Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2
Gulbenkian Orchestra
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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
25% – Under 30
10% – Over 65
Cartão Gulbenkian:
50% – Under 30
20% – Over 65
10% – 30 to 64
- 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.
Hannu Lintu is the Music Director of the Gulbenkian Orchestra since 2023.
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Andrey Boreyko
Conductor
This 2025/26 season, Andrey Boreyko returns to Chicago Symphony and Boston Symphony with Evgeny Kissin. He also conducts the Mozarteum Orchestra at the Salzburg Grosses Festspielhaus and Vienna Radio Symphony. Other highlights include Spanish Radio Orchestra in Madrid, National Arts Centre Orchestra Ottawa, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, Teatro Comunale di Bologna Orchestra, Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, and George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra.
Following his successful tenure as Music & Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Boreyko joins forces with them again this season: they returned to the International Chopin Piano Competition, appearing at the opening concert, final rounds, and Laureates’ concerts of the competition’s 19th edition.
A popular guest of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Boreyko has conducted critically acclaimed subscription programmes with them in recent years, with repertoire including Shostakovich Symphony No.5, Shostakovich Symphony No.13 “Babi Yar”, and Tchaikovsky Symphony No.4. Reviews of their performances have been unanimous in their praise:
“I doubt I’ll hear such an intensely overwhelming performance any time soon. Fearlessly conducted by Andrey Boreyko, the superlative playing from the LPO caught my ear” – The Times *****
Other highlights from recent seasons include Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony, Prague Symphony, Aarhus Symphony, Hamburg State Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, and New Japan Philharmonic. He has also worked with Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Gürzenich Orchester Köln, Montreal Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Sinfonica Nazionale RAI, and Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano with whom he has appeared at Teatro all Scala and the Mahler Festival.
Prior to the conclusion of his successful tenure as Music & Artistic Director of Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir in 2024, Boreyko was Music Director of Artis — Naples in the US for eight seasons. Other previous appointments include Music Director positions of Hamburg Symphonie, Berner Sinfonieorchester, Düsseldorf Symphoniker, Winnipeg Symphony, and Orchestre National de Belgique.
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Yeol Eum Son
Piano
Poetic elegance, an innate feeling for expressive nuance, and the power to project bold, dramatic contrasts are among the arresting attributes of Yeol Eum Son’s pianism. She is known for her refined artistry, breathtaking technical control, and a strikingly wide-ranging repertoire that spans from J. S. Bach and Mozart to Ligeti and Kapustin.
She is in demand around the world as recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician and continues to deepen her artistry through frequent collaborations with many of today’s leading conductors.
Recent and current engagements include debuts with the Finnish and Swedish Radio Symphony orchestras, the Brussels, Dresden, Helsinki, Liverpool, London, Los Angeles and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras, Atlanta, Baltimore, Danish National, Detroit, Galicia and St Louis Symphony orchestras, Symphony Orchestra of the Casa da Música (Porto), Gulbenkian in Lisbon and São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra. She regularly collaborates with the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, Hague Residentie Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne Symphony orchestras and National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa.
As recitalist and chamber musician, recent highlights have included appearances at the Edinburgh International Festival, International Chopin Festival and Wigmore Hall. Her latest recording features Ravel’s two piano concertos coupled with Paul Wittgenstein’s Bach arrangements. Born in Wonju, South Korea, Yeol Eum Son studied at Korea National University of Arts, continuing her training with Arie Vardi in Hanover. She won Second Prize and Best Chamber Music Performance at the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition and took the Silver Medal at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition.
Carlos Caires
Sergei Prokofiev
Dmitri Shostakovich
* World premiere – Commissioned by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
A pianist of astonishing poetic elegance and immense versatility, Yeol Eum Son is one of the greatest revelations of the past decade. Her graceful virtuosity will be accompanied by the Gulbenkian Orchestra in a performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2, of which the BBC remarked that ‘few living pianists will play it better’. The programme also includes the world premiere of a new work by Portuguese composer Carlos Caires, commissioned for the 70th anniversary of the Gulbenkian Foundation.
Photo © Marco Borggreve
Sponsor Gulbenkian Music
Sponsor Piano and Orchestra Concertos
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