Pianist Ingrid Fliter wants you to think of Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 like a glass of champagne – light, refreshing, with a flurry of notes that bubble airily to the surface (however difficult those notes are in reality to play).
The Argentina-born, Italy-based pianist will be the soloist in that very concerto this week with the Houston Symphony and guest conductor Fabien Gabel, marking her first time to collaborate with Maestro Gabel and her third engagement with the Houston Symphony.
Ingrid Fliter sat down with me to talk about why this particular Mendelssohn concerto is so fun to play (and to listen to), her love of painting and being a woman in classical music. Plus, a speed-round of questions about her life!
The Houston Symphony presents Tchaikovsky's Pathétique – a program featuring Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 with pianist Ingrid Fliter and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique,” conducted by Fabien Gabel – on Thursday, March 9, 8pm; Saturday, March 11, 8pm and Sunday, March 12, 2:30pm at Jones Hall.
