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

Maegis Group

THIS TOUR IN CHINA IS SpONSORed by

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

Maegis Group

THIS TOUR IN CHINA IS SpONSORed by

MeTROpOLITANA ON TOUR TO CHINA Season 2009/2010

Under the direction of the Portuguese conductor Cesário Costa, Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa will perform one of the first presen-tations 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 biog-raphy. Scheduled from December 29 2009 to January 7 2010, this tour includes concerts in nine cities, taking the musicians of OML to impor-tant 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.

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.

Orquestra Metropolitana de LisboaChina 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.

www.metropolitana.pt