Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero restored Barack Obama's inauguration to a kind of normality after Aretha Franklin's hat freaked out the nation. Now the multiple Grammy nominee joins the North Carolina Symphony to open their season with two nights of favorites, including Gershwin's "Variations on 'I Got Rhythm'" and Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini." Equally virtuosic as a musical interpreter and improviser, Montero has earned the nickname "La Divina del Piano." Come a little early as WUNC's Catherine Brand hosts a Meet the Artists session in the lobby at 6:30 p.m. —Chris Vitiello