Coro Casa da Música
BIOGRAphy
Paul Hillier conductor emeritus
Pedro Teixeira assistant conductor
Coro Casa da Música was founded in 2009 with Paul Hillier as its principal conductor until 2019. The choir performs regularly at Casa da Música and on tour, and has been conducted by Martina Batič, Simon Carrington, Nicolas Fink, Antonio Florio, Robin Gritton, Sofi Jeannin, Andrew Parrott, Marco Mencoboni, Grete Pedersen, Kaspars Putniņš, Nacho Rodríguez, Gregory Rose, Nils Schweckendiek, Léo Warynski, and James Wood, as well as its assistant conductor, Pedro Teixeira. With a core membership of 18 singers, the choir often expands to perform medium and full symphonic choral works, playing a key role in presenting repertoire spanning from the Renaissance to the present day. Its symphonic choral projects have included collaborations with conductors such as Martin André, Stefan Blunier, Douglas Boyd, Baldur Brönnimann, Olari Elts, Leopold Hager, Michail Jurowski, Michael Sanderling, Christoph König, Peter Rundel, Vassily Sinaisky, and Takuo Yuasa. Additionally, the choir has performed early music programmes under the direction of internationally renowned specialists such as Laurence Cummings, Paul McCreesh, and Hervé Niquet.
Since its inception, Coro Casa da Música has premiered several works, including world premieres by Francesco Filidei, Michael Gordon, Gregory Rose, Manuel Hidalgo, Carlos Caires, and a rediscovered work by Lopes-Graça. Its repertoire includes the Portuguese premieres of prominent contemporary composers such as Birtwistle, Manoury, Dillon, Haas, and Rihm, alongside other key figures from the 20th and 21st centuries, including Lachenmann, Schoenberg, Stockhausen, Gubaidulina, Ligeti, Distler, Kagel, and Cage.
Portuguese music has been a major focus of the choir, with programmes dedicated to the golden age of Renaissance polyphony, works by Lopes-Graça, and symphonic choral pieces by Bomtempo and António Teixeira. In June 2024, the choir released its first CD, featuring works by Fernando Lopes-Graça, under the Naxos label.
Coro Casa da Música has also performed with the other Casa da Música ensembles – including its symphony orchestra, baroque orchestra, and contemporary music ensemble – in performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers, Charpentier’s Te Deum, Bach’s Mass in B minor, Christmas Oratorio and Magnificat, Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Haydn’s The Seasons, The Creation and St. Cecilia Mass, Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Requiem, Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, Beethoven’s Choral Symphony and Missa Solemnis, Brahms’ A German Requiem, Verdi’s Requiem, Arvo Pärt’s Credo, Mahler’s Das klagende Lied, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Richard Strauss’ Elektra.
In 2024, Coro Casa da Música covers a wide range of choral music history, from Renaissance polyphony to the world premiere of a commissioned work from Daniel Moreira – a piece for choir and orchestra set to poems by Sophia de Mello Breyner, created for the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution. The choir will also perform contemporary works by António Pinho Vargas, Sérgio Azevedo, and Vasco Negreiros, alongside a return to the Lopes-Graça repertoire.
Coro Casa da Música tours regularly, with performances at the Úbeda and Baeza Early Music Festival and the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid (Spain), the Laus Polyphoniae Festival in Antwerp, the Handel Festival in London, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Tenso Days Festival in Marseille, the Christmas Concerts in Ourense, and in several Portuguese concert halls.
Musicians
next concerts
Auditions
No auditions occuring
