A season dedicated to Pierre Boulez (1925-2016) marks the opening of the Grande Auditório’s season in September. This series commemorates the centenary of Boulez’s birth with free concerts, following the orchestra’s performance at Vale do Silêncio in Lisbon. More than 120 performances featuring “a clear commitment to artistic diversity” are scheduled through next May.
This will be the last season under the artistic direction of Finnish Risto Nieminen, who retires after 16 years as the director of the Music Service at the Gulbenkian Foundation. Swedish Fredrik Andersson will assume the role, starting April 1st.
The Gulbenkian Orchestra’s programming will include the works of composers such as Beethoven, Mahler, Brahms, Schumann, Shostakovich, Alban Berg, Hans Werner Henze, and Magnus Lindberg, conducted by their principal conductor, Hannu Lintu.
Lintu will also conduct the traditional New Year’s Concert, featuring mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges as the soloist. This event will take place on January 7th, 8th, and 9th.
Hannu Lintu will also lead the orchestra in the first act of Wagner’s opera “The Valkyrie” in concert version, with soprano Marita Sølberg, tenor Stuart Skelton, and bass Mika Kares on October 9th and 10th. The oratorio “Elijah” by Mendelssohn, featuring baritone Matthias Goerne among others, will conclude the season on May 28th and 29th.
Meanwhile, the Gulbenkian Orchestra will be under the baton of guest conductors including Giancarlo Guerrero, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Aziz Shokhakimov, Juanjo Mena, Sofi Jeannin, Samy Rachid, Nuno Coelho, and former principal conductor Lorenzo Viotti.
Martina Batic, the principal conductor of the Gulbenkian Choir, will lead performances of Handel’s “Messiah” and Bach’s “St. John Passion.” Additionally, she will conduct several ‘a cappella’ concerts during the season.
This season commemorates the centenary of French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez’s birth (1925-2016) with a series of three concerts.
This special programming will include the opening recital featuring Sonata No. 2 and “Pli selon Pli,” based on Stéphane Mallarmé’s poems, directed by conductor and composer Pedro Amaral on September 12th, with soprano Camila Mandillo as the soloist.
The Ensemble Intercontemporain, founded by Boulez himself, will pay tribute on September 13th with a program focusing on “Le Marteau sans Maître,” for contralto and six instruments, including “Incises” for piano, “Sonatine” for flute and piano, and “Dialogue de l’ombre double” for solo clarinet and electronics. This will be conducted by Jean Deroyer.
Chinese conductor Tianyi Lu will direct a program dedicated to female composers on October 2nd, featuring works by Portuguese composer Andreia Pinto Correia, who resides in the United States, and Croatian composer Dora Pejačević (1885-1923).
On November 13th and 14th, Brazilian composers Heitor Villa-Lobos and Cláudio Santoro will be featured in a program conducted by British maestro Neil Thomson, with actor Diogo Infante. The pieces “Bachiana Brasileira No. 8” and “Cantata Elegíaca” will be performed, coinciding with the “Complex Brazil” exhibition launching later this year at the foundation.
The season will also include premieres and first performances in Portugal of works by composers such as Igor C. Silva (“Soma” on September 26th), Natalie Beridze, Charlotte Bray, Emma Nagy, María Huld Markan, Jennifer Walshe, Aleksandra Vrebalov, and Clemens Thomas on March 14th and 15th as part of the Rising Stars/European Concert Hall Organisation program.
The first concert of the season at the Grande Auditório Gulbenkian on September 8th will officially commence the Pierre Boulez cycle commemorating his centenary. Pianist Tamara Stefanovich will perform a recital combining Boulez’s Piano Sonata No. 2 with pieces by composers ranging from the Baroque to the early 20th century, including Domenico Scarlatti, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Antonio Soler, Ferruccio Busoni, and Béla Bartók.
Two days prior, on September 6th, the traditional concert by the Gulbenkian Choir and Orchestra will be held at Vale do Silêncio in the Olivais neighborhood, in collaboration with the Festas na Rua in Lisbon. Conducted by Pedro Neves, principal conductor of the Orquestra Metropolitana, the program is designed for a “varied audience” and will include “major musical moments from cinema” along with works by Aaron Copland, John Williams, Ethel Smyth, Richard Wagner, Ennio Morricone, Gaetano Donizetti, Johann Strauss II, Charles Gounod, Dmitri Shostakovich, Dmitri Kabalevsky, and Giuseppe Verdi.
The complete Gulbenkian Music Season 2025/26 schedule is available on the foundation’s website at gulbenkian.pt/musica/.
