Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música
BIOGRAPHY
Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música has been conducted by renowned maestros, including Stefan Blunier, Baldur Brönnimann, Olari Elts, Peter Eötvös, Heinz Holliger, Elihau Inbal, Michail Jurowski, Christoph König, Reinbert de Leeuw, Andris Nelsons, Vasily Petrenko, Emilio Pomàrico, Peter Rundel, Michael Sanderling, Vassily Sinaisky, Tugan Sokhiev, John Storgårds, Jörg Widmann, Ryan Wigglesworth, Antoni Wit, Christian Zacharias, Lothar Zagrosek, Nuno Coelho, Pedro Neves, Joana Carneiro, Abel Pereira, Tito Ceccherini and Clemens Schuldt.
Numerous composers have also worked with the orchestra as part of their artistic residencies at Casa da Música, including Emmanuel Nunes, Jonathan Harvey, Kaija Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg, Pascal Dusapin, Luca Francesconi, Unsuk Chin, Peter Eötvös, Helmut Lachenmann, Georges Aperghis, Heinz Holliger, Harrison Birtwistle, Georg Friedrich Haas, Jörg Widmann, Philippe Manoury and Rebecca Saunders, with the composer and conductor Enno Poppe joining in 2023.
The orchestra has graced the stages of the most prestigious concert halls in Vienna, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Valladolid, Madrid, Santiago de Compostela, as well as in Brazil and in 2021 made its debut at the iconic Philharmonie in Cologne. In 2023, Casa da Música commissioned new pieces from the composers Heiner Goebbels, Pedro Amaral, José Maria Sanchez-Verdú, Klaus Ospald and João Caldas. This season also features the performance of Richard Strauss’s opera Elektra, Carl Orff’s cantata Carmina Burana and several national premieres, including Heiner Goebbels’ A House of Call. My Imaginary Notebook, Hans Werner Henze’s Requiem, Ferruccio Busoni’s Piano Concerto and György Kurtág’s Stele.
The Orchestra’s recent seasons have been marked by the performance of the complete symphonies of Mahler, Prokofiev, Brahms and Bruckner; the piano concertos of Beethoven and Rachmaninoff and a complete cycle of Mozart’s violin concertos. In 2011, the album “Follow the Songlines” won the Jazz category at the Victoires de la Musique awards in France. In 2013, the piano concertos of Lopes-Graça were released by Naxos and the album featuring works by Pascal Dusapin was selected as the Critic’s Choice by Gramophone magazine. Recent years have seen the release of albums with Luca Francesconi (2014), Unsuk Chin (2015), Georges Aperghis (2017), Harrison Birtwistle (2020), Peter Eötvös and Magnus Lindberg (2021), as well as recordings of dozens of works by Portuguese composers.
The origin of the orchestra dates back to 1947, when Orquestra Sinfónica do Conservatório de Música do Porto was established, which has held various designations since then. Following the dissolution of Orquestras da Radiodifusão Portuguesa, the Régie Cooperativa Sinfonia was founded (1989-1992) and this subsequently led to the creation of Orquestra Clássica do Porto and later Orquestra Clássica do Porto (1997), which achieved symphonic status in 2000 with an ensemble of 94 musicians. The Orchestra was incorporated into the Fundação Casa da Música in 2006 and took on its current designation in 2010.
Principal conductor
STEFAN BLUNIER
Stefan Blunier became the principal conductor of Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música at the beginning of 2021. In addition to his commitments in Porto, the 2021/22 season saw him conducting Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Berner Symphonieorchester, Orchester der TU Darmstadt, L’Orchestre de l’Opéra de Toulon and Singapore Symphony Orchestra. He returns to Deutsche Oper am Rhein to conduct Verdi’s Macbeth.
Following the enormous success of the new production of Berg’s Wozzeck at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in 2017, Blunier was immediately invited to work on a new production of Der Zigeunerbaron. He then conducted Lohengrin at the Oper Frankfurt where he was also successful with Dafne, Tristan und Isolde and Carmen. He is a frequent guest at Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he recently conducted Carmen, Salome and Die Fledermaus. He also conducted Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites at the Staatsoper Hamburg, Les contes d’Hoffmann at Nasjonaloperaen (Oslo) and Komische Oper Berlin and a new production of Schreker’s Der ferne Klang at Kungliga Operan.
With productions such as Eugen d’Albert’s Der Golem and Schreker’s Irrelohe, Stefan Blunier helped the Beethoven Orchester and the Oper Bonn gain prestige beyond their region during his tenure as the city’s general music director until 2016. Both operas were recorded by Dabringhaus & Grimm and received several awards: ECHO 2011 (Golem) and 2012 (Irrelohe), as well as the German Record Critics’ Award 2012 (Irrelohe). His work with this orchestra included recording an impressive discography, featuring rarely performed works by Anton Bruckner, Franz Liszt and Franz Schmidt, as well as creating a Beethoven cycle.
As an opera conductor, Stefan Blunier has performed in cities such as Munich, Hamburg, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Montpellier, Oslo, Bern and London. As a guest conductor, he has conducted almost all Deutsche Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester, Gewandhausorchester of Leipzig , Duisburger Philharmoniker, Museumskonzerte Frankfurt and many orchestras in Denmark, Belgium, East Asia, Switzerland and France. More recently, he has conducted NHK Symphony (Japan), BBC Scottish Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and Philharmonie zuidnederland (Netherlands), Kringkastingsorkestret (Norway) and Japan Century Symphony Orchestra. Alongside his commitments in Bonn, he was the principal guest conductor of Nationaal Orkest van België (Belgium — 2010-2013).
A native of Bern (Switzerland), Stefan Blunier studied piano, horn, composition and orchestral conducting in Bern and at the Folkwang Universität der Künste Essen. He is the founder of Ensemble für Neue Musik Essen. After participating successfully in the Besançon and Malko conducting competitions, he was appointed associate principal conductor in Mannheim and music director and principal conductor in Darmstadt (2001-2008), before taking on his role as general music director of Oper Bonn and Beethoven Orchester (2008-2016).
Musicians
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