Debussy: Prélude à l’après midi d’un faune
Gulbenkian Orchestra / Matthew Halls
Performers
- Conductor
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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.
Programme
Claude Debussy
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune