The Portuguese Chamber Orchestra (OCP) was founded on July 5, 2007, and its debut took place on September 13, 2007, with the opening concert of the 2007/2008 season at the Grand Auditorium of

Centro Cultural de Belém Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil *Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil *Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Duqu ...

, in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. The programme included the Overture to ''

Der Schauspieldirektor ' (''The Impresario''), K. 486, is a comic ''singspiel'' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, set to a German libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie, an Austrian ''Schauspieldirektor''. Originally, it was written because of "the imperial command" of the Holy Roma ...

'' by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

, the Symphony No. 6 by

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

, and the Ballet suite ''Pulcinella'' by

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

. The head office of OCP is in Oeiras,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

History

The artistic direction is assured by Pedro Carneiro, who leads this latest and most virtuous generation of instrumentalists. The

(CCB) hosted OCP, first as Associate Orchestra, and since 2008 as Orchestra in Residence. OCP performed the opening season concert at CCB in 2007/08 and 2010/11. Their presence at the annual music festival “Music Days in Belém” has been constant, making room for new soloists and conductors such as

Pedro Amaral Pedro Miguel Gaspar Amaral (born 25 August 1997) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Super League Greece club Lamia. Club career Benfica Born in Sintra, Lisbon District, Amaral joined S.L. Benfica's youth syste ...

, Pedro Neves, Luís Carvalho, Alberto Roque and Jose Gomes. OCP has worked with composers

Emmanuel Nunes Emmanuel Nunes (31 August 1941 – 2 September 2012) was a Portuguese composer who lived and worked in Paris from 1964. Biography Nunes was born in Lisbon, where he studied composition, first from 1959 to 1963 at the Academia de Amadores de Mús ...

and

Sofia Gubaidulina Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (russian: Софи́я Асгáтовна Губaйду́лина, link=no , tt-Cyrl, София Әсгать кызы Гобәйдуллина; born 24 October 1931) is a Soviet-Russian composer and an established ...

and also played with renowned soloists Jorge Moyano,

Cristina Ortiz Cristina Ortiz (born April 17, 1950, in Bahia) is a Brazilian pianist. Biography Born in Bahia, Brazil, Cristina Ortiz began her studies in her home country before moving to France with Magda Tagliaferro. Soon after finishing her studies in Pari ...

Sergio Tiempo Sergio Daniel Tiempo (born February 24, 1972) is a Venezuelan-Argentine classical pianist. Biography Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Sergio Tiempo, began playing the piano at an early age. His first teacher was his mother, Lyl Tiempo, who began teach ...

, Gary Hoffman, Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro, Carlos Alves,

Heinrich Schiff Heinrich Schiff (18 November 1951 – 23 December 2016) was an Austrian cellist and conductor. Early life Heinrich Schiff was born on 18 November 1951 in Gmunden, Austria. His parents, Helga (née Riemann) and Helmut Schiff, were composers. He ...

, Antonio Rosado, among others. The first international concert of OCP took place at the 2010

City of London Festival The City of London Festival was an annual arts festival that took place in the City of London, England, over two to three weeks in June and July. The Festival was strongly geared towards classical music, but also offered a programme that included ...

, and received 4 stars from

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

: “(...) That was a highlight of the festival's first evening, but not the only one. Earlier we had heard undeconstructed Chopin: his Second Piano Concerto characterfully played by Cristina Ortiz with the Portuguese Chamber Orchestra. (...) as well as a white-knuckle ride through Beethoven's First Symphony under Pedro Carneiro's flamboyant direction.” ''The Times 23 Jun 2010''. OCP opened the first Arts Festival of

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...

, in 2009, and since then has played concerts in the cities of

Almada Almada () is a city and a municipality in Portugal, located on the southern margin of the Tagus River, on the opposite side of the river from Lisbon. The two cities are connected by the 25 de Abril Bridge. The population in 2011 was 174,030, in a ...

, Castelo Branco,

Vila Viçosa Vila Viçosa () is a town and a municipality in the District of Évora, Alentejo in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 8,319, in an area of 194.86 km². The municipal holiday is August 16. Parishes Administratively, the municipality is d ...

, in the festivals of Alcobaça,

Leiria Leiria (; cel-x-proto, ɸlāryo) is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat of its own distr ...

and Paços de Brandão, at the Christmas concerts in

and at the "Festival ao Largo" from the TNSC. In 2013, OCP was the orchestra chosen by the DGPC to take part in the "Network of Concerts 2013 – Classical Music" tour, with presentations in

Convent of Christ (Tomar) The Convent of Christ ( pt, Convento de Cristo/Mosteiro de Cristo) is a former Catholic convent in Tomar, Portugal. Originally a 12th-century Knights Templar, Templar stronghold, when the order was dissolved in the 14th century the Portuguese bra ...

Jerónimos Monastery The Jerónimos Monastery or Hieronymites Monastery ( pt, Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, ) is a former monastery of the Order of Saint Jerome near the Tagus river in the parish of Belém, in the Lisbon Municipality, Portugal. It became the necropolis o ...

Batalha Monastery The Monastery of Batalha ( pt, Mosteiro da Batalha) is a Dominican convent in the municipality of Batalha, in the district of Leiria, in the Centro Region of Portugal. Originally, and officially, known as the ''Monastery of Saint Mary of the Vi ...

and

Alcobaça Monastery The Alcobaça Monastery ( pt, Mosteiro de Alcobaça, ''Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Alcobaça'') is a Catholic monastic complex located in the town of Alcobaça, Portugal, Alcobaça, in central Portugal, some 120 km north of Lisbon. The monaste ...

Portuguese Youth Orchestra

The Portuguese Youth Orchestra (JOP, pt, Jovem Orquestra Portuguesa) is the national

youth orchestra A youth orchestra is an orchestra made of Youth, young musicians, typically ranging from pre-teens or teenagers to those of Music school, conservatory age. Depending on the age range and selectiveness, they may serve different purposes. Orchest ...

, launched as ''OCPzero'' in 2010. The orchestra made its debut at

Young Euro Classic Young Euro Classic is an international music festival for youth orchestras. Established in Berlin, Germany in 2000, it is one of the world's most important international platforms for young musicians in the Western classical music tradition. Eve ...

in 2015. It is a member of the

European Federation of National Youth Orchestras The European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO) is the association of the national youth orchestras of Europe. Its mission statement is to "provide a unique platform for the exchange of experience in orchestra training". It is co-fund ...

References

External links

OCP web pageOCPzero in EFNYO page
{{authority control 2007 establishments in Portugal Chamber orchestras European youth orchestras Musical groups established in 2007 Music and the European Union Portuguese orchestras National youth orchestras