Emperor's Concerto
Gulbenkian Orchestra
Event Slider
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 24 January 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
- 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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Paweł Kapuła
Conductor
Paweł Kapuła, hailed by Polish Radio as “a real hope for Polish conducting” is one of the most spectacular and finest conductors of the younger generation, acclaimed for his exciting, fresh, and highly captivating interpretations coupled with an excellent conducting technique. Never afraid of a challenge, his programmes and conducting style demonstrate a high level of finesse and creativity, which has led to an ever-growing presence in Europe and beyond.
The 2024/25 season sees Paweł Kapuła debut with some of the world’s leading orchestras, amongst them Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Xi’an Symphony Orchestra and Guiyang Symphony Orchestra alongside Hamburger Symphoniker, Danish Chamber Orchestra and Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie Chemnitz. He will also return to Ulster Orchestra where he received a prompt re-invitation following his highly successful debut last season. Other guest engagements include the Georgian Chamber Orchestra and Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, which have now grown into loyal partners cherishing him for his vigorous persona and precise conducting style.
Previously, Paweł Kapuła made his debut with orchestras such as Oslo Opera Orchestra and Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, resulting in immediate re-invitations, Sibiu Philharmonic and Transylvanian State Philharmonic orchestras in Romania, Gothenburg Opera Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel and Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz.
In February 2021, Paweł Kapuła was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz. Since then, he has been leading the orchestra in programmes with such refinement and flair that it has attracted other Polish orchestras’ attention, amongst them Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra Katowice, Warsaw Philharmonic and Baltic Philharmonic Gdańsk.
His latest recording project of all the Beethoven Piano Concertos with Prague Philharmonic Orchestra at Prague’s Rudolfinum, has just seen its international release. Paweł Kapuła is also an avid champion of neglected Polish composers which he demonstrates in numerous recordings for Polish Radio.
Paweł Kapuła received his first piano lessons at the age of seven. He studied conducting with Tadeusz Strugala and Stanislaw Krawczynski at Krakow’s Academy of Music. He was a finalist and winner of the Distinction Award at the first Adam Kopyciński Student Conducting Competition in Wroclaw in 2013 and is a musicology graduate of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.
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Alexander Melnikov
Piano
Alexander Melnikov graduated from the Moscow Conservatory under Lev Naumov. His most formative musical moments in Moscow include an early encounter with Svjatoslav Richter, who thereafter regularly invited him to festivals in Russia and France. He was awarded important prizes at eminent competitions such as the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau (1989) and the Concours Musical Reine Elisabeth in Brussels (1991).
Known for his often-unusual musical and programmatic decisions, Alexander Melnikov discovered a career-long interest in historically-informed performance practice at an early age. His major influences in this field include Andreas Staier and Alexei Lubimov. Melnikov performs regularly with distinguished period ensembles including the Freiburger Barockorchester, Musica Aeterna and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.
As a soloist, Alexander Melnikov has performed with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Philadelphia Orchestra, NDR Sinfonieorchester, HR-Sinfonieorchester, Russian National Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and the NHK Symphony, under conductors such as Mikhail Pletnev, Teodor Currentzis, Charles Dutoit, Paavo Järvi and Valery Gergiev.
Together with Andreas Staier, Alexander Melnikov developed a programme that sets excerpts from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (Andreas Staier – harpsichord) in musical dialogue with Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues (Alexander Melnikov – piano). Additionally, the artists recently recorded a unique all-Schubert programme of four-hand pieces, which they have also performed in concert. An essential part of Melnikov’s work is intensive chamber music collaboration with partners including cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras.
Alexander Melnikov’s association with the label Harmonia Mundi arose through his regular recital partner, violinist Isabelle Faust, and in 2010 their complete recording of the Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano won a Gramophone Award. This album, which has become a landmark recording for these works, was also nominated for a Grammy. Their most recent release features the Brahms sonatas for violin and piano.
Melnikov’s recording of the Preludes and Fugues by Shostakovich was awarded the BBC Music Magazine Award, Choc de classica and the Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. In 2011, it was also named by the BBC Music Magazine as one of the “50 Greatest Recordings of All Time.” Additionally, his discography features works by Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich and Scriabin. Along with Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Pablo Heras-Casado and the Freiburger Barockorchester, Melnikov recorded a trilogy of albums featuring the Schumann Concertos and Trios; the second installment, featuring the Piano Concerto and the Piano Trio No. 2, was released in September 2015. Other releases include a November 2016 recording featuring works of Prokofiev, a recording released in June 2017 with Chausson and Franck repertoire and his most recent release, „Four Pieces, Four Pianos“, which has been released in February 2018 and has since then been highly acclaimed by critics.
In the 2018/19 season Alexander Melnikov will tour his project “The Man with the Many Pianos”, where he performs a solo recital on different instruments reflecting the periods in which the works were written. Next to concerts with Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen he continues his collaboration with Camerata Salzburg and as an Artistic partner with Tapiola Sinfonietta.
Further highlights include an US tour with Andreas Staier, recitals at Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilarmonie, Cité de la Musique Paris and the Chamber Music Hall of the Berliner Philharmonie as well as being an artist in residence at London Wigmore Hall.
Paul Hindemith
Ludwig van Beethoven
After performing Beethoven’s full-length Piano and Violin Sonatas with Isabelle Faust to vigorous critical acclaim, Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov dives into the German composer’s final Piano and Orchestra Concerto with the Gulbenkian Orchestra. Beethoven’s revolutionary creation, which would go on to set a new standard, appears in this programme, conducted by Paweł Kapuła, in the company of Hindemith’s symphony Mathis der Maler, based on the opera of the same name dedicated to questioning the role of the artist in society.
Sponsor Piano and Orchestra Concertos
Sponsor Gulbenkian Music
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