Gulbenkian Orchestra Soloists
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Date
- 20:00 / Cancelled 20:00 / Sold out Monday, 20:00
Location
Grand Auditorium Calouste Gulbenkian FoundationOnline priority-booking is closed.
In-person ticket collection is available two hours prior to the event (available seats: 200).
In-person ticket collection is available two hours prior to the event (available seats: 200).
- Oboe
- Clarinet
- Violin
- Violin
- Viola
- Cello
- Double bass
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Alice Caplow-Sparks
Oboe / Cor anglais
Alice Caplow-Sparks began playing oboe at the age of twelve in her hometown of Seattle. She continued her studies in Mexico City for a year, then returning to Seattle where she was a student of the oboist Alex Klein. At the age of eighteen, she left Seattle to pursue her studies at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio with James Caldwell. During her time there, she was actively involved with the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, as well as other chamber music ensembles and orchestras. Her keen interest in chamber music first developed during a tour of Paris with the Oberlin Woodwind Quintet. After completing her degree, she entered the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she attended classes and completed her Masters with Richard Killmer. While at Eastman, she commissioned an original work for oboe and string trio from the composer Gregory Mertl, which she premièred in her graduation recital. She then travelled to Paris, where she studied with David Walter at the Conservatoire. In 2004, she joined the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa and she is currently a member of the Gulbenkian Orchestra, where she has played oboe and English horn since 2006.
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Iva Barbosa
Clarinet
Iva Barbosa began studying music with her father. She later studied at the Music Conservatory of Oporto and at ESMAE, with Adam Wierzba and António Saiote, respectively. She has been an award winner in over a dozen competitions, in particular, first prizes received at the 12th Estoril Interpretation Competition / El Corte Inglês Award, at the Young Musicians Award, at the 1st International Clarinet Competition of Oporto and at the Rotary International Young Revelation Competition. She received second place in the international Young Artist Competition, in Utah (USA), at the International Villa de Montroy Competition, in Valencia, and was a semi-finalist in the international “Prague Spring” competition.
As a soloist, she has played with various orchestras, including: National Orchestra of Oporto, Academic Orchestra of Oporto, Gulbenkian Orchestra, ESMAE Orchestra, Cascais and Oeiras Chamber Orchestra, Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon, Beiras Philharmonic and the Portuguese Symphonic Orchestra.
She has been invited to give master classes on the International Music Courses of Guimarães, the Oliveira do Bairro Summer Courses, at the Costa Cabral Academy of Music, the Piaget Institute of Mirandela, the Regional Conservatory of Vila Real, the Academy of Avintes, the Espinho Professional School of Music, the Conservatory of Music of Portalegre, the Las Palmas Conservatory and the Tenerife Conservatory. She is 1st Soloist at the Gulbenkian Orchestra and a founder member of the Vintage Quartet.
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Zachary Spontak
Violin
Violinist Zachary Spontak is an artist and cultural advocate, building connections between music and people around the world. Zachary is Principal 2nd Violinist of the Orquestra Gulbenkian in Lisbon, Portugal, and travels frequently to perform as violin soloist and chamber musician. Called a “natural leader”, Zachary collaborates with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Sir Simon Rattle, and Maxim Vengerov. Zachary won First Prize at the Carnegie Hall GMP International Competition, Pro Artists International Competition, and Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and was named Young Alaskan Artist of the Year in 2015. He has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Orquestra do Algarve, and Fairbanks Symphony, among others.
Zachary is an avid performer of new music, promoting the creation of art to search for beauty in our global society. He works with renowned composers such as Wolfgang Rihm, John Corigliano, Péter Eötvös, and Matthias Pintscher.
Zachary engages in music outreach, recognizing that many people worldwide do not have access to musical training. From 2016-2018, he worked in Buenos Aires, Argentina, performing and teaching in disadvantaged areas of the city. Zachary has been a teaching artist with Musaid, an organization that connects musicians across the globe through educational exchanges designed to inspire individual and community transformation. Zachary is Director of Education at the Anchorage Chamber Music Festival, which brings artists and students together for intensive learning and performing each summer in Anchorage, Alaska.
Zachary has a Master of Performance from the Royal College of Music in London, under the mentorship of renowned violinist Detlef Hahn. Other mentors include Paul Kantor, Roland and Almita Vamos, Dr. Gail Johansen, and Jean Krause.
Zachary lives in Lisbon with his wife Luísa, a classical singer, and son James.
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Piotr Rachwał
Violin
Piotr Rachwał has been a performing artist since an early age. At the age of 12, he made his debut as a soloist with the Silesian Philharmonic.
He is a graduate of the Academy of Music in Cracow, where he completed his studies with distinction in the violin class of Robert Kabara. He has refined his instrumental skills under the guidance of renowned pedagogues such as Marina Jaszwili, Roland Baldini, Ivan Klánský, Andrej Power, George Tudorache, and Piotr Pławner.
As a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral performer, he has given concerts in numerous European countries, including France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, as well as in the United Arab Emirates and China.
He is a laureate and finalist of numerous national and international competitions, including: Talents for Europe (6th Prize), the Witold Lutosławski Competition (finalist), and the National Forum for Young Instrumentalists (1st Prize and three special awards). In 2021, he qualified for the prestigious ARD International Music Competition in Munich.
The artist has participated in many renowned music festivals, such as the Abu Dhabi Music Festival, Chopin and His Europe (Warsaw), Ada Sari International Festival, Cracovia Sacra, Music in Old Cracow and Music at the Peaks.
Piotr Rachwał has been a scholarship recipient of the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, the Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship, Rotary International, and the Rector of the Academy of Music in Cracow.
He has collaborated with the AUKSO Chamber Orchestra, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, and has also performed with the Malawski Piano Trio. In 2022–2023, he was a participant in the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra orchestral academy, where he performed as a concertmaster at Konserthuset in Stockholm as well as at NOSPR under the guidance of Marin Alsop. He has been playing with the Gulbenkian Orchestra since 2023 and has been Soloist B since December 2024.
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Sara Moreira
Viola
Sara Moreira was born in Vila Nova de Famalicão in 1996 and began her musical studies at the age of 13 at the Escola Profissional e Artística do Vale do Ave in the viola class of Professor António Pereira and Teresa Correia. She later obtained a degree from the University of Minho, working with Mateusz Stasto, and a master's degree in interpretation from the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim.She was awarded 3rd prize in the "Paços Premium" Competition (2012) and 2nd prize in the Vila Verde Music Competition (string trio).
As an orchestra member she had the opportunity to collaborate with the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto/Casa da Música, Orquestra XXI, Orquestra de Câmara Portuguesa, Jovem Orquestra Portuguesa, Orquestra de Guimarães, Sinfonietta de Braga, Orquestra Clássica do Centro, Orquestra da Costa Atlântica, Orquestra Clássica de Espinho, Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin, Joven Orquesta Nacional de España, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Picardie, etc.
In the 2020/2021 academic year she was awarded a scholarship from the Fundação GDA. She was a member of the Nürnberger Symphoniker orchestra between 2021 and 2023 as an academist and later with a temporary contract. She is currently ascending the first semester of the postgraduate programme in Orchestra Soloist in Mannheim in the class of Professor Hideko Kobayashi.
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Martin Henneken
Cello
Martin Henneken received his first cello lessons at the age of six. He studied at the Musikhochschule Lübeck (Germany) with Troels Svane. He later studied with Reinhard Latzko at the Vienna University of Music (Austria) where he completed his Master’s degree with distinction. Musicians such as cellist Lynn Harrell and violinist Walter Levin (LaSalle Quartet) complemented his training. He has won awards several times at the German National Young Musicians Competition. He was a student of the Live Music Now Foundation created by Yehudi Menuhin.
During his studies, he played regularly with various orchestras, such as the Lübeck Philharmonic, the Volksoper Wien Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of India, Mumbai. In 2009 and 2010, he was a member of the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna Philharmonic) with which he had the opportunity to participate in recordings, international tours and festivals (Salzburg, Lucerne, BBC Proms). Since 2010, he has been 2nd Cello Soloist of the Gulbenkian Orchestra.
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Pedro Vares de Azevedo
Double Bass
Pedro Vares de Azevedo was born in Uruguay, where he began studying double bass with Carlos Weiske. In 1995, he initiated an internship at the Montevideo Philharmonic Orchestra, which he joined as a full member in 1998. He continued his studies with Mirella Vedeva and Franco Petracchi at the Conservatory of Music in Geneva, Switzerland. After graduating, he enriched his musical knowledge with the study of Musicology at the University of Geneva.
He has worked during his career with a number of instrumental ensembles in Switzerland, including the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and the Ensemble Contrechamps, directed by internationally renowned masters such as Kurt Masur, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Christoph von Dohnányi and Rafael Frübeck de Burgos. From 2005 to 2014, he was leader of the double-bass section of the Lausanne Sinfonietta. In 2014 he joined the Gulbenkian Orchestra as 1st double bass soloist.
His interest in early music has led him to collaborate with musicians such as Chiara Banchini, Florence Malgoire, Gaetano Nasilo, Carlos Mena and Leonardo García Alarcón. He also studied viola da gamba with Cecilia Knudtsen. He has taught master classes in Argentina, Estonia, Venezuela and Uruguay.
Dmitri Shostakovitch
String Quartet No. 9, in E-flat major, op. 117
Sergei Prokofiev
Quintet in G minor, op. 39
Total approximate duration: 60 minutes without intermission
The Gulbenkian Orchestra consists of musicians of great technical and artistic quality. Throughout the season, they also perform in free chamber music concerts, thus emerging from the anonymity of their roles within the orchestra. While making themselves much more visible, they also make a considerable contribution to a greater appreciation of chamber music as a whole, from the standard repertoire to the premieres of new works.
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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