Season 23/24
Featuring over 120 concerts between September 2023 and May 2024, the new Gulbenkian Music Season sees the premier of Hannu Lintu as the Music Director of the Gulbenkian Orchestra.
With the resident artistic groups taking center stage, the Grand Auditorium will welcome some of today’s most relevant artists, in a season where we also celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Gulbenkian Choir.
Agenda
Gulbenkian Choir
60 years
After marking the 60th anniversary of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in the 2023/24 season, we now have the opportunity to celebrate the 60th anniversary of another of our precious resident ensembles: the Gulbenkian Choir.
Throughout the season, the Gulbenkian Choir will present several of the most iconic choral symphonies by Bach, Mozart, Verdi and other major composers. This will naturally include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, which will be performed in May 2024 by the conductor Joana Carneiro in the exact same week that the work commemorates the 200th anniversary of its premiere. The anniversary of the Gulbenkian Choir will be held on 25 May with concerts and activities in a day of Open Doors. The final concert of the season will feature a rendition of Verdi’s Requiem.
Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir
The 2023/24 season will be the first with Hannu Lintu, our new Music Director, at the helm of the Gulbenkian Orchestra. He will continue the Mahler cycle, begun in 2022/23, with the involvement of two other conductors closely linked to Gulbenkian Music. Lorenzo Viotti will conduct Symphony No. 7, Hannu Lintu himself the sumptuous Symphony No. 2, Ressurrection, and Giancarlo Guerrero Symphony No. 1. Other concerts conducted by Hannu Lintu will include Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang with the Gulbenkian Choir.
Opening the Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir cycle, John Nelson will continue to explore the work of Hector Berlioz with Roméo et Juliette. In addition to those now familiar to us, talented new conductors will also be presented, such as Aziz Shokhakimov, Robert Treviño, Marc Albrecht and Matthew Halls.
The popular Sunday Concerts will consist of five new programmes and will continue to provide a varied audience with the opportunity to experience famous pieces from the classical repertoire, with a stage presentation before their interpretation by the musicians of the Gulbenkian Orchestra.
Great Interpreters
One of the high points of this season will undoubtedly be Maria João Pires’ Schubertiade project. This will feature four concerts over three days in September with a varied repertoire and the involvement of musicians whom the pianist has invited especially for the occasion. Another heavily awaited event is the Catalan musician Jordi Savall’s return to Gulbenkian Music at the head of his eclectic instrumental ensemble Hespèrion XXI. In tandem, the exceptional duo of Evgeny Kissin and Matthias Goerne will take us into the romantic world of Schumann and Brahms.
The Venice-based baroque ensemble Il pomo d’oro will make a return, this time in the company of the acclaimed countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński. Another musical moment that will involve the audience in an atmosphere of deep spirituality and higher artistic performance will be the rendition of Monteverdi’s Vespers by Cappella Mediterranea and the Gulbenkian Choir, conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón.
Joyce DiDonato will reveal another of his various facets with a recital entitled Songplay. The American mezzo brings together musicians from opera, jazz and tango for the pure pleasure of improvisation, experimentation and sharing. A regular presence at Gulbenkian Music, Martha Argerich returns with a new programme, now partnering with the South Korean pianist Dong Hyek Lim.
Piano Series
The piano cycle will include seven different personalities with distinct repertoires. Elisabeth Leonskaja, la Grande Dame of piano, will begin the series in October and Grigory Sokolov will bring it to a close in May. Between these two dates, we will explore the incredibly rich field of piano music and its musicians, with performances by the young French genius Alexandre Kantorow along with Arcadi Volodos, Denis Kozhukhin, Piotr Anderszewski and Ivo Pogorelich.
We welcome you warmly to Gulbenkian Music in the hope, once again, that you will share our passion for music.
Risto Nieminen
— Director of Gulbenkian Music
Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir
Occupying centre stage in the season are the Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir performances, under the direction of some of the most talented conductors today, such as Hannu Lintu, Lorenzo Viotti, Aziz Shokhakimov, Marc Albrecht or John Nelson.
Know moreGreat Interpreters
For the Great Interpreters Series, Gulbenkian Music invites some of today’s most prestigious and inspired musicians to the stage, including Joyce DiDonato, Jordi Savall, Martha Argerich, Evgeny Kissin, Matthias Goerne or the Cappella Mediterranea.
Know morePiano Series
Every season, Gulbenkian Music invites the world’s top pianists, such as Arcadi Volodos, Grigory Sokolov, Alexandre Kantorow, Elisabeth Leonskaja or Piotr Anderszewski.
Know moreSchubertiade
In four concerts during three days, pianist Maria João Pires will share the stage with friends and guest musicians to celebrate Schubert’s music, in a recreation of the famous Schubertiades that took place in Vienna during the early 19th century.
Know moreSunday Concerts
Fostering a connection to music should start early in life, and our Sunday Concerts, commented in a relaxed environment and designed for families, are an invitation to discover performers, composers and works such as Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker or Peer Gynt.
Know moreMet Opera Live in HD
A truly popular phenomenon, the extraordinary productions of the Metropolitan Opera will be broadcast in the Grand Auditorium, directly from New York, so that the audience in Lisbon can enjoy masterpieces such as Madama Butterfly, Nabucco, Carmen or Romeo and Juliet.
Know moreWorld Music
The World Music Series is back to bring us gifted interpreters from various latitudes and soundscapes, cultures and civilizations. Throughout the year, the Grand Auditorium will welcome musicians from Armenia, Turkey, Morocco and Central Asia.
Know moreString Quartets Festival
Produced in partnership with Cité de la musique – Philharmonie de Paris, this festival offers the possibility of discovering six of today’s most prestigious string quartets during one weekend.
Know moreBach’s Sonatas and Partitas
First Italian musician to win the Tchaikovsky Competition, cellist Mario Brunello will perform in two recitals dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas.
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