A Journey to the Opera
Sunday Concerts
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Date
- 11:00 / Cancelled 11:00 / Sold out Sunday, 11:00
- 15:00 / Cancelled 15:00 / Sold out Sunday, 15:00
Location
Grand Auditorium Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation- Maestra
- Presenter
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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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Bar Avni
Conductor
THE BREAKTHROUGH. In 2024, Bar Avni won the La Maestra competition in Paris, sweeping four additional prizes. This success led to a fruitful collaboration with the Paris Mozart Orchestra and Claire Gibault.
THE IDENTITY. Praised by Diapason for her dynamic presence and refined musicality, she thrives thanks to mentors such as Yoav Talmi, Barbara Hannigan, and Ayelet Geva. A key element of her artistry lies in programming – making bold choices and shaping concerts as complete, immersive experiences, much like designing a menu. A striking example is her debut album, released by Alpha Classics in February 2026, with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, which pairs Charlotte Sohy, Darius Milhaud, CPE Bach and Igor Stravinsky.
THE FIRST POSITION. From 2021 to 2024, Bar served as Chief Conductor of the Bayer Philharmoniker as part of her Bayer Kultur residency.
THE OUTREACH. Bar leads workshops in schools, hospitals, and corporate settings, viewing conducting as a powerful tool for communication – enhancing body awareness, nonverbal expression, and self-confidence. Together with musicians, she creates inclusive experiences that invite everyone to participate, without requiring any prior musical knowledge.
THE BACKGROUND. Born in Israel and trained as a percussionist, Bar studied conducting with Yoav Talmi, Martin Sieghart, and Ulrich Windfuhr. She also gained valuable experience assisting conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Klaus Mäkelä, Myung-Whun Chung, and Matthias Pintscher.
THE FUTURE. In the 2025/26 season, Bar will premiere The White Book by Laura Bowler, with a text by Nobel laureate Han Kang, composed for and sung by Barbara Hannigan. The work is a co-commission by the London Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony, and Copenhagen Philharmonic. She will also return to the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, and the Bremen Philharmonic, while making debuts with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, and the Gulbenkian Orchestra. Bar has been named a 2026 Villa Albertine Artist in Residence.
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Raquel Saraiva
Bassoon
Raquel Saraiva began her bassoon studies in Coimbra with José Pedro Figueiredo. She graduated from ESMAE, where she studied with H. Kesteman and Pedro Silva. She completed her Master’s degree at Lübeck Musikhochschule with Pierre Martens. As part of the Erasmus programme, she attended the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, where she studied with Dag Jensen. She is currently studying for a postgraduate degree at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg with Marco Postinghel.
She has played with various orchestras, including: Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, European Union Youth Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Bamberg Symphony, Philharmonisches Orchester der Hansestadt Lübeck, NDR Symphony Hamburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Munich Radio Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Portuguese Chamber Orchestra and the Gulbenkian Orchestra. She has been an academician of the SWR Stuttgart Radio Symphony and a Gulbenkian Foundation grant-holder. She has won awards at the Prémio Jovens Músicos (Young Musicians Award), the 5th International Academic Oboe and Bassoon Competition Łódź and the Estoril National Competition. From 2014 to 2018 she was Soloist B in the orchestra of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich. She has been 2nd Soloist of the Gulbenkian Orchestra since 2018.
Mikhail Glinka
Overture from Ruslan and Ludmila
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Overture from Le nozze di Figaro
Camille Saint-Saëns
Samson et Dalila: Bacchanale
Frederick Delius
Prelude from Irmelin
Johann Strauss II
Overture from Die Fledermaus
George Gershwin
Overture from Girl Crazy
Total approximate duration: 60 min. / Concert without intermission
Winner of the La Maestra 2024 competition in Madrid, Bar Avni is praised by Diapason Magazine for her dynamic presence and refined musicianship. Avni is one of the most outstanding new talents in orchestral conducting in recent years and, thanks to the mentoring of Barbara Hannigan, she made her debut at the helm of the WDR Funkhausorchester in Cologne and the Gothenburg Symphony. In this performance at Gulbenkian Music, she conducts a programme made up of overtures and preludes from some of the great orchestral operas and operettas, such as The Marriage of Figaro or The Bat.
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.
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