Shostakovich's 8th
Gulbenkian Orchestra
Event Slider
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 FoundationThis concert will be broadcast live here on 17 October at 19:00 (GMT).
Pricing
25% – Under 30
10% – Over 65
Cartão Gulbenkian:
50% – Under 30
20% – Over 65
10% – 30 to 65
- Conductor
- Viola
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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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Hannu Lintu
Music Director
“Dynamic and sharp on the podium” (Bachtrack) and with an “extreme clarity of purpose, every detail worth noting” (Los Angeles Times), Hannu Lintu maintains his reputation as one of the world’s finest conductors. This season Lintu continues his tenures as Music Director of Orquestra Gulbenkian and Chief Conductor of Finnish National Opera and Ballet, proving himself a master of both symphonic and operatic repertoire, as well as beginning his tenures as Artistic Partner of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the International Sibelius Festival.
Last season also saw Lintu’s appointment as Music Director of Singapore Symphony Orchestra from 2026/27, where he will appear this season for several performances, including for Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Shostakovich’s 7th Leningrad Symphony. Other highlights include returns to the BBC, St Louis, Toronto, Baltimore and Detroit Symphonies, as well as productions of Strauss’ Elektra and a world premiere of Sebastian Fagerlund’s The Morning Star at Finnish National Opera.
Symphonic highlights of recent years have seen Lintu conduct the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic (including an immediate re-invitation from the orchestra to perform at Bravo! Vail Festival), Berliner Philharmoniker, The Cleveland Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Radio France, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, London Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, St Louis Symphony, and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.
As an expert in both operatic as well as symphonic repertoire, Lintu’s recent opera highlights have included Enescu’s Œdipe with the Vienna Symphony at Bregenz Festspiele, Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at Opera de Paris and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at Bayerische Staatsoper as a guest conductor, as well as multiple productions at Finnish National Opera and Ballet, including a recent multi-season Ring Cycle, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, a choregraphed reimagining of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Puccini’s Turandot, Richard Strauss’ Salome, and Britten’s Billy Budd.
Lintu has made several recordings for Ondine, BIS Records, Naxos, Avie Records and Hyperion Records. His diverse discography comprises recordings of Magnus Lindberg’s orchestral works, the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with Stephen Hough, and Lutoslawski’s Symphonies Nos. 1-4, all with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. His often-gilded work boasts two International Classical Music Awards and several nominations for Gramophone and GRAMMY awards in recognition of recording projects such as Bartók’s Violin Concertos with Christian Tetzlaff, works by Sibelius featuring Anne Sofie von Otter, Rautavaara’s Kaivos, and the Violin Concertos of Sibelius and Thomas Adès with Augustin Hadelich and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Lintu studied cello and piano at the Sibelius Academy, where he also later studied conducting with Jorma Panula. He participated in masterclasses with Myung-Whun Chung at L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and took first prize at the Nordic Conducting Competition in Bergen in 1994.
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Amihai Grosz
Viola
Amihai Grosz has enjoyed a unique career path to date, having founded the Jerusalem Quartet in 1995, and later being appointed Principal Violist of the renowned Berlin Philharmonic in 2010. Invitations for solo work soon followed and have expanded in recent years to include collaborations with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, Tugan Sokhiev, Klaus Mäkelä, Nathalie Stutzmann, Ingo Metzmacher, Lionel Bringuier, and Ariel Zukermann. Previously, he has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Finnish Radio Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Barcelona Symphony, National Symphony of Ireland, and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.
Amihai's recent highlights include appearances at the inaugural Tsindali Festival in Georgia, joining Gianandrea Noseda, Augustin Hadelich, and the Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra for Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, a piece he also reprised alongside long-time collaborator Janine Jansen at the 30th anniversary edition of the esteemed Verbier Festival in 2023. The start of 2024 featured a tour to the Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall, Shenzhen Concert Hall, and Hong Kong Cultural Centre with Daniel Harding and Vilde Frang as part of the 2024 Youth Music Culture the Greater Bay Area, which involved a two-week educational residency with over 100 young musicians from all around China.
Two very special collaborations with the renowned Berlin Philharmonic put particular focus on Amihai's 2024/2025 season: a recording of Walton and Martinů viola concertos with conductors Sir Simon Rattle and Matthias Pintscher, respectively, releasing on the orchestra's own label in September 2024, as well as a highly anticipated world premiere of a new commissioned viola concerto by South Korean composer Donghoon Shin, conducted by Tugan Sokhiev.
Amihai remains extremely fond of his chamber music collaborations, and has worked with artists such as Yefim Bronfman, Mitsuko Uchida, Daniel Hope, Eric Le Sage, Janine Jansen, Julian Steckel, Daishin Kashimoto, and David Geringas. Internationally, he can be heard regularly at the most prestigious concert halls such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Zurich Tonhalle, Wigmore Hall, and the Philharmonie Luxembourg, as well as at leading festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Evian, Verbier, and Delft festivals, the BBC Proms, and the Utrecht International Chamber Music Festival.
Signed exclusively to the Alpha Classics label, Amihai’s first concerto album, released in autumn 2023, featured the Bartók Viola Concerto with the Orchestra National de Lille and Alexander Bloch. His next recording on the label, to be released in late 2024, features Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, recorded with violinist Julien Chauvin and the acclaimed early music ensemble Concert de la Loge.
Amihai first started playing viola at age 11, having previously started on violin. He was taught by David Chen in Jerusalem, then later on by Tabea Zimmermann in Frankfurt and Berlin as well as in Tel Aviv by Haim Taub, the latter of whom had a formative influence on him. He received various grants and prizes at a very early age and was a member of the ‘Young Musicians Group’ of the Jerusalem Music Center, a program for outstanding young musical talents. He is based in Berlin and plays a 1570 Gasparo da Salò viola on loan for life from a private collection.
Alfred Schnittke
Dmitri Shostakovich
The profound influence of Shostakovich’s work would become a hallmark of Alfred Schnittke’s creation. In this concert directed by Hannu Lintu, the dialogue is based on works by the two Russian composers: Schnittke with a Viola Concerto of a restless nature, which was dedicated to Yuri Bashmet and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8 written during the fighting of World War II, in the hope that, despite its tragic tone, it would lead to a brighter outcome.
Sponsor Gulbenkian Music
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