St. Matthew'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
15% – Over 65
- Coro Infanto-Juvenil da Universidade de Lisboa
- Conductor *
- Soprano
- Mezzo-Soprano
- Tenor
- Tenor
- Baritone
- Hugo Oliveira 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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Luca Guglielmi
Conductor
Luca Guglielmi (*Turin, Italy, 1977) is a conductor, composer, soloist on historical keyboards (harpsichord, organ, clavichord, and fortepiano), and musicologist. Renowned for his "historically informed" approach to music from all periods, Guglielmi’s extensive repertoire spans from Gesualdo to Stravinsky. He is deeply committed to the study and application of the phenomenology of music. Guglielmi made his debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in 2019 and at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona in 2023. His conducting mentors include Jordi Savall, with whom he has collaborated and assisted since 1998, and Sir Simon Rattle, who has invited him to assist in the upcoming production of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at the 2025 Aix-en-Provence Festival. In Italy, Guglielmi has conducted several prestigious orchestras, including the ORT-Orchestra Regionale Toscana, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino, Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, Orchestra Milano Classica, the RAI Turin Choir, and the Cappella Musicale di Santa Maria dei Servi in Bologna. Recently, Guglielmi assisted Jordi Savall in "La Clemenza di Tito" for the Salzburg Mozartwoche and in orchestral projects with Le Concert des Nations, performing a repertoire that includes Beethoven's nine symphonies and Missa Solemnis, Schubert's 8th and 9th symphonies, Mendelssohn's "Italian Symphony" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" incidental music, Bruckner's Symphony Nr. 0 "Nullte". Upcoming engagements include Mendelssohn "Walpurgisnacht" and Symphony Nr. 3 alongside Jordi Savall. Parallel to his conducting career, Guglielmi has been active as a harpsichord and organ soloist, continuo player, chamber musician, and choir director since 1993. He was awarded "Honorable Mention" at the XII International Organ Competition in Bruges and studied under Ton Koopman, Patrizia Marisaldi, Vittorio Bonotto, Alessandro Ruo Rui, and Sergio Pasteris. Guglielmi has collaborated with notable soloists such as Cecilia Bartoli, Sara Mingardo, Barbara Bonney, Philippe Jaroussky, Giuliano Carmignola, Paolo Pandolfo, Ottavio Dantone, Gabriele Cassone, Paul O'Dette, and Katia and Marielle Labéque. He has also worked with ensembles including Il Giardino Armonico, Ricercar Consort, Ensemble La Fenice, The Rare Fruits Council, Freiburger Barockorchester, and the RAI National Symphony Orchestra (under Jeffrey Tate, Roberto Abbado, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Ton Koopman, Robert King, and Ottavio Dantone). Awarded two Diapason d’or (for Bach’s "Goldberg Variations" and Pasquini’s "Sonate da gravecembalo") and an Editor's Choice by Gramophone magazine (for "Bach in Montecassino"), Luca Guglielmi has an extensive discography of over fifty titles, including more than twenty solo recordings, covering a repertoire from Frescobaldi to Mozart for labels such as Decca, Teldec, Avi, Accent, cpo, Vivat, Hänssler Classics, Stradivarius, and Elegia. A passionate and enthusiastic teacher, he has taught at early music courses in Pamparato, Barbaste, and Urbino, basing his teaching entirely on ancient treatises and historical sources. Since 2014, he has been a professor of harpsichord, fortepiano, and chamber music at the ESMuC (Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya) in Barcelona. -
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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Diana Haller
Mezzo-Soprano
The Croatian singer with Italian roots studied at the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory in Trieste, at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart with Dunja Vejzoć. She is still coached by Brigitte Fassbaender.
Highlights of the 2024/25 season include her role debut as Elettra (“Idomeneo”) and Fremde Furstin (“Rusalka”), her return to the Musiktheater an der Wien with the operetta “Das Spitzentuch der Konigin”, concerts in Rijeka, with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, in Lisbon and Stuttgart, among others.
After a year in the opera studio of the Stuttgart State Opera, Diana Haller became the youngest member of the ensemble in the 2010/11 season. The artist can be heard there in her wide-ranging repertoire, which includes roles from baroque to bel canto to parts by Richard Strauss. In 2021, she was awarded the title of “Kammersängerin” at this house.
Guest engagements have taken the singer to the Salzburg Festival, the Handel Festival in London, the Bregenz Festival, the Rossini Festival in Bad Wildbad, where she received the prestigious Belcanto Prize, the Savonlinna Festival and the opera houses in Zurich, Dresden, Milan, Strasbourg Cologne, Hamburg and Frankfurt, among others.
The winner of numerous international competition; including 1st prize at the “8th International Competition for Lied Art” at the Hugo Wolf Academy and the “5th Manhattan International Competition”, she is equally in demand as a Lied and concert singer and can be heard on all major concert stages. In concert she works with conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, Jordi Savall and Diego Fasolis as well as with the symphony orchestras of the Mita, MDR and NDR and the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berin.
At the Maggio Fiorentino she sang Mahler's “8th Symphony" under Fabio Luisi, as well as the same symphony at the Bregenz Festival under the direction of Kirin Petrenko. She has given recitals at the Hugo Wolf Academy, at the Stuttgart Opera, at the Eppan Song Festival, at the Schubertiade Hohenems, in Mexico, at the National Theater in Rijeka, in Vienna, Zagreb and elsewhere.
Diana Haller has also expanded her repertoire to include individual soprano roles and has already enjoyed great success as Elettra. Future roles include Leonora /“Il Trovatore”, Desdemona /“Otello” (Rossini) at the Bad Wildbad Festival, as well as the title role in “Norma”.
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Falco van Loon
Tenor
The tenor Falco van Loon was born in The Netherlands and has been singing since childhood. His first experiences in solo singing were given to him as a child in his first choir. Later he took lessons from Margriet Hoek who introduced him to the classics. Falco has studied classical solo and ensemble singing in Enschede and Arnhem under supervision of Annette Kleine, Harry van Berne and Lodewijk Meeuwsen. He completed his studies in 2007 with excellent results. After graduating Falco studied at the Messiaen Academy for a year. He took part in master classes from Marien van Nieukerken, Breda Zakotnik, Pierre Mak, David Wilson-Johnson, Bernard Loonen and Meinard Kraak. Later Falco took lessons from Frans Fiselier and Meinard Kraak. Momentarily he is coached by Gemma Visser.
In a short space of time Falco has developed into a much desired soloist. He has given many concerts with music from several centuries and many different styles with great success.
Falco has also excelled in performances of several opera productions. Recently he sang a production with parts from operas of Donizetti, Lortzing an Gretry. He even had a leading role in an opera about soccer in Veendam (NL).In concert repertoire, Falco has sung many roles. Especially the role of evangelist in the passions of Bach became his specialty.
With soloist ensemble Le Nuove Musiche he recorded the complete madrigals and spiritual works from Claudio Monteverdi. These recordings are unique in the world and the cd’s got rave reviews from all over the world. -
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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Florian Just
Baritone
Praised for his text clarity, expressivity and sound culture (Komische Oper Berlin), his warm, versatile and elegant baritone (CD Éternelle Dualité), shining timbre and vocal plasticity (Teatro Colon/Buenos Aires), Amsterdam based baritone Florian Just enjoys a varied international career on the opera and concert stage, as well as in the oratorio and chamber music world.
He started his musical education as a boy soprano at the Dresdner Kreuzchor and completed his studies at the Conservatories of Amsterdam and Metz with Udo Reinemann.
He is a sought-after soloist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (Staatskapelle Dresden, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra), his Passions (Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Gelders Orkest, Northern Consort), Mahlers Liederen (De Philharmonie, Ebony Ensemble), Brahms’ Requiem and Orff’s Carmina Burana.
He sang the leading roles in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Holland Opera), Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (Muziektheater Transparant), Subotnik’s Jacob’s Room (Bregenzer Festspiele), Xenakis’ Oresteia and Aïs (Teatro Colon/Buenos Aires and Teatro Argentino/La Plata ) and sang in Sciarrino’s Luci mie traditrici (Teatro San Martin), Enrico in Haydn’s L’isola disabitata (Grachtenfestival) and during the Saturday matinee of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam in Bergs Wozzeck and Strauss’ Elektra. He has worked with conductors such as Frieder Bernius, Jos van Veldhoven, Markus Stenz, Ed Spanjaard, Reinbert de Leeuw, Vaclav Lúks, Peter Dijkstra, Arturo Tamayo and Alejo Peres. Florian Just won the ‘Vriendenkrans’ as well as the Press Prize of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Schubert Prize at the “Schubert und die Musik der Moderne” competition in Graz.
In 2016, his debut CD Monologue, which was praised by the international press, was released in collaboration with pianist Jan-Paul Grijpink. In October 2022 his 2nd CD Éternelle Dualité was released with French songs accompanied by piano, flute and cello.
Johann Sebastian Bach
* Due to reasons of force majeure, Martina Batič is replaced by Luca Guglielmi.
Luca Guglielmi conducts the Gulbenkian Choir and Orchestra in a performance Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion — a masterpiece of spirituality and humanism that explores the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, continuing to resonate as a call for listening, introspection, and empathy in a world increasingly dominated by noise.
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