Editorial 12/13

Theme

To play well together means to learn how to live well together. This idea of maestro Riccardo Muti points the symphonic orchestra out as a model, if not even as an ideal for society. Do we need to live well together to play well together? Can we think of the orchestra as a micro-universe where we can find all functions of our organized life?

What are the mechanisms of this strange human and musical community? This is the question musicologist Christian Merlin asks us in his recent book about the inner life of an orchestra. When they arrive at the orchestra after having gone through extremely tough auditions, these great artists find themselves within a highly structured and hierarchic community which is dominated by maestro almighty. It is a collective made up of human beings with their diversities, but when they converge towards the same goal, says Merlin, we are in the presence of the most magical invention imaginable: the orchestra.

These are the questions we will deal with throughout the various activities of this festive season of the Gulbenkian Orchestra.

Back in 1962, when it was founded as the Gulbenkian Chamber Orchestra, its twelve members set out specializing in the repertory of the 18th century before the Orchestra evolved towards its contemporary structure. To follow the way it made in half a century also means to review the evolution of musical culture in Portugal. It is with this track record, after a fabulous trajectory made and shared with its public, that the Gulbenkian Orchestra celebrates its 50 years of existence!

As you will be able to find out, the multiple facets of the Gulbenkian Orchestra will be largely revealed all along this season, which is dedicated to the celebration of its anniversary. We open our doors on September 15, and the musicians will meet the public in concerts in various formations, with music of different origins, in encounters with artists, films and an exhibition. What follows are nine months programmed to reveal the soul of the Gulbenkian Orchestra. In order to open doors on some backstage secrets as well, we asked Catalan photographer Laia Abril to immerse herself in the orchestra and bring us some frames of its daily life.

It was my desire to assure the season’s repertory to highlight the versatility and maturity of our ensemble. Bach with Michel Corboz, Beethoven with Lawrence Foster, Brahms with David Zinman and premieres of Portuguese composers with Joana Carneiro. The Gulbenkian Orchestra cultivates tradition and, at the same time, renews it and innovates through the works it commissions.

Variations

With its weekly concerts, which have become a habit in Lisbon decades ago, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, many times jointly with the Gulbenkian Choir, constitutes the spinal cord of our programme. For an indispensable change, there is the fruitful dialogue that arises from interaction with internationally renowned artists and diverse collectives, among which two of the best international orchestras: the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Concertgebouworkest.

With this being said, I invite you to create your own version of our proposal Gulbenkian Orchestra, 50 years, for which I will leave you a few suggestions. Such as following Johannes Brahms’ music, whose four Symphonies the Gulbenkian Orchestra will play with four different conductors. In the realm of more intimate music, you can opt for immersion in Schubert’s Piano Sonatas (integral performance by Elisabeth Leonskaja) or in the same composer’s String Quartets (integral performance by Cuarteto Casals).

After last season’s Wagner+, it seemed pertinent to me to explore French sonorities.

Thus, in mid-February, in an intensive ten-day event organized by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and our partner Institut Français du Portugal, we will present the Festival Debussy+. We draw your attention to a new musical, literary and theatrical production called Martyre de Saint-Sébastien, besides films, meetings, debates, chamber music concerts and the residence of Marc-André Dalbavie, a composer and maestro whose presence will enrich the dialogue between past and present.

Finally I would like to call your attention to the cycle Teatro/Música we started last season together with Teatro Maria Matos and that will go on exploring the paths that connect music with theatre, visual arts and, now even more often, dance: Sasha Waltz will commute between Mozart and new German music; Barbara Hannigan will embody Emilie du Châtelet in a new opera created by composer Kaija Saariaho and writer Amin Maalouf; the visual artist Vasco Araújo will, jointly with the theatre company Cão Solteiro, reinterpret Meyerbeer’s opera: L’Africaine.

Still in the field of theatrical expression, you also will be surprised by the possibility of making other equally stimulating choices, and by no means you can lose the last month of the season, which is dedicated to Shakespearian themes. Our orchestra’s Music Director, Lawrence Foster, will conduct two Verdi operas (Otello and Falstaff) as well as Romeo and Juliet according to Berlioz’ vision and A Summer Night’s Dream by Mendelssohn.

Coda

With these examples I hope to have made clear what I find to be most important in this anniversary season: to understand the orchestra as a model of living well together. To promote the dialogue between musicians, between past and future, between different forms of art, between creators and the public, and between generations. In order to hear well, to listen well, always together.

Welcome to discovering Gulbenkian Música 12/13.
And, once more, congratulations to the Gulbenkian Orchestra!

Risto Nieminen – Director of the Music Service

31 May 2012