Friday, September 20
Cathedral, 8.00 p.m.
Orquestra Barroca Casa da Musica
The Choir of Croatian Radiotelevision
Sara Braga Simões, soprano
Laurence Cummings, conductor and artistic leadership
Festive opening
David Perez
Sinfonia in D Major La tempestad del mar
Allegro
Arco iris
Bailete
António Leal Moreira
So che il tuo nobil core, ária Febade from the opera L'Imenèi di Delfo
António Leal Moreira
Overture from the opera Siface e Sofonisba
António Leal Moreira
Ferma, aspetta, ove vai....Infelici affetti miei, recitative and aria from the opera Ascanio in Alba
Luka Sorkočević
Symphony no. 3 in D major
Allegro
Andante
Presto
António Leal Moreira
Misera me...Ah, cangiar non può d'affetto, recitative and aria from the opera Gli Eroi Spartani
Johann Sebastian Bach
Magnificat, BWV 243
Chorus: Magnificat anima mea
Aria: Et Exultavit
Aria: Quia respexit
Chorus: Omnes generationes
Aria: Quia fecit mihi magna
Duetto: Et Misericordia
Chorus: Fecit potentiam
Aria: Deposuit
Aria: Esurientes
Terzetto: Suscepit Israel
Chorus: Sicut locutus est
Chorus: Gloria Patri
Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música was founded in 2006 in Porto to perform 17th and 18th-century music, relying on historically informed performance practice. In addition to chief conductor Laurence Cummings, the OBCM has been conducted by esteemed guest conductors including Rinaldo Alessandrini, Alfredo Bernardini, Amandine Beyer, Fabio Biondi, Harry Christophers, Antonio Florio, Paul Hillier, Paul McCreesh, Riccardo Minasi, Hervé Niquet, Andrew Parrott, Rachel Podger, Christophe Rousset, Dmitri Sinkovsky, Andreas Staier, and Masaaki Suzuki. The OBCM has also performed with vocal ensembles such as The Sixteen, Coro Casa da Música, and Coro Infantil Casa da Música, as well as renowned soloists like Roberta Invernizzi, Franco Fagioli, Peter Kooij, Dmitri Sinkovsky, Alina Ibragimova, Rachel Podger, Marie Lys, Iestyn Davies, Rowan Pierce, Andreas Scholl, Pieter Wispelwey, Ilya Gringolts, Fernando Guimarães, Anna Dennis, and Nuria Rial. The OBCM has toured and performed at festivals in Portugal, Spain, England, Germany, Austria and China. It is dedicated to major projects such as performances of Bach's Mass in B Minor, all Brandenburg Concertos, and Easter Oratorio, as well as different settings of Stabat Mater by various composers (Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Charpentier, and Scarlatti), Monteverdi's Vespers, Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Christ, Handel's Messiah, Charpentier's Te Deum, and Vivaldi's Gloria. The OBCM also participated in the Portuguese premiere of Handel's opera Ottone and the first modern performance of Francisco António de Almeida's opera L'Ippolito. In 2018, the ensemble released the album A Portuguesa: Iberian Concertos & Sonatas under the Harmonia Mundi label. OBCM has also released live CDs under the direction of some of the most prestigious international conductors.
Croatian Radiotelevision Choir was founded in 1941 to meet the needs of the then radio programme. Initially functioning as a chamber ensemble, it gradually grew into the first large professional choir in Croatia. Since its inception, the HRT Choir, which has carried this name since 1991, has performed both independently and with the HRT Symphony Orchestra. Performing a broad repertoire, from Renaissance to contemporary music, both a cappella and with instrumental accompaniment, it demonstrates exceptional versatility, which has led to performances across Europe and collaborations with many prominent conductors and composers, including Lovro von Matačić, Milan Horvat, Pavle Dešpalj, Nikša Bareza, Vladimir Kranjčević, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Igor Markevitch, Valery Polyansky, Niels Schweckendiek, Martina Batič, and many world-renowned soloists. In its early years, the Choir's repertoire was shaped by conductors Mladen Pozajić, Slavko Zlatić, Dragan Gürtl, and Boris Papandopulo, followed by chief conductors Sergije Rainis, Vladimir Kranjčević, Tonči Bilić and Igor Kuljerić, whose creativity and long-term leadership left a significant mark and whose compositions are now a permanent part of the Choir's repertoire. Under the initiative of Tonči Bilić, the independent subscription cycle Sfumato was launched in 1998, within which many compositions by Croatian authors and anthological choral works from the world heritage were premiered. At maestro Bilić's initiative, the HRT Choir was admitted in 2016 to Tenso, the association of Europe's most prestigious chamber choirs. The choir has released a large number of acclaimed and award-winning recordings, many featuring works by Croatian composers. Since the 2017/2018 season, the chief conductor of the Choir has been maestro Tomislav Fačini.
The harpsichordist, organist, and conductor Laurence Cummings is one of the most versatile musicians of today, dedicated to the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. He is currently Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music in Cambridge, the chief conductor and Music Director of Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música in Porto, and the Musical Director of the London Handel Festival. For many years, he was Musical Director of the London Handel Orchestra, Music Director of the Tilford Bach Society, and a Trustee of the Handel House Museum, and from 2011 to 2021, he was Artistic Director of the Göttingen International Handel Festival. He is also a co-founder of the London Handel Players. From 1997 to 2012, he was the Head of Historical Performance at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he now holds the position of William Crotch Professor of Historical Performance. As a harpsichordist and organist, he has played continuo with many renowned early music ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, The Sixteen, the Gabrieli Consort, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. As a conductor, he has appeared in opera houses and concert halls across Europe and the USA. His discography includes recordings with Emma Kirkby and the Royal Academy of Music for BIS, Angelika Kirchschlager and the Chamber Orchestra of Basel for Sony BMG, Maurice Steger and the English Concert for Harmonia Mundi, and Ruby Hughes and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment for Chandos, as well as numerous live opera and concert performances recorded at the Göttingen International Handel Festival and released by Accent. He has also released numerous solo harpsichord recitals and chamber music recordings for Naxos.
The range of operatic roles and concert repertoire of Portuguese soprano Sara Braga Simões is exceptionally broad, encompassing works from the early 18th to the 21st century. She has sung leading female roles in seven world premieres of contemporary operas as well as in the premieres of works by renowned contemporary composers such as João Pedro Oliveira, Nuno Côrte-Real, Luís Tinoco, and Aubert Lemeland. She regularly performs in all the major opera houses, concert halls, and festivals in Portugal, as well as in Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Andorra, Slovenia, and Mozambique. She has sung under the baton of conductors such as Lawrence Renes, Martin André, Stefan Asbury, Peter Rundell, Johannes Willig, Laurence Cummings, Marcos Magalhães, Marc Tardue, Pierre-André Valade, and João Paulo Santos. With pianist Luís Pipa, she has recorded all the works for voice and piano by contemporary Portuguese composer Eurico Thomaz de Lima.