Beethoven’s 9th Symphony
Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir
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Date
- 20:00 / Cancelled 20:00 / Sold out Thursday, 20:00
- 19:00 / Cancelled 19:00 / Sold out Friday, 19:00
Location
Grand Auditorium Calouste Gulbenkian FoundationThis concert will be broadcast live here on 30 May at 7 p.m. (GMT).
- Conductor
- Soprano
- Mezzo-Soprano
- Tenor
- Bass
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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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Hannu Lintu
Music Director
“Dynamic and sharp on the podium” (Bachtrack) and with an “extreme clarity of purpose, every detail worth noting” (Los Angeles Times), 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, as well as beginning his tenures as Artistic Partner of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the International Sibelius Festival.
Last season also saw Lintu’s appointment as Music Director of Singapore Symphony Orchestra from 2026/27, where he will appear this season for several performances, including for Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Shostakovich’s 7th Leningrad Symphony. Other highlights include returns to the BBC, St Louis, Toronto, Baltimore and Detroit Symphonies, as well as productions of Strauss’ Elektra and a world premiere of Sebastian Fagerlund’s The Morning Star at Finnish National Opera.
Symphonic highlights of recent years have seen Lintu conduct the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic (including an immediate re-invitation from the orchestra to perform at Bravo! Vail Festival), Berliner Philharmoniker, The Cleveland Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Radio France, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, London Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, St Louis Symphony, and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.
As an expert in both operatic as well as symphonic repertoire, Lintu’s recent opera highlights have included Enescu’s Œdipe with the Vienna Symphony at Bregenz Festspiele, 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 has made several recordings for Ondine, BIS Records, Naxos, Avie Records and Hyperion Records. His diverse discography comprises recordings of Magnus Lindberg’s orchestral works, the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with Stephen Hough, and Lutoslawski’s Symphonies Nos. 1-4, all with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. His often-gilded work boasts two International Classical Music Awards and several nominations for Gramophone and GRAMMY awards in recognition of recording projects such as Bartók’s Violin Concertos with Christian Tetzlaff, works by Sibelius featuring Anne Sofie von Otter, Rautavaara’s Kaivos, and the Violin Concertos of Sibelius and Thomas Adès with Augustin Hadelich and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
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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Ambur Braid
Soprano
Renowned for her dramatically nuanced and psychologically complex interpretations, Canadian soprano Ambur Braid also brings to the stage an unmatchable authenticity and incandescent vocal power. Her Salome, Senta (Der fliegende Holländer), Die Färberin (Die Frau ohne Schatten), Eva (Schreker’s Irrelohe) and Rachel (Halévy’s La Juive) have left an unforgettable impression, and this season Braid makes her anticipated role debut as Marie (Wozzeck) in two new productions. Firstly for Opéra de Lyon in Richard Brunel’s new production under Daniele Rustioni, and thereafter for Canadian Opera Company in William Kentridge’s new production under Johannes Debus. Elsewhere Ambur makes her company debut at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía as Madame Lidoine in Robert Carsen’s production of Dialogues des Carmélites under Riccardo Minasi.
Praised as being “born to play Salome” (Bachtrack, 2023), it has since become a signature role for Braid, with huge critical acclaim in both Barrie Kosky’s production for Oper Frankfurt and Atom Egoyan’s production for Canadian Opera Company, the latter of which brought Ambur’s appearance in the film ‘Seven Veils’. Other notable role and company debuts include both Eva (Irrelohe) and Die Färberin (Die Frau ohne Schatten) under Daniele Rustioni for Opéra de Lyon, Senta (Der fliegende Holländer) in Herbert Fritsch’s production for Komische Oper, and Stephana in Umberto Giordano’s rarely performed Siberia for Bregenz Festival. A former ensemble member of Oper Frankfurt, selected recent highlights include Rachel in Tatjana Gürbaca’s new production of La Juive under Henrik Nanasi, Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos) under Thomas Guggeis, Chawa in Rudi Stephan's Die Ersten Menschen - a new production by Tobias Kratzer - conducted by Sebastian Weigle and recorded for CD release, as well as the eponymous roles of Norma under Erik Nielsen and Tosca conducted by Carlo Montanaro.
Recent concert highlights include Schmitt’s La Tragédie de Salomé with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under Alain Altinoglu and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa. This season Braid returns to Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 at the Tanglewood Festival in Boston and with Gulbenkian Orchestra, both under Hannu Lintu.
Ambur Braid has received degrees from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and San Francisco Conservatory and is a studio alumna and former ensemble member of the Canadian Opera Company.
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Jess Dandy
Mezzo-Soprano
Cumbrian born Jess Dandy has been praised for her instrument of velvety plangent timbre, and her artistic remarkable immediacy. Jess studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Trinity College, Cambridge and the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, and is an alumna and Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Highlights of the 2024/25 season include her return to the BBC Proms for Holst’s The Cloud Messenger with the BBC Symphony conducted by Sakari Oramo, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Boston Symphony/Ludovic Morlot at Tanglewood, Thomas Adès Totentanz with Leipzig Gewandhausorchester conducted by Thomas Adès, Mozart’s Requiem with Aalborg Symphony/Sofi Jeannin, Handel’s Messiah with Tampere Philharmonic/Matthew Halls, Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet with Bergen Philharmonic/Sir Mark Elder and Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with BBC Philharmonic/John Storgårds.
On the recital stage, Jess will return to the Oxford International Song Festival for a programme entitled Eternity in an Hour with Keval Shah, to the Wigmore Hall for a recital with Dylan Perez and to the University of York for a recital with Ben Goldscheider, Fenella Humphreys and Martin Roscoe, amongst others.
Recent engagements include Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with Bergen Philharmonic conducted by Edward Gardner, a studio performance of Mahler's Rückert-Lieder with BBC Symphony Orchestra and Kristian Sallinen, Elgar's Sea Pictures with Tokyo Symphony, Mozart's Requiem with Tampere Philharmonic conducted by Matthew Halls, Brockes Passion with the English Concert, Handel’s Esther (Mordecai) with the London Handel Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the Hallé, Royal Northern Sinfonia, The Glyndebourne Sinfonia and Il Gardellino, and Julia Perry's Stabat Mater and Bach's St John Passion with the BBC Philharmonic.
Jess has appeared on the concert platform with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, The English Concert, The Academy of Ancient Music, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Bergen Philharmonic, Tampere Philharmonic, Orchestre révolutionnaire et romantique, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, Salzburg Kulturvereinigung, BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales, Welsh National Opera, The Dunedin Consort, Les Arts Florissant, Opera Settecento, Hallé Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; collaborating with conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Harry Bicket, Laurence Cummings, Osmo Vänskä, Trevor Pinnock, Gemma New, John Butt William Christie, Kristian Bezuidenhout and Stephen Layton.
Jess finds a natural habitat on the recital platform and enjoys working with a range of pianists, including Martin Roscoe, Dylan Perez, Malcolm Martineau, Chris Glynn, James Baillieu, Julius Drake, Gary Matthewman, Keval Shah, Ian Tindale, Sholto Kynoch, Anthony Hewitt, Gavin Roberts, Iain Burnside, Simon Lepper, Huw Watkins and Wolfram Rieger. She appears regularly at Wigmore Hall and Oxford International Song Festival amongst others.
In 2021, Jess was shortlisted for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the category of Young Artist. She is a multi-faceted artist with a keen interest in ecology, body psychology and spirituality. She is the co-founder of SongPath, a mental health initiative creating musical walking trails in nature for better mental health. With composer Alex Mills, she developed the Music & Being Collective, an open laboratory space exploring music and our sense of self through interdisciplinary dialogue.
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Michael Weinius
Tenor
Swedish tenor Michael Weinius, winner of the Wagner Competition in Seattle in 2008, has established himself as one of Scandinavia´s most sought after and praised singers. He was appointed Royal Court Singer in 2013 and received the royal medal Litteris and Artibus in 2022.
His professional debut took place in 1993 as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. Having sung a large number of baritone parts he made his transition to tenor in 2004, debuting as Laca in Jenufa. In addition to regular appearances at the Royal Opera in Stockholm Michael Weinius has performed in many European opera houses such as Opera Bastille in Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Grand Theatre de Geneve, Oper Leipzig, Den Norske Opera in Oslo and Deutsche Oper in Berlin.
In 2018 he made his role debuts as Siegfried in Siegfried and Götterdämmerung in Deutsche Oper am Rhein’s new production of Der Ring des Nibelungen, which would become signature parts in Michael Weinius’ repertoire alongside Siegmund, Parsifal, Lohengrin and Tristan. Other roles to be mentioned are Herod (Salome), Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos), Samson (Samson et Dalila), Mao (Nixon in China), Don José (Carmen) and the title roles in Peter Grimes and Otello. After a successful debut at Wiener Staatsoper as Lohengrin Michael Weinius returned in 2022 to sing Siegfried in the Bechtolf-Ring. Michael Weinius completed the season 21/22 portraying Tristan at Opernhaus Zürich.
Michael Weinius also appears regularly on the concert stage, perfoming in such works as Gurrelieder by Schönberg, Beethovens 9th symphony, Mahler´s Das Lied von der Erde and The Dream of Gerontius by Elgar. He has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kent Nagano, Axel Kober, Gianandrea Noseda, Christoph Eschenbach, Marek Janowski, Gustavo Dudamel, Donald Runnicles and Christian Thielemann.
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Matthew Rose
Bass
British bass Matthew Rose studied at the Curtis Institute of Music before becoming a member of the Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 2006 Matthew made an acclaimed debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as Bottom in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – for which he received the John Christie Award. Matthew’s international career has seen him enjoy a close relationship with the Metropolitan Opera, for whom he gave his 100th performance in 2022. For The Met, Matthew has sung Filippo II and Monk Don Carlos, Raimondo Lucia di Lammermoor, Claudio Agrippina, Masetto and Leporello Don Giovanni, Oroveso Norma, Ashby La Fanciulla del West, Talbot Maria Stuarda, Bottom A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Night Watchman Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Frère Laurent Roméo et Juliette and Colline La bohème.
The 2024/25 season includes a return to the role of Fasolt in Das Rheingold for the Bayerische Staatsoper, and performances of Rocco in Fidelio with the Opéra National de Bordeaux. On the concert platform, Matthew sings Bruckner's Mass No. 3 with the SWR Symphonieorchester, Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and returns to Winterreise in performances across the United Kingdom.
Recent opera engagements include his house and role debut as King Marke Tristan und Isolde for Grange Park, Baron Ochs Der Rosenkavalier for La Monnaie, Wotan Die Walküre for English National Opera and Staatstheater Darmstadt, Gremin Eugene Onegin for Garsington Opera and Leporello Don Giovanni for Chicago Lyric Opera. Elsewhere Matthew has sung Bottom A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Lyon, Philadelphia Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the Metropolitan Opera & The Royal Opera House. Other roles at ROH include Pimen Boris Godunov, Sparafucile Rigoletto, Sarastro Die Zauberflöte, Raimondo Lucia di Lammermoor, Baron Ochs Der Rosenkavlier, Timur Turandot, and Talbot Maria Stuarda. For Glyndebourne, Leporello Don Giovanni, Nick Shadow The Rake’s Progress, Callistene Poliuto, Le Commissaire Mesdames de la Halle and Collatinus The Rape of Lucretia. Other appearances include Baron Ochs Der Rosenkavlier for the Lyric Opera Chicago, Claggart Billy Budd and King Marke Tristan and Isolde for English National Opera, the title role Figaro for Welsh National Opera, Opéra de Lille and the Bayerische Staatsoper, Grande Inquisitore Don Carlo & Leporello at the Deutsche Oper, and Henry VIII Anna Bolena at the Opéra National de Bordeaux.
In concert, Matthew has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, BBC Proms and the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. His engagements include the London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Colin Davis, Daniel Harding and Michael Tilson Thomas, the Philadelphia Orchestra with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Gustavo Dudamel, the Staatskapelle Dresden with Sir Charles Mackerras, the New York Philharmonic with Manfred Honeck, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Sir Antonio Pappano, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra with Kent Nagano, the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Vladimir Jurowski & Edward Gardner, the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Charles Dutoit, the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Sir Andrew Davis, Edward Gardner, Jiří Bělohlávek and Marc Minkowski, the Rotterdam Philharmonic with Richard Egarr, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Kent Nagano and the Wiener Konzerthaus with Pablo Heras-Casado. Matthew’s recent concert appearances include the Glagolitic Mass with the LPO cond. Edward Gardner, Missa Solemnis with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique cond. John Elliot Gardiner, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 and Mozart Coronation Mass with Gürzenich-Orchester Köln cond. François-Xavier Roth, Christus St Matthew Passion with Arcangelo at the BBC Proms cond. Jonathan Cohen, Messiah cond. Reinhard Goebel and St John Passion cond. Daniel Harding for the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Messiah with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra cond. Jonathan Cohen, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France cond. Lahav Shani and for Festival Berlioz La Côte-Saint-André cond. Mikko Franck.
Matthew’s recital appearances include the London’s Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington and New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Snape Maltings in Aldeburgh, Brighton, as well as the Chester and Cheltenham International Festivals. He is currently the artistic director of Folkestone on Song, where he works to bring song and singing to the people of Folkestone and East Kent.
Recordings include a critically acclaimed Winterreise with pianist Gary Matthewman and Schwanengesang with Malcolm Martineau (Stone Records). His most recent solo release is Arias for Benucci with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen (Hyperion). Other recordings include Guillaume Tell (Walter) and Tristan und Isolde (Der Steuermann) with Pappano, Billy Budd (Ratcliffe) with Harding – Winner of a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording, Bel Canto arias with Natalie Dessay and Evelino Pido, Handel’s Messiah with Stephen Cleobury and the Choir of King’s College (EMI), Tippett’s A Child of our Time and Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ with Sir Colin Davis (LSO Live), and Liszt Lieder with Iain Burnside (Signum). His roles on DVD include Nick Shadow and Mr Flint Billy Budd from Glyndebourne, and Polyphemus Acis and Galatea from Covent Garden (Opus Arte).
Passionate about supporting the next generation of musicians, Matthew has worked as the Artistic Advisor to the Lindemann Young Artist Programme, Metropolitan Opera, and has led masterclasses for the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, the Curtis Institue, the Royaumont Academy, The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Trinity Laban and the Chautauqua Institution. In 2017 and 2018, Matthew ran his own summer course, the Scuola di belcanto, in Italy. In 2025, he will return to the country to lead masterclasses in Spoleto.
Sofia Gubaidulina
Ludwig van Beethoven
Dedicated to Beethoven, The Wrath of God is one of Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina’s greatest creations. A piece of astonishing intensity that seems to make the senses shudder. Gubaidulina said in an interview that, as humanity is pushed to be levelled and homogenised, the task of an artist must be to counter this idea. The piece, premiered in 2020 on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, is conducted at Gulbenkian Music by Hannu Lintu and is paired with the German composer’s emblematic Ninth Symphony.
Sponsor Gulbenkian Music
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