The Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra’s 2025/2026 season, spanning from September to July next year, will feature notable musicians such as pianist François-Frédéric Guy, oboist Sally Dean, and soprano Andrea Conangla. The program also includes soloists from the orchestra itself, like violinist Ana Pereira and clarinetist Nuno Silva, and guest conductors including Pietari Inkinen, José Eduardo Gomes, Bruno Borralhinho, and Pedro Amaral, the former principal conductor and upcoming artistic director of the National Theatre of S. Carlos.
The season will showcase the complete Schumann Symphonies, along with Christmas, New Year, Carnival, and Spring concerts. It will also feature programs dedicated to celebrated composers such as Beethoven, Vivaldi, Borodin, Ravel, and Kodály. This year, the orchestra highlights its academic aspect by dividing the season into two segments: a professional segment by the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra (OML) and an academic segment, ‘General Rehearsal,’ which is yet to be announced.
“This initiative to separate the two parallel seasons aims to give the public a clearer image of what is done at the Metropolitan,” said Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Pedro Neves in an interview.
The Metropolitan oversees the Music Conservatory, the Professional School, and the National Superior Orchestra Academy (ANSO), in addition to the OML, which comprises 34 professional musicians.
The academic season will run alongside the professional one, to be announced at the start of the academic year. “It is the season for academic orchestras and all chamber music produced within the three Metropolitan schools,” added Pedro Neves.
“The two seasons are increasingly well-defined,” he noted, indicating that “the general public ends up with a better understanding of the work done at the Metropolitan.”
The 2025/2026 Season opens on September 15 at the Tivoli Theatre, with conductor Pedro Neves leading the OML in a program featuring a trumpet and orchestra transcription of Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto by Serguei Nakariakov, Schubert’s 3rd Symphony, and Shostakovich’s Concert for Piano, Trumpet, and String Orchestra.
This season, the Metropolitan opens the doors of its headquarters in Junqueira, Lisbon, at the former Standard Electric building, opposite the Tagus River. The M Space, dedicated to chamber music, will host events over seven weeks.
From October 9 to 12, the M Space will present the concert ‘Meeting Jazz,’ featuring OML soloists Sérgio Charrinho and João Moreira on trumpets, Rodrigo Azevedo on percussion, Alexei Tolpygo, José Teixeira, Daniela Radu, and Joana Dias on violins, Sérgio Sousa on viola, and Jian Hong on cello.
In the 2025/2026 season, the partnership with the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa is also strengthened with two concerts at the Church of S. Roque: one on November 28 under the direction of Pedro Amaral, and another on May 2 with conductor José Eduardos Gomes and oboist Tiago Coimbra as a soloist.
The season includes a family program titled ‘Listen Twice,’ a concept designed to “present a work or music theme,” with the OML “explaining the piece or its construction process,” allowing audiences to hear it twice after the explanation. “This approach pedagogically and playfully shows the public that a second listening can be very beneficial,” emphasized Pedro Neves.
Another highlight is the ‘Music and Science’ program, in collaboration with the Nova University of Lisbon, taking place at the rectorate in Campolide and in Costa de Caparica, Almada.
This initiative targets university students, seeking to “use music as a means of communication with students and, through a university-appointed speaker, share concepts from different perspectives,” explained the conductor.
“This year, we will base our activities on the reinvention of Vivaldi, facilitating this exchange between Science and Culture, particularly with Music. It is a project of experience exchange and confluence.”
‘Reinvention of Vivaldi’ also serves as the theme for a concert on June 11, 2016, at the S. Luiz Theatre in Lisbon, featuring ‘Vivaldissimo,’ a concert for two trumpets, strings, and harpsichord by Enjott Schneider, and Max Richter’s ‘The Four Seasons Recomposed,’ based on the works of the Venetian composer.
The season concludes with the OML premiering a new composition by Simão Costa, ‘Pons Varolli,’ at the S. Luiz Theatre, under the baton of Pedro Neves.
‘Pons Varolli’ is a structure in the brainstem connecting the cerebellum, the two hemispheres, and facilitating communication between the different brain parts and the medulla, playing a vital role in functions such as breathing, sleep, and sensory information transmission.
“The composer’s challenge will be to materialize this concept musically,” concluded Pedro Neves.
The program for the 2025/2026 OML season is available on the OML’s website (www.metropolitana.pt).
