Missa Solemnis
Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir / Matthew Halls
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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 FoundationPricing
50% – Under 30 years old
15% – Over 65 years old
- Conductor
- Soprano
- Mezzo-Soprano
- 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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Matthew Halls
Conductor
Matthew Halls was named Chief Conductor-designate of Finland’s Tampere Philharmonic in September 2022. He returns to Tampere this autumn to conduct Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, before debuting with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris and Minnesota Orchestra, and continuing long-standing partnerships with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Houston Symphony and Indianapolis Symphony.
Matthew regularly guest conducts the Cleveland Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Iceland Symphony, Wiener Symphoniker, Finnish Radio Symphony, Dallas Symphony and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra among others. Recent highlights include Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony with the Toronto Symphony, the US premiere of James MacMillan’s Fourth Symphony with Pittsburgh Symphony (Matthew previously conducted the world premiere of MacMillan’s European Requiem) and his Chicago Symphony debut.
With a background in period-performance, Matthew was one of the first to guest conduct Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s Concentus Musicus Wien. His discography includes Bach’s Harpsichord Concertos directed from the keyboard, the premiere recording of Handel’s Parnasso in Festa (which won the Stanley Sadie Handel prize) and Bach’s Easter and Ascension Oratorios. In the theatre, his operatic credits range from Handel’s Ariodante to Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
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Lucy Crowe
Soprano
Born in Staffordshire, Lucy Crowe studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where she is a Fellow.
With repertoire ranging from Purcell, Handel and Mozart to Donizetti’s Adina, Verdi’s Gilda and Janacek’s Vixen, she has sung with opera companies throughout the world, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Glyndebourne Festival, English National Opera, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, and the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Recent opera highlights include her debut at Dutch National Opera in the title role Rodelinda, Poppea Agrippina at the Royal Opera House, Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera and Pamina Die Zauberflöte at the Liceu Barcelona. In the 2022/23 season Lucy returns to the Royal Opera House for Musetta La Boheme.
In concert, she has performed with many of the world’s finest conductors and orchestras including City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Haïm, Oramo and Nelsons, the Berlin Philharmonic/Harding, Haïm and Nelsons, Vienna Philharmonic/Nelsons, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Egarr, Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Nézet-Séguin, the Monteverdi Orchestra/Gardiner, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle. Recent appearances include Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (BRSO), US and European tours of Handel’s Alcina and Serse, both with The English Concert, Macmillan’s Christmas Oratorio with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the London Symphony Orchestra and Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with the Staatskapelle Berlin. This season Lucy joins the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra on a European tour of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, which also appears at the BBC Proms, the Dunedin Consort for Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest and with the BRSO, concerts of Haydn and Schubert arias also with the BRSO, Morgana Alcina with the Les Violons du Roy in Quebec and Montreal, and her debut with the Cleveland Orchestra for performances selected Mozart arias.
A committed recitalist she has appeared at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Mostly Mozart and Salzburg Festivals, and is a regular guest at the BBC Proms and Wigmore Hall.
Her recordings include Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang with the LSO/ Gardner; Handel’s Il Pastor Fido and Handel & Vivaldi with La Nuova Musica/David Bates for Harmonia Mundi; works by Lutoslawski with the BBC Symphony Orchestra/Gardner, Handel’s Alceste with the Early Opera Company/Curnyn and Eccles’ The Judgement of Paris all for Chandos; a solo Handel disc ll Caro Sassone and Handel’s Rodelinda and La Resurrezione with the English Concert/Bicket, Handel’s Queens with London Early Opera, and MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio with the London Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder. Her debut recital recording featuring Berg, Strauss, and Schoenberg songs was released by Linn Records in August 2021. Lucy received a Grammy nomination in 2021 for Best Opera Recording for Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen with the London Symphony Orchestra/ Sir Simon Rattle.
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Beth Taylor
Mezzo-Soprano
Lauded for her “dark and focused” voice, “sensational coloratura”, “spectacular singing” (The Guardian) and the “intriguing depth” (MusicOMH) of her portrayals, the young Scottish mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor is establishing herself at the world’s most important opera stages and concert halls.
In the 2022/2023 season, Beth makes her role debut as Arsace in Rossini’s Semiramide at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; her house debut at the Opernhaus Zürich as Giuliano Gordio in Cavalli’s Eliogabalo, her debuts at the Berlioz Festival in La Côte-Saint-André as Ursule in Béatrice et Bénédict, at the Théâtre de Beaulieu in Lausanne as the contralto soloist of Mozart’s Requiem and at the Gulbekian in Lisbon as the contralto soloist of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis conducted by John Nelson.
In the last three years, the mezzo-soprano has made important debuts at prestigious venues: In summer 2022, Beth made her acclaimed debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as Bradamante in a new production of Alcina. Following her house debut as La Cieca in La Gioconda, she made her debuts as Erda in Das Rheingold, Erste Norn in Götterdämmerung and Schwertleite in Die Walküre in the Deutsche Oper Berlin’s new Stefan Herheim Ring cycle under the musical direction of Sir Donald Runnicles. She also sang her first Falliero in Rossini’s Bianca e Falliero in a new production at the Oper Frankfurt, where she made her house debut as Dardano in a new staging of Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula. At the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, she performed Argia in the first performances of Giacomelli’s La Merope in modern times with La Cetra and Andrea Marcon, while at Theater Basel Beth sang the contralto solo part in a staged version of Bach’s Matthäuspassion.
Other recent engagements have led her to Madrid and Basel as Cornelia in Giulio Cesare under the baton of Andrea Marcon, to the Nancy Opera House in her role debut as Bradamante in a new production of Alcina led by Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam in Mozart’s Krönungsmesse KV317, to the Aix-en-Provence Festival, where she made her festival debut in a new production of Rihm’s Jakob Lenz, to the New Generation Festival in Florence, where she appeared as Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, to the Opéra de Lyon as Melanto, Anfinomo and Fortuna in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, to the Longborough Festival as Arnalta in L’incoronazione di Poppea, to the Iford Arts Festival as Rosmira in Partenope, to the Opéra de Lyon as La Reine/Le Coucou/Le Chat in Respighi’s La belle au bois dormant, to the Grimeborn Opera Festival as Fox/Dog/Hen in The Cunning Little Vixen and to the Fife Opera as Olga in Eugene Onegin.
Beth Taylor is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and The Open University. She is currently refining her technique under the tutelage of Jennifer Larmore and Iain Paton. Beth has participated in masterclasses with renowned artists such as Sarah Connolly, Susan Graham, Sir Thomas Allen, Sophie Daneman and Dame Emma Kirkby.
She is the winner of the 2022 Elizabeth Connell Award, 3rd prize winner of the 2019 Wigmore Hall Competition and the winner of the 2018 Gianni Bergamo Classical Music Awards.
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Toby Spence
Tenor
An honours graduate and choral scholar from New College, Oxford, Toby Spence studied at the Opera School of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was the winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society 2011 Singer of the Year award.
In concert Toby has sung with some of the most renowned orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He has appeared as a guest soloist at the Easter Festival in Salzburg and the Edinburgh International Festival. He has worked with an impressive array of conductors such as Christoph von Dohnanyi, Sir Simon Rattle, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Antonio Pappano, Valery Gergiev, Sir Colin Davis, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gustavo Dudamel, Edward Gardner, Roger Norrington and Charles Mackerras.
Operatic highlights include recent role debuts as Erik Der Fliegende Holländer for Teatro La Fenice, Alonso The Tempest for Teatro alla Scala, and title role Parsifal for Opera North, Aschenbach Death in Venice for Opéra National du Rhin, Captain Vere in Deborah Warner’s Billy Budd for Teatro Real, Opera di Roma and ROH, Alwa Lulu for La Monnaie , Anatol Vanessa for Frankfurt Opera, Don Ottavio for the Liceu Barcelona, Eisenstein Die Fledermaus and Antonio The Tempest for the Metropolitan Opera, Tito, Tamino, Henry Morosus Die Schweigsame Frau and Monsieur Taupe Capriccio for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Florestan Fidelio for Garsington Opera and Opera North, Ghandi Satyagraha at the English National Opera, Don Ottavio and Tito for the Wiener Staatsoper as well as Tom Rakewell and David Die Meistersinger for Opéra de Paris. Toby’s longstanding relationship with ROH has seen him sing David Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Tamino Die Zauberflöte, Ferdinand TheTempest, Count Almaviva Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Ramiro La Cenerentola, Tom RakewellThe Rake’s Progress, and Essex Gloriana.
Plans for the 2024/25 season include a return to the role of Erik (Der Fliegende Holländer) for the Irish National Opera, as well as performances of Der Mönch (Die Jakobsleiter) with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. On the concert platform, Toby will perform Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the Royal Albert Hall, Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with Ben Goldscheider and Fantasia Orchestra, and Handel's Messiah with the Hallé Orchestra.
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Matthew Brook
Bass-Baritone
Matthew Brook leapt to fame with his 2007 Gramophone Award-winning recording of Handel’s Messiah with the Dunedin Consort, followed by equally critically acclaimed recordings of Acis and Galatea and St Matthew Passion. He has appeared as a soloist throughout Europe, Australia, North and South America and the Far East, and has worked with many of the world's leading conductors. He has developed a world-wide reputation for his interpretation of the music of J.S Bach and George Frederic Handel but his musical tastes stretch far beyond this, often performing new commissions.
Recent highlights include the role of Aeneas in the world premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s Dido’s Ghost co-commissioned by the Dunedin Consort with the Barbican Centre, Edinburgh International Festival, Buxton International Festival and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale, a return to the BBC Proms for Bach’s B minor Mass with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Messiahs with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, English Chamber Orchestra and Music of the Baroque Chicago, Haydn’s The Creation with both the AAM and Handel and Haydn Society Boston and Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Orchestra of St Luke’s at Carnegie Hall and with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.
This season, Matthew sings Bach Cantatas in a return to Les Violons du Roy in Quebec, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Orchestre National de Lyon, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Coro e Orquestra Gulbenkian, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Royal Philharmonic, the role of Christus in Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Haydn’s Creation in a return to Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Handel Odes with Orchestra of St Luke's, and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with BBC SO under Sir Andrew Davies.
Matthew has an extensive discography having recorded for EMI/Virgin, Chandos, Hyperion, Naxos, Linn and Delphian. His most recent recording Bach: Ich habe genug with the Dunedin Consort for the Linn label won the choral award in the 2022 BBC Music Magazine Awards.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Missa Solemnis
* Due to reasons of force majeure, conductor John Nelson is replaced by Matthew Halls.
“The day in which a High Mass composed by me is performed during the ceremonies solemnized for Your Imperial Highness will be the most glorious day of my life; and God will enlighten me so that my poor talents may contribute to the glorification of that solemn day.” So wrote Beethoven in 1819, upon learning of the future investiture of his patron Archduke Rudolph of Austria as Archbishop of Olmoütz. This would be the starting point for the creation of one of Beethoven’s most notable compositions and one of the most important works in the sacred repertoire.
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