Bach's Mass in B minor
Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir
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Date
- / Cancelled / Sold out
Location
Grand Auditorium Calouste Gulbenkian FoundationPricing
- 23,00 € – 47,00 €
25% – Under 30
10% – Over 65
Cartão Gulbenkian:
50% – Under 30
15% – Over 65
- Conductor
- Mary Bevan Soprano
- Anke Vondung Mezzo-soprano
- Zachary Wilder Tenor
- Hugo Oliveira Baritone
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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.
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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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Peter Dijkstra
Conductor
Peter Dijkstra is one of today's most sought-after choral conductors. Born in 1978, he studied at the conservatories of The Hague, Cologne and Stockholm, and graduated summa cum laude with distinction. In 2003 he won first prize at the Eric Ericson Competition in Stockholm, which launched his international career.
Between 2005-2016 Peter Dijkstra was Artistic Director of the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munich. During his tenure the ensemble became one of the leading international choirs and expanded its repertoire significantly. From 2007 to 2018 he was also Music Director of the Swedish Radio Choir, which appointed him Conductor Laureate in 2019. Since 2015, Peter Dijkstra has been Chief Conductor of the Nederlands Kamerkoor. With the start of the 2022-23 season, he will return to the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks to resume the position of Artistic Director.
Next to his work with these ensembles, Peter Dijkstra is a regular guest of leading European choirs, such as the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, the WDR and NDR Rundfunkchöre, Danish National Radio Choir, the SWR Vokalensemble, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and BBC Singers, to name a few. Also a sought-after guest with orchestras, he has conducted a.o. the Symphonieorchester and Rundfunkorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Münchener Kammerorchester and early music ensembles such as Concerto Köln, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Freiburger Barockorchester and B'Rock.
Dijkstra’s work encompasses a wide range of repertoire, from Medieval polyphony through to music of the 21st century. He has premiered works by composers such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Lera Auerbach, Eriks Esenvalds, Jakob Mühlrad, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Caroline Shaw, Martin Smolka, Jacob TV and Joost Kleppe, and is a passionate advocate for exceptional composing talent in the choral repertoire.
Peter Dijkstras CD recordings have received several prizes. He won two ECHO Klassik awards for Fauré’s Requiem (Sony Classics) and Schnittke’s Choir Concerto (BR Klassik), two Diapason d'Ors for an album with works by Strauss, Wagner, Mahler (BR Klassik) and Poulenc’s Figure Humaine (Channel Classics), the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik for his recording of J.S. Bach’s Johannes-Passion and was nominated for two Grammys. His recording of Brahms’ Sacred Choral Works with the Swedish Radio Choir received the Edison Klassiek Award 2015.
He conducted the World Youth Choir on their African Tour in 2007 and is regularly invited to give and initiate masterclasses and projects to promote choir singing and conducting at the highest possible level.
From 2016 to 2020 Peter Dijkstra was Professor for Choral Conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne and he is an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Music Academy. He received the Golden Violin 2013, an award for internationally successful Dutch musicians, and the Eugen Jochum Prize in 2014.
Johann Sebastian Bach
The BBC’s Classical Music magazine writes that J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor was one of the “highest job applications” in the history of music. That is because, with the death of the Elector of Saxony in 1733, Bach composed the magnificent overture in the hope of getting into the good graces of his successor. The work was, in fact, written over 25 years, bringing together adaptations of some previous creations and new material. The title by which it is known today would only come much later and its full performance would only take place for the first time in 1859, two centuries after Bach’s death.
Sponsor Gulbenkian Music
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