John Williams in concert
Vale do Silêncio
Event Slider
Date
- / Cancelled / Sold out
Location
Parque Vale do Silêncio Av. Cidade de Lourenço Marques, OlivaisPricing
50% – Under 30 years old
15% – Over 65 years old
- Conductor
- Violin
- Cláudia Semedo Commentary
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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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José Eduardo Gomes
Conductor
José Eduardo Gomes recently won the 1st Prize in the European Union Conducting Competition, and the Beethoven Prize in the same competition. He’s Principal Conductor of FEUP Orchestra (Porto – Portugal) and also Professor in the Lisbon Music University and Porto Music University, as a Principal Conductor of the School Orchestra.
He was Principal Conductor of Center Classical Orchestra (Coimbra – Portugal), Associate Conductor of the Orquestra Clássica do Sul (Faro – Portugal), Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Chambre de Carouge, in Switzerland and principal conductor of the Circulo Portuense de Opera Choir (Porto-Portugal).
He began his musical studies with the clarinet in his born town V. N. Famalicão. Later he continued his studies in ARTAVE and ESMAE - Porto, where he graduated in Antonio Saiote’s class. He followed his studies in Orchestral Conducting at the Haute École de Musique de Genève (Switzerland), with Laurent Gay, and choral conducting with Celso Antunes.
He was distinguished in several competitions: “RTP Antena 2 Young Musicians Award”, Portugal; ”Competition Marcos Romão” Portugal and "International Competition Villa de Montroy", Valencia (Spain), in clarinet and chamber music, and in the Portuguese competition “Prémio Jovens Músicos” in orchestral conducting, with the 2nd prize and the special Orchestra Prize, and also Semi Finalist in the “1º Concorso Citta di Brescia Giancarlo Facchinetti” (Italy).
José Eduardo is founder of the clarinet ensemble Quarteto Vintage and Serenade Ensemble.
In the past few years he has been invited to work with the main Portuguese Orchestras, such as Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Cdm, Orquestra SInfónica Portuguesa, with soloist such as Maria João Pires, Diemut Poppen, Maria Elisabeth Lott, Sebastian Klinger, Adriana Ferreira, among others and performing in important festivals, such as Dias da Música, Festival de Sintra, Festival PJM, Festival Cantabile, Festival das Artes, Festival de Música de Leiria, FIMA, Música no Colégio, Festival Internacional de Música Religiosa de Guimarães, among others.
In Opera, he conducted some productions, such as Mozart “Don Giovanni” and “Cosi Fan Tutte”, Marcos de Portugal “La Donna di Genio Volubile”, Haydn “Lo Speziale”.
Another important part of his work is dedicated to youth orchestras, all over the country.
In 2018, he was awarded with the “Medalha de Mérito Cultural”, by his hometown, V.N. Famalicão.
Since 2019, José Eduardo is the Artistic Director of JOF (Jovem Orquestra Famalicão), a young symphonic orchestra, with some of the most prominent young Portuguese musicians.
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Francisco Lima Santos
Violin
Born in Lisbon, he began his musical studies at the age of nine at the Fundação Musical dos Amigos das Crianças, under Ana Margarida Sanmarful. He finished his degree in violin at Lisbon Conservatory, where he studied with Khachatour Amirkhanian. He continued his studies at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels, under Yuzuko Horigome, first prize winner in the Queen Elizabeth Music Competition. He finished his studies in 2016 at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, where he was a student of Ana Chumachenko and Zograb Tatevosyan. During his studies, he took masterclasses by Mauricio Fuks, Liviu Prunaru, Antje Weithaas, Veronika Hagen, Heime Muller, Pavel Gomziakov, Francesca Vicari and Krzysztof Wegrzyn. He was a member and scholarship holder of the Orquestra Sinfónica Juvenil, of which he was a soloist, having also performed solo in various concert halls throughout Portugal. He has been a member of Orquestra XXI since its beginning. He was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, with whom he played in various important European venues.
He has won prizes in the violin category in various competitions during his studies, such as the Fundão International Competition, the José Augusto Alegria Prize and the Young Musicians Prize. In 2016, he won the Vasco Barbosa Prize and in that same year he performed solo with the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra at São Carlos National Theatre. He is a member of the Artium trio, the ensemble that won the Young Musicians Prize in 2016, in the Chamber Music category.
He has played with a number of orchestras in Europe, including the Euskadi Symphony, the Belgian National Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic. He has regularly performed in the Cantabile Festival in chamber music concerts alongside soloists such as Diemut Poppen, Ivan Monigetti, Christel Lee and Barnabas Kelemen. He has been 1st Auxiliary Soloist of the Gulbenkian Orchestra since 2017.
John Williams
The Adventures of Tintin – The Duel
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – Adventures on Earth
Jurassic Park – Theme from Jurassic Park
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – Hedwig’s Flight; Nimbus 2000; Family Portait; Harry’s Wondrous World
Schindler’s List – Theme from Schindler’s List; Remembrances
Memoirs of a Geisha – Sayuri’s Theme
Superman – Superman March
Raiders of the Lost Ark – Raiders March
Star Wars – Main Title; The Imperial March; Throne Room & End Title
The first notes of the new Gulbenkian Música season will sound in the magnificent setting of Vale do Silêncio and will be played by the Gulbenkian Orchestra. In this moment of opening and sharing, in association with the festival “Festas na Rua”, the programme is composed of themes by the famous film music composer, winner of five Oscars, John Williams. The orchestral grandeur associated with cinema will come to life in themes from the soundtracks of films like E.T. -The Extraterrestrial, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, Schindler’s List or Star Wars.
Partners
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