Gulbenkian Choir a cappella
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Grand Auditorium Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation- Conductor
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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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Martina Batič
Conductor
Martina Batič is one of the leading choir directors of her generation. As the winner of the renowned Eric Ericson Competition 2006, she is celebrated for her particular versatility in conducting a broad choral repertoire from chamber music to symphony.
Martina Batič has been Principal Conductor of the Chœur de Radio France from 2018-2022. Before that, she held the position of Artistic Director of the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir. From 2004-2009, Martina Batič was Artistic Director of the Choir of the Slovenian National Opera in Ljubljana. In season 2023/24 she is taking the Chief Conductor position of Danish National Vocal Ensemble in Copenhagen.
The Slovenian is a sought-after guest conductor and has been on podium of the RIAS Chamber Choir, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, MDR Rundfunkchor, SWR Vokalensemble, Chorwerk Ruhr, as well as the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, Swedish Radio Choir, Danish National Vocal Ensemble, The Norwegian Soloists' Choir, Suomen Laulu Choir & Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Nederlands Kamerkoor, Netherlands Radio Choir, Flemish Radio Choir, Gulbenkian Choir and others.Future highlights include her return visits to Nederlands Kamerkoor, Netherlands Radio Choir, Gulbenkian Orchestra & Choir and engagements with Flemish Radio Choir, SWR Vokalensemble, Coro Casa da Musica Porto, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Zürcher Sing-Akademie, Helsinki Chamber Choir, Bachchor Salzburg among others.
Martina Batič has conducted A cappella concerts at festivals such as Baltic Sea Stockholm, Ultima Oslo, Choregies d’Orange, Montpellier, Saint-Denis and Présences Paris. In 2018 she conducted the Swedish Radio Choir & Eric Ericson Chamber Choir in a gala concert on the occasion of Eric Ericson's 100th birthday.
Martina Batič obtained her Bachelor of Music from the Music Academy of the University of Ljubljana in 2002. She continued her studies at the University of Music and Theater in Munich in the class of Prof. Michael Gläser, where she completed her master's degree in choral conducting with distinction in 2004. She attended master classes across Europe and worked with renowned choral conductors such as Eric Ericson.
In 2019 Martina Batič received the Slovenian national prize “Prešeren Fund Awards” for her artistic achievements in the field of choral conducting.
Alessandro Scarlatti
Domenico Scarlatti
Carlos Seixas
Francisco António de Almeida
Estêvão Lopes Morago
In one of her previous inspirational visits to the Grand Auditorium, the new Principal Conductor of the Gulbenkian Choir, Martina Batič, demonstrated her desire to deepen her knowledge of Portuguese music, conducting a programme including compositions by Lopes-Graça and Eurico Carrapatoso. This time, Batič goes further back in time: she looks at works by Carlos Seixas and Francisco António de Almeida, luminaries of Portuguese Baroque music, as well as foreign composers who, in the same period, were prominent in Portugal – with Domenico Scarlatti in the spotlight.
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