Lobgesang de Mendelssohn
Gulbenkian Choir and Orchestra
Event Slider
Date
- / Cancelled / Sold out
Location
Grand Auditorium Calouste Gulbenkian FoundationPricing
25% – Under 30
10% – Over 65
Cartão Gulbenkian:
50% – Under 30
15% – Over 65
- Conductor
- Soprano
- Soprano
- Tenor
-
Gulbenkian Choir
Coro Gulbenkian was founded in 1964 by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation as a full symphonic body of around 100 singers. The choir joins the Orquestra Gulbenkian and other orchestras to perform Classical, Romantic and Contemporary choral-symphonic repertoire, but can also perform a cappella. It has performed – and often premiered – many 20th century works by Portuguese and international composers.
Coro Gulbenkian has been invited to collaborate with major international orchestras, under the direction of conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Colin Davis, John Nelson, Emmanuel Krivine, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Frans Brüggen, Franz Welser-Möst, Gerd Albrecht, Michael Gielen, Michael Tilson Thomas, Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, René Jacobs and Leonard Slatkin, among others.
Besides its regular season of concerts in Lisbon and frequent national tours, Coro Gulbenkian has repeatedly toured Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Macao, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Uruguay.
Coro Gulbenkian has recorded extensively for Philips, Deutsche Grammophon, Erato, Cascavelle, Musifrance, as well as FNAC-Music, performing a wide range of repertoire, from Early-Renaissance polyphony to Xenakis. Several of these albums received international awards.
Michel Corboz was the Principal Conductor between 1969 and 2019. Jorge Matta and Inês Tavares Lopes are currently the Associate and Assistant conductors, respectively.
-
Gulbenkian Orchestra
In 1962, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation decided to establish a permanent orchestral ensemble. Originally with only twelve musicians (strings and continuo) it was named “Orquestra de Câmara Gulbenkian”. This collective was successively enlarged and today the “Orquestra Gulbenkian” (the name it has adopted since 1971) has a permanent body of sixty instrumentalists, a number that can be expanded depending on the repertoire.
This structure allows the Gulbenkian Orchestra to interpret works from the Baroque and Classical periods, a significant part of 19th century orchestral literature and much of the music of the 20th century, including works belonging to the current repertoire of the traditional symphonic orchestras. In each season, the orchestra performs on a regular series of concerts at the Gulbenkian Grand Auditorium in Lisbon, where it has had the opportunity of working together with some of leading names of the world of music (conductors and soloists). It has also performed on numerous locations all over Portugal, in an effort to decentralize music and culture.
The orchestra has been constantly expanding its activities in the international level, performing in Europe, Asia Africa, and the Americas. In the recording field, Orquestra Gulbenkian is associated to labels as Philips, Deutsche Grammophon, Hyperion, Teldec, Erato, Adès, Nimbus, Lyrinx, Naïve and Pentatone, among others, and this activity was recognized with several international prizes.
-
Hannu Lintu
Music Director
“Dynamic and sharp on the podium” (Bachtrack) and with a “scrupulous ear for instrumental color and blend” (Washington Post), Hannu Lintu maintains his reputation as one of the world’s finest conductors. This season, Lintu continues his tenures as Music Director of Orquestra Gulbenkian and Chief Conductor of Finnish National Opera and Ballet, proving himself a master of both symphonic and operatic repertoire. The appointments followed a stream of successful concerts with Orquestra Gulbenkian and breathtaking productions with Finnish National Opera and Ballet. The 2023/24 season also saw his announcement as Artistic Partner of Lahti Symphony Orchestra from Autumn 2025.
Highlights of the 2024/25 season include his debut at Bregenzer Festspiele conducting Oedipe and returns to Chicago Symphony, BBC Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, London Philharmonic, St Louis Symphony and Oregon Symphony.
Symphonic highlights of recent years have seen Lintu conduct the New York Philharmonic (including an immediate re-invitation from the orchestra to perform at Bravo! Vail Festival), Berliner Philharmoniker, Cleveland Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Radio France, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthaus Berlin, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, alongside the likes of Gil Shaham, Kirill Gerstein, Daniil Trifonov and Sergei Babayan.
As an expert in both operatic as well as symphonic repertoire, Lintu’s recent opera highlights have included Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at Opera de Paris and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at Bayerische Staatsoper as a guest conductor, as well as multiple productions at Finnish National Opera and Ballet, including a recent multi-season Ring Cycle, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, a choregraphed reimagining of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Puccini’s Turandot, Richard Strauss’ Salome, and Britten’s Billy Budd.
Lintu studied cello and piano at the Sibelius Academy, where he also later studied conducting with Jorma Panula. He participated in masterclasses with Myung-Whun Chung at L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and took first prize at the Nordic Conducting Competition in Bergen in 1994.
-
Chen Reiss
Soprano
Soprano Chen Reiss has established a strongly acclaimed and distinctive career, enchanting audiences with “one of the most perfect Strauss voices one could wish for” (Classical Source), “a voice of silver brightness and clarity” (Bachtrack) with “immaculately produced and enticing tone matched by superb musicianship” (Opera News, USA).
Born in Israel, she came to prominence as a member of the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera under the music directorship of Zubin Mehta and was subsequently resident artist at the Vienna State Opera. She has also performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Teatro alla Scala, Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Netherlands Opera, Wiener Festwochen, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Opera Company of Philadelphia and the Israeli Opera, in leading roles ranging from Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ilia (Idomeneo), and the title role in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, to Gilda (Rigoletto), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Aennchen (Der Freischutz), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) and Zdenka (Arabella). Her repertoire also encompasses the title role in Cavalli’s La Calisto (Teatro alla Scala, Milan), Ginevra (Ariodante) (Royal Opera House Covent Garden), Mozart’s Zaide (Teatro dell’Opera di Roma), Donna Anna and Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Anne Trulove (The Rakes’s Progress), Liu (Turandot), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) and the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea.
In the 2023/24 season Chen Reiss will be Artist in Residence at the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, performing a range of repertoire from Mozart and Lehar to Richard Strauss and Korngold. She also will be the featured soloist in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Christmas Day concert, rejoining conductor Klaus Mäkelä to sing music by Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn. The season will see her performing for the first time with the Welsh National Opera Orchestra and the Orchestra National du Capitole de Toulouse, and making return visits to the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Lucerne Symphony, the Gulbenkian Orchestra of Lisbon and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, collaborating with conductors including Lahav Shani, Tarmo Peltokoski, Alain Altinoglu, Hannu Lintu and Mikko Frank. She makes her debut in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Wiener Akademie and also Le Cercle d'Harmonie at the Festival de Paques in Aix en Provence, sings Bach Cantatas at Vienna’s Musikverein, and brings her programme of Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn with the Jewish Chamber Orchestra of Munich to the Geroge Enescu Festival in Bucharest.
On the concert stage in recent seasons she gave her first performances of Strauss’s Four Last Songs, Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied, at the Leipzig Gewandhaus Mahler Festival, Bruckner’s Mass in F minor and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, and appeared in signature repertoire including Mahler’s Second and Fourth symphonies with the Munich Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Lahav Shani, Beethoven’s 9th symphony with the Israel Philharmonic, and Mozart’s Requiem with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and Christoph Eschenbach. She toured Mahler’s Symphony No.4 with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony to the Colmar, Gstaad and Grafenegg Festivals, sang Berg’s Sieben fruhe lieder with the SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart under Vasily Petrenko, and Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC under the baton of Simone Young. She debuted with the Berlin Radio Symphony under Vladimir Jurowski (Haydn Die Jahreszeiten), the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Antonio Pappano (Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem), the Berlin Philharmonic under Semyon Bychkov (Mahler Symphony No.4) and the Filarmonica della Scala (Mozart arias with Zubin Mehta). With the Vienna Philharmonic she was the guest soloist at a gala concert for the 30th anniversary celebrations of Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, and with the Orchestre National de France she took part in the 2019 Bastille Day ‘Concert de Paris’, televised live from Paris’s iconic Eiffel Tower. In December 2014 Chen Reiss was invited to sing for Pope Francis during the Christmas Mass, which was broadcast worldwide. Accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, she sang the soundtrack to Tom Tykwer’s film “Perfume: the Story of a Murderer”.
Recent recordings include Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov (Pentatone), Schreker’s ‘Vom ewigen leben’ with Christoph Eschenbach and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin.(for Deutsche Grammophon), a disc of orchestral lieder and scenas of Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn with the Jewish Chamber Orchestra of Munich, and ‘Immortal Beloved’ a recording of Beethoven arias and scenas with the Academy of Ancient Music for Onyx Classics. She has recorded a wide range of recital repertoire as well as roles in complete recordings of Die Fledermaus (Capriccio), Don Giovanni and Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem (Helicon) and Lehar‘s Das Fürstenkind (CPO), and DVD releases of Fauré’s Requiem with Orchestre de Paris conducted by Paavo Järvi, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Forthcoming releases include Mendelssohn’s ‘Lobgesang’ with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich and Paavo Jarvi.
Chen Reiss is passionate about sharing her knowledge with the next generation of singers and musicians. She is a guest professor at Munich’s Hochschule für Musik und Theater, and regularly gives masterclasses for institutions such as the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, the Schlossakademie Hamburg, Triomphe de l’Art in Brussels and the Masterclass Media Foundation. In 2022 she founded the association Sourire Music, dedicated to supporting and promoting young musicians by offering them
training and performance opportunities. In 2023 she established the Holistic Voice Academy – a special training programme for singers addressing their vocal, physical and mental well-being. -
Faustine de Monès
Soprano
Faustine de Monès is an award-winning soprano praised by The Guardian for her “emotive expressivity and natural presence”. She has performed on international stages including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Barbican Centre, the Israeli Opera House, the Grand Théâtre de Limoges, the Aldeburgh Festival and the Ravinia Music Festival, and worked with conductors such as Lionel Bringuier, Stephen Barlow, Christian Curnyn, Paul Nadler and Joseph Colaneri.
Forthcoming and recent engagements include her debut for Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen for Opera de Rouen, Crobyle in Massenet’s Thaïs for Opera Toulon, Claude Vivier's Lonely Child for the Avanti Festival in Finland, and Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto for Festival Eure in France.
Recent engagements include Saariaho’s Die Aussicht and Changing Light for both the Festival Musica in Strasbourg and the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Unsuk Chin's Le Silence des sirens with the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, and Saariaho's Die Aussicht with the Ardeo Quartet at the 2023 Victoires de la Musique Classique, broadcast on French TV and radio.
Also performed recently are Saariaho’s Cinq Reflets with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, two roles in Marc-Olivier Dupin’s Robert le Cochon et les Kidnappeurs for Opera Comique Paris, and Saariaho’s Château de l’âme with the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra.
She was a critically-acclaimed Soeur Constance in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites at Theater Aachen in Germany, conducted by Justus Thorau, and performed the same role at Theater Nordhausen.
Faustine has appeared in recital at Opera Grand Avignon, and soloist at the opening gala of both the 2021 and 2022 Chorégies d’Orange festival, broadcast live on French television. She also sang Puccini at the Invalides with Clément Mao-Takacs and his Secession Orchestra, broadcast live on Radio Classique.
Hailing from Paris, Faustine earned a first-class bachelor’s degree with distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and her MM and Artist Diploma in Opera Performance at Mannes College of Music in New York. She made her operatic debut at the Opéra-Théâtre de Limoges in Isabelle Aboulker’s Les Fables enchantées.
Faustine won the contemporary prize of the 2018 Enescu International Singing Competition, the first prize as well as the audience prize in the 2017 Vivonne International Competition, and the duo prize at the 2017 Toulouse Mélodie Française Competition.
-
Thomas Atkins
Tenor
A 2018 graduate of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, New Zealand tenor Thomas Atkins is fast becoming a much sought-after artist on the international scene. Praised for his “tenorial heroism” (Opera Magazine) and a consummate actor and musician, he is already enjoying a thriving career with recent successful debuts at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra de Montpellier, Glyndebourne, Opéra National de Paris, Royal Danish Opera , the Barbican (with London Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra) and New Zealand Opera.
Following his superb debut as Tom Rakewell in Glyndebourne’s iconic David Hockney production of The Rakes Progress, Atkins continues to make a series of anticipated company and role debuts in the 2023/24 season: at the Opéra de Rouen Normandie as Don José Carmen; Staatsoper Hamburg as Alfredo La Traviata; Royal Danish Opera as Pinkerton Madama Butterfly; and at Grange Park Opera Boris Káťa Kabanová. On the concert platform, Atkins joins Ensemble Pygmalion under the baton of Raphaël Pichon for a European tour of Mendelssohn Elijah; the Gulbenkian Choir and Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu for Mendelssohn Lobgesang and the Royal Northern Sinfonia for Bruckner Mass No.3 conducted by Dinis Sousa. Future plans include his debut at the Norwegian National Opera, and returns to the Royal Opera House and the Salzburg Easter Festival.
Engagements of the previous season included his role and house debut as Steva Jenůfa at the Teatro de la Maestranza; Rodolfo La bohème for his debut at Gothenburg Opera; Tom Rakewell The Rake’s Progress for his role debut at Glyndebourne; and Narraboth Salome at the Royal Opera House. His concert engagements saw him perform with The Hallé and Sir Mark Elder for Verdi Requiem; the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève as Tybald Roméo et Juliette conducted by Marc Leroy-Calatayud and the Insula orchestra at Brucknerhaus Linz for Beethoven Symphony No.9 conducted by Laurence Equilbey.
Further recent appearances include Roderigo in Amélie Niermeyer’s production of Otello at Bayerische Staatsoper; his company debut at Opéra National de Paris as Der Steuermann Der fliegende Holländer; and the Israeli Opera and Opera Holland Park as Lensky Eugene Onegin; Tamino in a semi-staged production of Die Zauberflöte at Glyndebourne and as Kudrjaš in a new production of Katya Kabanova, directed by Damiano Michieletto for the festival; Rodolfo La bohème with Opera North, Gothenburg Opera and New Zealand Opera; Lysander A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Opéra de Montpellier and Gastone La Traviata at the Royal Opera House.
Highlights on the concert platform include joining Marin Alsop and the London Symphony Orchestra in performances of Bernstein’s Candide; his debut with The Hallé under the baton of Sir Mark Elder as Pinkerton Madama Butterfly; appearing in the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation Gala at Wigmore Hall; and his debut with Opera Rara as Empsaele Il Paria at the Barbican with the Britten Sinfonia under the baton of Sir Mark Elder. Further engagements include Beethoven Missa Solemnis with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Richard Farnes at the Barbican; performances at the Yakushiji Otobutai in Japan with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa; excerpts from Der Rosenkavalier with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder; Tippett A Child of Our Time; Mozart Requiem; Dubois Seven Last Words of Christ; Vaughan Williams Mass in G Minor; Handel Messiah; Verdi Requiem; Mozart Requiem in Switzerland; Rossini Stabat Mater, and opera galas in Budapest.
Atkins is a graduate of the New Zealand School of Music and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, during which he was supported by the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation and the New Zealand Arts Foundation Patronage. He was a finalist in the Guildhall School ‘Gold Medal’ in 2015 and is the recipient of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama award, the Sheila Prior Prize, the Phoebe Patrick Award and the Vianden International Summer School Award - all from the 2012 IFAC Australian Singing Competition.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt, op. 112
Felix Mendelssohn
Lobgesang, op. 52
After meeting Goethe in 1812, Beethoven was inspired by the writer’s literary work, for which he had a deep admiration, and based himself on it to create the majestic cantata for chorus and orchestra Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt. Mendelssohn also met Goethe very early on in his career – he also put some of his poems to music – and the writer declared that he was witnessing a prodigy comparable to Mozart. Mendelssohn’s creation would similarly be very permeable to his relationship with poetry, Symphony No. 2, Lobgesang, being one of the most notable examples.
Sponsor Gulbenkian Music
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation reserves the right to collect and keep records of images, sounds and voice for the diffusion and preservation of the memory of its cultural and artistic activity. For further information, please contact us through the Information Request form.