The Rite of Spring
Gulbenkian Orchestra
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Date
- / Cancelled / Sold out
Location
Grand Auditorium Calouste Gulbenkian FoundationThis concert will be broadcast live here on 6 December at 7 p.m. (GMT), as well as on the radio (Antena 2).
Pricing
25% – Under 30
10% – Over 65
Cartão Gulbenkian:
50% – Under 30
15% – Over 65
- Conductor
- Soprano
- Piano
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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.
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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.
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Marisol Montalvo
Soprano
The American soprano is among the most sought-after exponents of contemporary music working today. She is possessed of an extraordinarily flexible instrument, “brilliantly stratospheric” yet “sweet-voiced”, that has enabled her to achieve success in repertoire from Strauss to Boulez. A consummate, “unstinting” singing actress, she has been greatly acclaimed for identifying unconditionally with her characters.
As well as performing alongside many of the world’s most renowned conductors and orchestras, she has had the privilege of working closely with many of today’s leading composers, including Matthias Pintscher, Olga Neuwirth, and Wolfgang Rihm. Several have written roles especially for her, including Peter Eötvos (Sierve Maria in Love and Other Demons), Pascal Dusapin (Prothoe in Penthesilea) and Marco Stroppa (Olbia in Il Re Orso). Her affinity for contemporary music has led to regular engagements with ensembles including Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Intercontemporain, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Ensemble Remix and Ensemble Modern.
Although she has achieved success in a wide range of operatic repertoire, Montalvo is particularly associated with the title role of Berg’s Lulu. Following her debut in the part at the Opéra National de Paris, Le Monde described her performance as a true revelation: “The American soprano possesses real stage and vocal presence, and executes the exhausting role with incredible intensity”. Subsequently, Lulu has become the centerpiece of her stage work; she has performed it at houses including Deutsche Oper Berlin, Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, Teatro de la Maestranza, Theater an der Wien, Komische Oper Berlin, and at Theater Basel, in the acclaimed production by Calixto Bieto.
Outside the opera house, Montalvo has a particularly close working relationship with Christoph Eschenbach, who has been both a mentor and a regular concert partner throughout her career. Since conducting her Carnegie Hall debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra, he has invited her to work with him alongside orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, the London Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Paris. Most recently, she performed the role of Sophie in a concert performance of Der Rosenkavalier with the National Symphony Orchestra under his baton at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
She has also worked with conductors including Daniel Harding, Vladimir Jurowski, Christopher Hogwood, Yuri Temirkanov, Bernhard Kontarsky, Sylvain Camberling, Sussana Mälkki, Lothar Zagrosek, and Sir Neville Marriner, and with orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, SWR Sinfonie-Orchestra, RSO Wien, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Bamberger Symphoniker. She has performed at houses including Opernhaus Zürich, Bregenzer Festspiele, Gran Teatro del Liceu, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, Teatro Real de Madrid, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Theatre du Chatelet, Théatre de Geneva, La Monnaie de Munt, Opera de Monte Carlo, Lithuania National Opera, Polish National Opera and Opera Comique.
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Joonas Ahonen
Piano
Joonas Ahonen is a pianist whose work encompasses everything from late 18th-century music on fortepiano to world premieres of contemporary music of our time. As a member of Klangforum Wien for twelve years, he collaborated with leading living composers including Tristan Murail and Beat Furrer.
Concert highlights include Unsuk Chin’s Piano Concerto with the Basel Sinfonietta, the world premiere of Bernhard Gander’s Piano Concerto in Stuttgart, Philipp Maintz’s Piano Concerto with Marin Alsop and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ives’s Concord Sonata at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and Crumb’s Makrokosmos at Salzburg Festival.
With duo partner violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, the pair have performed at Teatro alla Scala Milan, Wiener Konzerthaus, Toppan Hall in Tokyo, and the Gstaad Menuhin Festival. Their album ”Le monde selon George Antheil”, released on Alpha Classics in 2022, was described by Gramophone as a ”miracle”.
Ahonen’s discography also includes Ligeti’s Piano Concerto, the entire piano sonatas by Charles Ives, Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations on a 1838 fortepiano, and a disc of world premiere recordings with the violinist Pekka Kuusisto. He has performed Morton Feldman in a pitch-black cattle barn in Finland, smashed a violin as part of Nam June Paik’s One for Violin Solo, and toured Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Achterland with dance group Rosas across Europe.
Since 2023, he is Professor of Piano at the Cologne University of Music and Dance.
Luigi Nono
Igor Stravinsky
Italian composer Luigi Nono associated his work with a pronounced political dimension, with references to the Algerian revolution, Auschwitz or the uprisings that took place in Vietnam, Cuba and South American countries. These pieces, created through a political filter, had their final moment in Como una ola de fuerza y luz, written in response to the death of Luciano Cruz, a leader of the Chilean revolutionary left. In this programme, conducted by Hannu Lintu, Nono’s music introduces Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, an aesthetically and musically revolutionary work.
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.