Station. Even though she says she has never played at a public piano due to shyness, the 49-year-old banged out a bit of Mozart while rail passengers mostly walked past her, oblivious to the fact that they were listening to someone who played at Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration in 2009.
I’m no extrovert. I’d never played on a public piano because I’m a bit shy. But, because I practiced very little this morning before my flight, I sat down to practice at the train station in Dublin. My hands were freezing, I felt silly but played Mozart. I avoided Shostakovich. pic.twitter.com/1xX8arjsgf
— Gabriela Montero (@monterogabriela) February 21, 2020
In a comment under the original post, Gabriela says that it was ‘pretty funny’ that nobody seemed to be paying attention, adding ‘actually, a teenager started dancing to it, someone made a comment about “how embarrassing to do something like that in public”.’
She goes on to say “I was just worried someone would steal my iPad! I have all my scores in it and things happen in train stations!”
Indeed they do Gabriela, alas sometimes people are too busy going about their day to notice. Gabriela’s impromptu performance comes a few months after two Dublin teenagers gained a lot of publicity for performing a Christina Aguilera song at the station and it just goes to show how much you can gain from stopping and listening for a bit.
