Alexandre da Costaviolin Cesário Costamusic

Alexandre da Costa violin
Cesário Costa music director
Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa
From December 29th, 2009 until January 7th, 2010
29th –Shanghai Portman Theatre; 30th – Jiaxing Grand Theatre; 31st – Xiaoshan Grand Theatre;
1st – Huaian Theatre; 2nd – Suzhou People’s Meeting Hall; 3rd – Wuzhong Sports Center;
5th – Suqian Culture Art Center; 6th –Nanjnig Zijin Grand Theatre; 7th - Suzhou Science & Cultural Center
THIS TOUR IN CHINA IS Sponsored by
Maegis Group
METROPOLITANA ON TOUR TO CHINA Season 2009/2010
Programme
Eurico Carrapatoso – Suite “A-ver-o-mar”
I. Slow – fast
II. Slow
III. Fast – slow – fast – slow
Béla Bartók – Romanian Folk Dances
I. Dance With Stick
II. Waistband Dance
III. Stamping Dance
IV. Horn Dance
V. Romanian Polka
VI. Quick Dance
Camille Saint-Saëns – Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Op. 28
Allegro ma non troppo – Più allegro
Pablo de Sarasate – Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), Op. 20
I. Moderato
II. Lento
III. Allegro molto vivace
Intermission
Zheng Lu & Ma Hongye
– Good News from Beijing
Liu Tian Hua
– Nice Evening
– Good News from Beijing
Joly Braga Santos – Divertimento no.1
I. Prelude
II. Intermezzo
III. Finale
Sergei Prokofiev – Classical Symphony, Op. 25
I. Allegro
II. Larghetto
III. Gavotte: Non troppo allegro
IV. Finale: Molto vivace
Under the direction of the Portuguese conductor Cesário Costa,
Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa will perform one of the first presentations of a portuguese orchestra in China. This tour will open doors
to portuguese music into another global level, as the soloist will be
Alexandre da Costa, a young violinist with important prizes on his biography. Scheduled from December 29 2009 to January 7 2010, this tour
includes concerts in nine cities, taking the musicians of OML to important local venues where, probably, portuguese music will be heard for
the first time.The program includes pieces by Joly Braga Santos and
Eurico Carrapatoso, in order to introduce to the public fundamental
names of the portuguese music of the 20th century.
Alexandre da Costa was born in Montréal Canada in 1979. He
showed an uncommon interest for both the violin and piano at a very
early age. By the age of nine, he had the astounding ability to perform
his first concerts with stunning virtuosity on both instruments, which
brought him recognition as a musical prodigy. In 1998, at the age of
18, he received a Master’s degree in violin and a First Prize from the
Conservatoire de Musique du Québec. Concurrently, he also received
a Bachelor’ s degree in Piano Interpretation from the faculty of music
of the University of Montreal. From 1998 to 2001, he studied at the
Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia in Madrid with his mentor
Zakhar Bron, teacher of violinists such as Maxim Vengerov and Vadim
Repin. In 2002, he won the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award for best
Canadian artist under 30 years old. Between 2003 and 2006, after
winning the Musical Instrument Bank competition of the Canada
Council for the Arts, he played the 1689 Baumgartner Stradivarius.
Winner of many prestigious international first prizes, he appeared as
soloist in nearly 1.000 concerts throughout Canada, the USA, Mexico,
France, Germany, Austria, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Spain,
Portugal, Poland, Romania, Japan, China, Taiwan, etc. He performed
in major halls such as Vienna’s Musikverein, Berlin’s Philharmonie, NY
Carnegie Hall, Hamburg’s Musikhalle, Madrid’s National Auditorium,
Beijing’s Poly Theater, etc., and played with orchestras such as the
London Royal Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony, the Dresden
Philharmonic, the Bergen Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony, the
Hamburg Symphony, the Vienna Symphony, the Prague Philharmonic,
the Toronto Symphony, Spain’s National TV & Radio Symphony
Orchestra, etc.
He recorded 12 CDs for XXI-21 Records and ATMA labels, among
them the world premiere recordings of violin Concertos by
Portuguese composers Luís de Freitas Branco and Armando José
Fernandes with the Extremadura Symphony Orchestra under Jesús
Amigo, a disc nominated at the JUNO Awards 2006. Other recordings
include Vivaldi Four Seasons with the chamber orchestra of the
Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s violin & viola duos with Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra’s Solo violist Christian Frohn, concerti by
Tchaikovsky & Bruch, Bach & Ysaye solo sonatas, Spanish works by
Turina, de Falla, Nin, Albeniz, etc., Bloch & Williams works with the Biel
Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Kreisler works with the Canimex Ensemble
under Jean-François Rivest, etc. in 2009, he will record concertos by
Michael Daugherty with the Montreal Symphony under Pedro Halffter
for Warner Classics. He now records for Warner Classics International,
Octave Classique/Universal and JVC/Victor.
In addition to his concerts schedule, Alexandre is active as a
teacher, giving workshops and Masterclasses around the world.
He was also named Musical Development Director of the Canimex
Foundation, an organization gathering an impressive collection of
Fine Instruments for the benefit of talented artists. All reviews are
unanimous in saluting Alexandre’s faultless technique, inherited
directly from the Russian School, his energy and musical talent.
Alexandre da Costa now plays the 1727 “Di Barbaro” Stradivarius and a
Sartory bow, courtesy of Canimex.
Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa
China Tour
December 29th 2009 – January 7th 2010
Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa will enter the new
year 2010 with its first tour on China.
This contribution to give more visibility to the
portuguese culture could not be possible without the
support of several partnerships: Fundação Oriente /
CICA, Instituto Camões, Air France and Maegis Group.
Cesário Costa (b. 1970) is one of the most active conductors of his
generation in Portugal. He studied in Paris, where he finished his Piano
Graduation, and in Germany, where he completed his Degree with
the highest grade and Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting at
Würzburg Music Academy.
In 1997, he won the first prize of 3rd International Competition for
Young Conductors organised by Fundação do Oriente. That same
year, he received a scholarship from Bayreuth Music Festival.
He has been invited to conduct many orchestras in Portugal
and others such as the Royal Philharmony Orchestra, Nuremberg
Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, Orquestra
Gulbenkian, Orquestra Nacional do Porto, Orquestra Metropolitana
de Lisboa, Remix Orquestra, Ensemble für Neue Musik (Germany),
Arhus Sinfonietta (Denmark), Macedonia Philharmony Orchestra,
Rome Philharmony Orchestra, Sudecka Philharmony and Rzeszów
Philharmony (Poland), Orquesta de Extremadura (Spain), Liepājas
Simfoniskais Orķestris (Latvia), Plural Ensemble (Madrid), Orquestra do
Norte and Filarmonia das Beiras.
He has performed in many countries such as Spain, France,
Germany, Belgium, England, Italy, Denmark, Macedonia, Malaysia,
Brasil and in Portugal most important stages. He appeared in several
international Music Festivals – Atlantic Waves (London), Aberdeen
(Scotland), Arthus (Denmark), Neerpelt (Belgium), Dresden (Germany),
Murcia (Spain), Estoril, Sintra, Póvoa do Varzim, Espinho, Leiria and
Mafra (Portugal). Cesário Costa collaborates on a regular bases
with some of the most important concerts halls in Portugal (Teatro
Nacional de São Carlos, Casa da Música, Teatro da Trindade, Teatro
São João, Teatro São Luiz, Centro Cultural de Belém and Fundação de
Serralves, among others).
His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary, including
the world première of more than seventy pieces. He worked with
large number of contemporary Portuguese composers. Cesário Costa
directed concerts with António Rosado, Brandford Marsalis, Boris
Berezovky, David Russel, Elizabete de Matos, Gerardo Ribeiro, Mário
Laginha, Ute Lemper, António Meneses (soloists), Luís Miguel Cintra
and Terry Jones (stage directors).
He was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Espinho
Classical Orchestra and Algarve Orchestra. He was awarded the
medal of cultural merit by Vila Nova de Gaia’s City Hall. He is the
Vice-President of the jury of the Young Musicians Prize organised
by the RDP-Antena 2. Currently, he is the President of the Board of
Metropolitana/ Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra. He also is Artistic
Director of the Promenade Concerts organised by Coliseu do Porto
and Principal Conductor of OrchestrUtopica
ORQUESTRA METROPOLITANA DE LISBOA (OML)
Since its first public appearance on 10th of June of 1992 OML
ensures a wide activity ranging from baroque to classic and
symphonic repertoire, being this last one performed together with
the young musicians of the Orquestra Académica Metropolitana.
This versatility, that also includes jazz, fado, opera and contemporary
music, has been a major contribution to bring new publics to
the orchestra and, at the same time, to strengthen the innovative
character of this project.
OML performs regularly in several small cities in the south and
center regions of Portugal and carries out a policy of cultural
decentralization throughout the country. At the same time OML has
been developing its international dimension, with performances
in France, Belgium, Austria, Italy, India, South Korea, Macau, Japan,
Thailand and Cabo Verde. OML has been directed by the more
important portuguese conductors and by prestigious names of the
international scene like Arild Remmereit, Nicholas Kraemer, Lucas
Paff, Joana Carneiro, Olivier Cuendet, Jean-Sébastien Béreau, Álvaro
Cassuto, Marc Tardue, Cesário Costa, Brian Schembri, Manuel Ivo
Cruz, Michael Zilm, Victor Yampolsky and, more recently, Christopher
Hogwood and Christopher Warren-Green. Among several
worldwide known soloists that have been performing with the
orchestra, there are names like Maria João Pires, Augustin Dumay,
José Cura, Monserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Artur Pizarro, Tatiana
Nikolayeva, Elisabete Matos, Ana Bela Chaves, Pedro Burmester,
Anne Queffélec, Irene Lima, Paulo Gaio Lima, Eric Stern, Gerardo
Ribeiro and António Rosado. Recently other prestigious names
have been added to the list: Leon Fleisher, Natalia Gutman, Raphael
Oleg, Oleg Marshev, Pascal Rogé, Felicity Lott and José van Dam. The
world famous violinist Augustin Dumay is principal guest artist in
2009/10 programme.
OML has recorded ten CDs for different labels, including EMI
Classics, Naxos and RCA Classics. Its more recent recording consists
of arias from famous operas, with the conductor João Paulo Santos
and the Portuguese singers Dora Rodrigues, Mário Alves and Luis
Rodrigues. Since its foundation, Metropolitana has been presided
by Miguel Graça Moura and as from November 1993 until November
2008 by Gabriela Canavilhas. The Administration is now presided by
Cesário Costa, with João Villa-Lobos and Paulo Pacheco as members
of the Board.
THIS TOUR IN CHINA IS Sponsored by
www.metropolitana.pt
Maegis Group