Coro Casa da Música (member per January 2014)
Paul Hillier conductor emeritus
Coro Casa da Música was created in 2009 with Paul Hillier as its principal conductor until 2019. It performs in a regular basis at Casa da Música and on tour, and it has been conducted by Simon Carrington, Nicolas Fink, Antonio Florio, Robin Gritton, Sofi Jeannin, Andrew Parrott, Marco Mencoboni, Kaspars Putniņš, Nacho Rodríguez, Gregory Rose, Nils Schweckendiek and James Wood. Based around a core membership of 18, the choir is regularly enlarged to take on medium and full symphonic choral duties, fulfilling a key role in the performance of repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day. Its symphonic choral programmes led to collaborations with conductors Martin André, Stefan Blunier, Douglas Boyd, Baldur Brönnimann, Olari Elts, Leopold Hager, Michail Jurowski, Michael Sanderling, Christoph König, Peter Rundel, Vassily Sinaisky and Takuo Yuasa. It also has performed early music programmes with international authorities as Laurence Cummings, Paul McCreesh and Hervé Niquet.
Since its formation, Coro Casa da Música has performed several world premieres, including works by Michael Gordon, Gregory Rose, Manuel Hidalgo, Carlos Caires and a rediscovered work by Lopes-Graça. In 2020, it shared with Remix Ensemble the world premiere of Francesco Filidei’s Requiem. Its repertoire includes Portuguese premieres of prominent contemporary composers as Birtwistle, Manoury, Dillon, Haas or Rihm, and other key figures from the 20th and 21st centuries, as Lachenmann, Schoenberg, Stockhausen, Gubaidulina or Cage.
Portuguese music has been one of the main focus of the choir, in programmes dedicated to the golden age of Renaissance polyphony, Lopes-Graça and symphonic choral works by Bomtempo and António Teixeira.
Coro Casa da Música has performed with the other groups of Casa da Música – its symphony orchestra, baroque orchestra and contemporary music ensemble –, including Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Haydn’s The Seasons and The Creation, Bach’s Mass in B minor, Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat and Cantatas, Mahler’s Symphonies, Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Requiem, Janáček’s The Eternal Gospel, Beethoven’s Choral Symphony and Missa Solemnis, Brahms’ A German Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Charpentier’s Te Deum, Schütz’ Christmas Story, Verdi’s Requiem, Alessandro Scarlatti’s Messa per il Santissimo Natale, great symphonic choral works by Prokofieff and Chostakovitch, Schnittke’s Requiem, Monteverdi’s Vespers, Schubert’s Mass No. 5, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater and Mendelssohn’s oratorio Paulus.
In 2021, Coro Casa da Música covers large periods of the choral music history, from the Renaissance madrigal to the Portuguese premiere of a new work by Luca Francesconi. Together with Casa da Música orchestras, it performs the complete Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Mozart’s Requiem.
Coro Casa da Música tours regularly, performing at the Úbeda and Baeza Festival de Música Antiga and Auditorio Nacional Madrid (Spain), the Laus Polyphoniae Festival in Antwerp, the Handel Festival in London, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Tenso Days Festival in Marseille, the Christmas Concerts of Ourense and in several Portuguese concert halls.
> visit the ensemble’s website.