St. John's Passion
Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir
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Date
- 19:00 / Cancelled 19:00 / Sold out Wednesday, 19:00
- 20:00 / Cancelled 20:00 / Sold out Thursday, 20:00
Location
Grand Auditorium Calouste Gulbenkian FoundationPricing
25% – Under 30
10% – Over 65
Cartão Gulbenkian:
50% – Under 30
20% – Over 65
10% – 30 to 65
- Conductor
- Soprano
- Mezzo-Soprano
- Tenor
- Tenor
- Baritone
- Baritone
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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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Martina Batič
Principal Conductor
Martina Batič is one of the leading choir directors of her generation. As the winner of the renowned Eric Ericson Competition 2006, she is celebrated for her particular versatility in conducting a broad choral repertoire from chamber music to symphony.
Martina Batič has been Principal Conductor of the Chœur de Radio France from 2018-2022. Before that, she held the position of Artistic Director of the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir. From 2004-2009, Martina Batič was Artistic Director of the Choir of the Slovenian National Opera in Ljubljana. In season 2023/24 she is taking the Chief Conductor position of Danish National Vocal Ensemble in Copenhagen.
The Slovenian is a sought-after guest conductor and has been on podium of the RIAS Chamber Choir, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, MDR Rundfunkchor, SWR Vokalensemble, Chorwerk Ruhr, as well as the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, Swedish Radio Choir, Danish National Vocal Ensemble, The Norwegian Soloists' Choir, Suomen Laulu Choir & Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Nederlands Kamerkoor, Netherlands Radio Choir, Flemish Radio Choir, Gulbenkian Choir and others.Future highlights include her return visits to Nederlands Kamerkoor, Netherlands Radio Choir, Gulbenkian Orchestra & Choir and engagements with Flemish Radio Choir, SWR Vokalensemble, Coro Casa da Musica Porto, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Zürcher Sing-Akademie, Helsinki Chamber Choir, Bachchor Salzburg among others.
Martina Batič has conducted A cappella concerts at festivals such as Baltic Sea Stockholm, Ultima Oslo, Choregies d’Orange, Montpellier, Saint-Denis and Présences Paris. In 2018 she conducted the Swedish Radio Choir & Eric Ericson Chamber Choir in a gala concert on the occasion of Eric Ericson's 100th birthday.
Martina Batič obtained her Bachelor of Music from the Music Academy of the University of Ljubljana in 2002. She continued her studies at the University of Music and Theater in Munich in the class of Prof. Michael Gläser, where she completed her master's degree in choral conducting with distinction in 2004. She attended master classes across Europe and worked with renowned choral conductors such as Eric Ericson.
In 2019 Martina Batič received the Slovenian national prize “Prešeren Fund Awards” for her artistic achievements in the field of choral conducting. -
Johanna Zimmer
Soprano
Soprano Johanna Zimmer is a specialist interpreter of classical contemporary music as well as a highly acclaimed oratorium and lied singer.
Concert and opera engagements brought her to Europe, Asia and the USA, where she sang at festivals such as SALT New Music Festival Kanada, New Music Week Shanghai, Salzburger Festspiele, Brengenzer Festspiele, Schwetzinger Festspiele, La Biennale di Venezia, Wien Modern and Donaueschinger Musiktage.As a guest singer, she performed in opera houses such as Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opera Oslo and Opera Vlaanderen and in concerthalls like the Berliner Philharmonie, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Wiener Konzerthaus.
She performed as a soloist with various ensembles and orchestras including WDR and SWR Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre de Radio France, Klangforum Wien and Ensemble Recherche, and sang with conductors like Simon Rattle, Alejo Pérez, Emilio Pomàrico and Bas Wiegers.
From 2015 to 2020 she was the first soprano of Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart. She premiered (solo)works of Beat Furrer, Georges Aperghis, Alexey Retinsky, Annelies Van Parys, Johannes Kalitzke and Simon Steen-Andersen.
Johanna Zimmer also gave masterclasses for singers and composers at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, der Modern Academy Hongkong, der Young Composers Academy Lugano sowie am California Institute of the Arts Los Angeles, der American University Cairo und dem Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium Kopenhagen and contributed to a lot of recordings of (mostly contemporary) classical music for cd as well as tv.
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Marie-George Monet
Mezzo-Soprano
After she completed a Bachelor in Musicology at the University François Rabelais in Tours (France), Marie George Monet was admitted to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London in David Pollard’s singing class. Her interest for chamber music led her to sing on regular basis with chamber ensembles such as Accentus, Musicatreize, Les Jeunes Solistes, De Caelis. As a soloist, she regularly performs in baroque oratorio repertoire. Lately she regularly collaborates with Les Traversées Baroques conducted by Etienne Meyer at the Opera de Dijon.
She also sings under the baton of conductors such as Christian Curnyn, Sylvain Cambreling, Christian Zacharias, Laurence Equilbey, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Barbara Hannigan…
Her repertoire includes stage performances such as Messaggiera in Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Arnalta in Monterverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea, Third Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, The Witch in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, The Divine Justice in Falvetti’s Il Diluvio Universale.Her interest in contemporary music led her to perform world premieres as alto solo in Yvonne, Princesse de Bourgogne by Philippe Boesmans (Opéra de Paris and Vienna), The Fairy in Slutchaï by Oscar Strasnoy (Opéra de Bordeaux), Atuat in Babel after the war by Xavier Dayer (Vevey’s Theater), The Lawyer in La Digitale by Juan-Pablo Carreño (Teatro Colon de Bogota).
She recorded several songs cycles by Frédéric Pattar, Félix Ibbarrondo and François-Bernard Mâche.She sings in many festivals such as Présences (Paris), Aix en Provence, La Chaise Dieu, Agape (Switzerland), Cuenca (Spain), Varazdin (Croatia), Tenso (Oslo), Mid Europe Early Music Festival (Poland), French May (Hong Kong), Salzburg Festspiele (Austria)…
Her recent performances include her in Grisey Chants de l’amour (Bibliothèque Nationale de France), Mozart Requiem (tour with Orchestre Les Siècles), Stravinsky Les Noces (Lionel Sow, Radio France).
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Conny Thimander
Tenor
Conny Thimander is a Swedish tenor specializing in the creation of eccentric characters on stage. He received his Master of Arts degree from the Opera Academy in Stockholm and was awarded second prize in the Gösta Winbergh Award competition as well as the Bayreuth Scholarship from the Swedish Wagner Society.
The 2025/2026 season opened with a revival of Rufus Wainwright’s nostalgic and hypnotic opera Prima Donna at the Royal Swedish Opera, where Conny returned as the journalist André, a character with ambiguous motives. At the same house he also appeared in the celebration concert Nicolai Gedda 100 år, marking the centenary of the legendary Swedish tenor.
Conny was then reinvited to the Finnish National Opera to sing the role of Lars in Marc-Anthony Turnage and Lee Hall’s adaptation of Thomas Vinterberg’s haunting, Oscar-winning film Festen. The season concludes with an opera adaptation of the Challenger catastrophe by composer Joel Thoor Engström and librettist Sigrid Herrault, in which he portrays the troubled manager of the rocket company Thiokol. The summer will be spent as Spoletta in Tosca at the enormous outdoor stage of Hedeland, south of Copenhagen.
His unusual scenic presence has lent itself to characters such as Flute in Peter Hall’s legendary production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Malmö Opera (2021); the Police Inspector, the extreme role in Shostakovich’s The Nose at the Royal Danish Opera (2022); Orfeo in a performance version of Orfeo, Lollike’s final production as director of Sort/Hvid (2023); Pong in Turandot at Malmö Opera (2024) and the Royal Swedish Opera (2013); Mercury in Orpheus in the Underworld at Malmö Opera (2020); Philipp von Hessen in the Luther opera Schlagt sie tot! at Malmö Opera (2019); the Holy Fool in Boris Godunov, directed by Peter Konwitschny at Gothenburg Opera (2018); Tanzmeister and Scaramuccio in Ariadne auf Naxos at Gothenburg Opera (2018); Remendado in Carmen at Malmö Opera (2018) and the Royal Swedish Opera (2012); Sandon in the Swedish national opera Aniara at Malmö Opera (2017); Trotteltroll in Die Schneekönigin at Deutsche Oper am Rhein (2016); Niko and Hüseyin in Gegen die Wand at Deutsche Oper am Rhein (2014); Mond in Vom Mädchen, das nicht schlafen wollte at Deutsche Oper am Rhein (2014) and later again at Theater Bonn (2016); and Demo – the stuttering hunchback – in Il Giasone at Drottningholm Palace Theatre (2012).
The lyrical quality of his voice and his exquisite musicality have shaped roles such as Tamino in The Magic Flute at the Royal Swedish Opera (2013–2014) and Piccolo Regio (2010); Ferrando in Così fan tutte at Jyske Opera (2015); Lindoro in a youth adaptation of L’italiana in Algeri at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus (2017); André in Rufus Wainwright’s opera Prima Donna at the Royal Swedish Opera (2021); and Ramiro in La Cenerentola at Folkoperan (2024) and Opera Hedeland (2024).
On the concert stage he has performed most of the major oratorios, with the role of the Evangelist in the Passions by J.S. Bach becoming one of his specialties. He has appeared at the Berliner Philharmonie, Royal Albert Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan and the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, together with Staatskapelle Berlin, the Swedish Radio Choir and Orchestra, the Orchestra and Choir of the Gulbenkian Foundation, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Phil, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and the Copenhagen Boys Choir.
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Thomas Hobbs
Tenor
The English tenor Thomas Hobbs is one of the most interesting and significant Bach tenors and is in high demand with many leading baroque and early music ensembles.
Highlights of Hobbs’ 2025/26 season include Handel’s Messiah with The Victoria Symphony, Coro e Orquestra Gulbenkian and Pomeranian Philharmonic, Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion with Il Pomo d’Oro and Coro e Orquestra Gulbenkian and Handel’s Judas Maccabeus with Vocalensemble Rastatt and Les Favorites. He will also perform at Wigmore Hall during the John Dowland 400th anniversary celebrations in March 2026. This season, Hobbs will also his long standing relationships with Gli Angeli Genève, Le Banquet Celeste, Alia Mens and Les Arts Florissants performing works including Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and selected cantatas.
Recent highlights have included Bach’s St Matthew Passion for RIAS Kammerchor and the South Netherlands Philharmonic, a programme of selected Bach cantatas on tour with the Constellation Orchestra, Bach’s B Minor Mass at Oregon Bach Festival, and concerts with ensembles including Le Banquet Celeste, Gli Angeli Genève, Les Arts Florissants and Alia Mens. Further highlights include two tours across Europe with the Netherlands Bach Society in Bach’s Magnificat and as the Evangelist in the St Matthew Passion, a European tour of the Messiah with the RIAS Kammerchor, Evangelist in the St Matthew Passion with the Bach Collegium Japan, the Dutch Bach Society and on tour with the Netherlands Bach Society, the 25th birthday concert with the Dunedin Consort, Vivaldi’s Vespers with Musikpodium Stuttgart and Kammerchor Stuttgart, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Concerto Copenhagen, Handel’s Messiah with Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, Early Music Vancouver, Sinfonietta Riga, Tafelmusik Toronto, RIAS Kammerchor, Academy of Ancient Music at the Barbican and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Bach’s B Minor Mass on a European tour and at the Salzburg Festival with Collegium Vocale Gent and Herreweghe, Haydn’s Creation with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and the CBSO, Schumann’s Requiem with Richard Egarr and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Bach cantatas with Les Violons du Roy, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and he travelled to Australia to sing Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Choir of London and Australian Chamber Orchestra.
Hobbs performed Bach, Britten and Haydn with the Israel Camerata, sang Handel’s Alexander’s Feast with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, as well as Bach programmes with La Chapelle Harmonique, Dunedin Consort at Wigmore Hall, and with the Milan Symphony Orchestra. On the opera stage, Hobbs performed a critically acclaimed Telemachus in Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses in a new production for English National Opera conducted by Jonathan Cohen, Apollo and Shepherd in Monteverdi’s Orfeo in semi- staged performances with Richard Egarr and the Academy of Ancient Music and the title role in Britten’s Albert Herring and Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan tutte.
Hobbs’ ever-expanding discography includes Bach’s Trinitas with Le Banquet Céleste, Mass in B Minor with both Colegium Vocale Ghent and the Dunedin Consort, a selection of motets, the Leipzig Cantatas and Christmas Oratorio with Colegium Vocale Ghent, Christmas Oratorio with Dunedin Consort, and Weimar Cantatas with Alia Mens. He has recorded Handel’s Acis et Galatea and Esther with the Dunedin Consort and Beethoven’s Mass in C with Stuttgart Kammerchor. His recordings of Handel’s Chandos Anthems with Stephen Layton and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Mozart’s Requiem with John Butt and the Dunedin Consort have been universally praised, with the latter receiving the 2014 Gramophone Award for best Choral recording.
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Lars Johansson Brissman
Baritone
The baritone Lars Johansson Brissman was born in Stockholm. He studied singing at the Royal University College of Music in Stockholm and the University College of Opera in Stockholm. He has been awarded Kristina Nilsson Award, Joel Berglund Award and the prestigious Royal Swedish Academy of Music Award.
Opera engagements have included Liconte and Caronte in ORLANDO PALADINO, Plutone in Monteverdi’s L’ORFEO as well as Soldat 2 / Famigliaro 3 / Liberto / Consolo in Monteverdi’s L’INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA at the Drottningholm Festival in Stockholm, Shaunard in LA BOHÈME and Lars-Edward in the world premiere of Carl Unander-Scharin’s HUMMELHONUNG at the Royal Swedish Opera, Parsi Rustomji and Krishna in Philip Glass’ SATYAGRAHA at Folkoperan in Stockholm as well as in Copenhagen and New York, Philip Glass’ CIRKUS DAYS AND NIGHTS at the Malmö Opera, Ricimer in André Danican Philidor’s ERNELINDE at the Gloger Festival, Anckarström in Werle’s TINTOMARA at Läckö Slottsopera, Polyphemos in Handel’s ACIS AND GALATEA in Oslo with the Norwegian Baroque Orchestra, Aeneas in Purcell’s DIDO AND AENEAS as well as Nathan in Staale Kleiberg’s DAVID AND BATHSHEBA with Trondheim Opera, Donner in DAS RHEINGOLD, Guglielmo in COSI FAN TUTTE, Baron Mirka Zeta in DIE LUSTIGE WITWE as well as Ulf and Kark in Ivar Hallströms DEN BERGTAGNA at Folkoperan in Stockholm. He has also participated in staged performances of Bach’s CHRISTMAS ORATORIO with Piteå Opera.
Lars Johansson Brissman is one of Scandinavia’s most sought-after concert singers and he is a regular guest with the major orchestras and festivals. He frequently appears throughout Europa, and he has also appeared in the U.S. and in Australia. He has an unusually wide repertoire spanning from the renaissance period to the romantic period, as well as including a large number of works by contemporary composers.
He has worked with conductors such as Martina Batič, Olof Boman, Herbert Böck, Peter Dijkstra, Bjarte Engeset, Eric Ericsson, Gary Garden, Daniel Harding, Ruben Jais, Tönu Kaljuste, Ton Koopman, Andrew Manze, Riccardo Muti, Andew Parrot, Joshua Riffkin, Morten Schuldt-Jensen, Mark Tatlow, Goos ten Napel, Jos van Immerseel and Matthew Wood.
Recent engagements include Bach’s ST JOHN PASSION in Milan with Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano and the conductor Ruben Jais, Bach’s ST MATTHEW PASSION in Leiden and The Hague with the Residentie Orkest Hague, the title role in Verdi’s MACBETH Läckö Slottsopera, Gobrias in Handel’s BELSHAZZAR in Karlstad, Bach’s CHRISTMAS ORATORIO in Stavanger, Haugesund and Kristiansand, Brahms EIN DEUTSCHES REQUIEM in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo, Karlstad and Uppsala as well as in Haugesund, Bach’s ST MATTHEW PASSION in Trondheim as well as in Västerås and Bach’s MASS IN B MINOR in Stockholm.
Lars Johansson Brissman’s recordings include SYMPHONY NO. 9 with Anima Eterna, Nathan in Staale Kleiberg’s DAVID AND BATHSHEBA with Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Duke Magnus in Ivar Hallströms DUKE MAGNUS AND THE MERMAIDS with Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s ST JOHN PASSION with ReBaroque, Haydn’s MISSA SANCTI HIERONYMI with Ensemble Philidor and Fredrik Sixten’s ST JOHN PASSION.
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André Baleiro
Baritone
André Baleiro is the winner of the 17th International Robert Schumann Competition (Zwickau, 2016), the 9th Portuguese Rotary Foundation Vocal Competition (Lisbon, 2016), and the Most Promising Talent Prize at the prestigious International DAS LIED Competition (Heidelberg, 2017), as well as the SWR Young Opera Stars Competition (Kaiserslautern, 2019). He was awarded Second Prize at both the Helmut Deutsch International Lied Competition (Vienna, 2021) and the Schubert and Modern Music International Chamber Music Competition (Graz, 2022).
On the operatic stage, he has stood out with his interpretations of PELLÉAS (Pelléas et Mélisande, Debussy), VALENTIN (Faust, Gounod), FORD (Falstaff, Verdi), ORPHÉE (Philip Glass), TARQUINIUS (The Rape of Lucretia) and NED KEEN (Peter Grimes, Britten), as well as FIGARO (Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini), performing in venues such as the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, the Gulbenkian Foundation, and the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon, the Munich Kammeroper, the Teatro Pérez Galdós in Las Palmas, Theater Trier in Germany, and the Wrocław Opera in Poland.
His broad concert repertoire includes Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine, J. S. Bach’s Passions, Handel’s oratorios, Mozart and Dvořák Masses, Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ, Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem, the Requiems of Fauré, Duruflé and Brahms, Ravel’s Don Quichotte à Dulcinée, Schönberg’s Gurrelieder, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.
He has collaborated with conductors such as Michel Corboz, Stefan Blunier, Frédéric Chaslin, Graeme Jenkins, Antonio Pirolli, Joana Carneiro, Nabil Shehata, Lorenzo Viotti, Dinis Sousa, Nuno Coelho, Peter Dijkstra, and Jonathan Bloxham.
He regularly performs in recital with various pianists, presenting a repertoire spanning a wide range of languages, styles, and periods. Notable among these are his long-standing collaborations with João Paulo Santos and David Santos. He also has a strong focus on modern and contemporary vocal music, having worked on several occasions with the Liederwerkstatt project led by Axel Bauni at the Kissinger Sommer Festival in Germany, where he premiered new works for voice and piano by composers such as Steffen Schleiermacher, Manfred Trojahn, and Luca Lombardi.
André Baleiro studied Voice at the University of the Arts (UdK) Berlin under baritone Siegfried Lorenz, and deepened his Lied repertoire with Eric Schneider. He has attended masterclasses with renowned singers such as Tom Krause, Ian Bostridge, Lorenzo Regazzo, and José van Dam.
He is currently continuing his technical and artistic development with Snežana Stamenković. In 2025, André Baleiro performed the baritone part in Britten’s War Requiem and the role of Faust in Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust at Teatro Camões in Lisbon. He also portrayed Miller in Verdi’s Luisa Miller at the Luzern Theatre (Switzerland).
Upcoming engagements include song recitals at the Espinho Auditorium, the Centro Cultural de Belém, the Marvão International Music Festival, and the Alcobaça Festival, featuring Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn.
Johann Sebastian Bach
After conducting the Gulbenkian Choir for St. Matthew’s Passion in 2023, Martina Batič is now focusing on St. John Passion, another of Bach’s masterpieces of sacred music. Premiered on Good Friday 1724 in Leipzig, the St John Passion recounts the ordeal and suffering of Christ on his way to crucifixion, based on John’s words in the Gospel, giving it a less earthly aura by emphasizing its divine origin. Bach’s writing accompanies the last moments of Jesus Christ’s life with touching grandeur.
Sponsor Gulbenkian Music
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