Lisboa, Portugal
On 2 October, the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa brings the timeless brilliance of Mozart to the historic Academia das Ciências de Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal. Conducted by Pedro Neves, the orchestra is joined by distinguished cellist Alexander Chaushian, whose expressive artistry promises an evening of elegance, refinement, and musical inspiration.
Pedro Neves is currently Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa. He was Principal Conductor of the Algarve Orchestra between 2011 and 2013, and later Associated Conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra between 2013 and 2018. He is regularly invited to conduct Orquestra Gulbenkian, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras, Orquestra Clássica do Sul, Orquestra Clássica da Madeira, Orquestra Sinfónica do Estado de São Paulo, Orquestra Sinfónica de Porto Alegre, Orquestra Filarmónica do Luxemburgo and Real Filarmonia da Galiza. In the field of contemporary music, he has collaborated with the Remix Ensemble Casa da Música, the Lisbon Contemporary Music Group, the Síntese Contemporary Music Group and the Sond'arte Electric Ensemble, with which he has premiered works from various Portuguese and foreign composers, touring South Korea and Japan. He is the founder of Camerata Alma Mater, a group dedicated to performing repertoire for string orchestra, with which he has received acclaim from the public and specialised critics.
Read MorePedro Neves began his musical studies in his native Águeda. He studied the cello with Isabel Boiça, Paulo Gaio Lima and Marçal Cervera, respectively at the Aveiro Conservatory of Music, the Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra (ANSO) and the Juan Pedro Carrero School of Music (Barcelona), with the support of the Gulbenkian Foundation. As far as orchestral conducting is concerned, he studied with Jean-Marc Burfin, obtaining his graduation at ANSO, with Emilio Pomàrico in Milan and with Michael Zilm, to whom he was assistant. As a result of his career, his artistic personality is characterised by depth, coherence and seriousness of musical interpretation.
Armenian-born cellist Alexander Chaushian is acclaimed worldwide for his refined artistry and powerful performances. He has appeared as a soloist with leading orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Armenian Philharmonic, and Boston Pops, and has performed at major venues such as London’s Southbank Centre, Carnegie Hall, and Suntory Hall.
A former student of the Menuhin School, Guildhall, and Hochschule Berlin, Alexander is a laureate of top international competitions, including the Tchaikovsky in Moscow and ARD in Munich. As a former NY Young Concert Artists alumnus, he toured extensively across the US.
Alexander collaborates with established artists like Emmanuel Pahud, François-Frédéric Guy, and Julia Fischer. His acclaimed recordings for BIS include collaborations with Yevgeny Sudbin, and his 2023 concerto with the Armenian Philharmonic was named ‘Album of the Week’ by The Independent.
Alexander is the Artistic Director of the Yerevan Music Festival and the International Pharos Chamber Music Festival in Cyprus.
The Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa (OML) is the cornerstone of a project that extends beyond the usual format of a classical orchestra. When it performed for the first time in public, at the Jerónimos Monastery on June 10th1992, it announced its intention to bring together the artistic, pedagogical and civic missions through optimized resource management and a broad, integrated vision of all aspects of the musical phenomenon. Always supported by the Lisbon City Council, state government institutions and some municipalities in its geographical surroundings, OML has been active for three decades, the value of its commitment is now widely recognized, not only for the results it has achieved, but above all for its relevance in the country’s current musical scene.
With 35 musicians of 10 different nationalities, a third of whom graduated at Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra (ANSO), OML is very versatile. It often multiplies into chamber music ensembles and regularly joins students to form a symphony-sized orchestra.
Read MoreThis plasticity has allowed the interpretation of a range of repertoire that extends from the Baroque to the Contemporary, including opera and the great romantic symphonies. It has premiered works by most of the active Portuguese composers and, in addition to the music that is recognizable in the European classical tradition, it also plays other styles and traditions, having already shared the stage with Xutos & Pontapés, Carlos do Carmo, Rui Veloso, Mário Laginha, Tito Paris, Sérgio Godinho and many others. Like so, it has been able to address the music-loving public, but also families and the entire school community, reaching people through the enthusiasm we all feel for music.
Rather than concentrating its performances in a single concert hall, OML has been consolidating a territorial presence that radiates out from the city of Lisbon to the neighboring municipalities, and countrywide including the islands. Throughout its history it has also played in France, Belgium, Spain, Austria, Poland, Cape Verde, India, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and China. It has performed more than two thousand concerts in its orchestral formation, recorded 23 CDs and 1 DVD, as well as many radio and television broadcasts.
OML has played with some of Portugal’s most outstanding soloists, including Maria João Pires, Sequeira Costa, António Rosado, Artur Pizarro, Pedro Burmester, Elisabete Matos, Gerardo Ribeiro, Vasco Barbosa, Paulo Gaio Lima and Ana Bela Chaves, as well as with prestigious international soloists such as Montserrat Caballé, Jose Carreras, Leon Fleisher and Natalia Gutman. Amongst many, it has been conducted by Enrique Dimecke, Arild Remmereit, Christopher Hogwood, Theodor Guschlbauer, Emilio Pomàrico and, more regularly, Nicholas Kraemer, Brian Schembri (Principal Conductor in 2003/2004), Olivier Cuendet, Enrico Onofri and Michael Zilm.
The artistic direction of OML was successively entrusted to Miguel Graça Moura – the project’s founder – Jean-Marc Burfin, Álvaro Cassuto, Augustin Dumay, Cesário Costa and Pedro Amaral.
Since January 2021, Pedro Neves has been designated Artistic Director and Principal Conductor.
