Franz Schubert Filharmonia Makes Carnegie Hall Debut, October 10

The Franz Schubert Filharmonia—one of Spain's pre-eminent orchestras led by conductor and Artistic Director Tomàs Grau—presents its first ever concert in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, October 10, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.

The orchestra, which makes its primary home in Barcelona and also holds annual concerts in other Spanish cities, performs works by Casals, Rodrigo, and Dvořák in an emblematic program celebrating the strong cultural and historical ties that exist between Spain and the United States.

For 15 years, the Filharmonia has hosted its own concert series at Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site hosted the premiere of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez—one of Spain's most beloved works—in 1940, which was performed on the same program as Dvořák's New World Symphony. Now, the Filarmonia presents these works side-by-side once again during the orchestra's Carnegie Hall debut, bringing the essence of the Palau de la Música Catalana to New York while also celebrating the 130th anniversary of the premiere of Dvořák's New World Symphony (a work first performed at Carnegie Hall in 1893). Award-winning classical guitar player Rafael Aguirre joins the Filharmonia for Concierto de Aranjuez.

Since 2009, the Filharmonia has also held the position of resident orchestra of El Vendrell, the birthplace of Pablo Casals. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Casals' death in 2023, and in memory of the Peace Medal awarded to him in 1971 by the United Nations in New York City for his humanitarian work in defense of peace, the Filharmonia adds his Sant Martí del Canigó to the program.

"I decided to be a conductor while growing up watching symphony concerts at the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, my hometown,” said Artistic Director Tomàs Grau. “It's personally exciting to be able to conduct the same program that premiered at the Palau de la Música many years ago, now at Carnegie Hall.”

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Franz Schubert Filharmonia
Tuesday, October 10, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall | 881 7th Ave | New York, NY 10019
Tickets: $18 - $89
Link: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2023/10/10/Franz-Schubert-Filharmonia-0800PM 

Tickets are available at carnegiehall.org, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or by visiting the Box Office at 57th and 7th.

Program:
CASALS Sant Martí del Canigó
RODRIGO Concierto de Aranjuez
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"

Artists:
Franz Schubert Filharmonia
Tomàs Grau, Conductor
Rafael Aguirre, Guitar

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An inspired and highly sensitive conductor, Tomàs Grau is characterized by his precise and clear gesture and by the sincerity of his musical readings, which seek to transmit the light, delicate emotions of each of the scores, sharing with the audience his love for the music. He has conducted many international soloists, including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Maria João Pires, Midori, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Gautier Capuçon, Ivo Pogorelich, Mischa Maisky, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Javier Perianes, Sabine Meyer, Steven Isserlis, Paul Lewis, Alexei Volodin, Stephen Kovacevich, Alexander Melnikov, Seong-Jin Cho, Mark Padmore and Alice Sara Ott in all the main concert halls in Spain, including the National Auditorium in Madrid, the Auditorio in Zaragoza, the Palau de la Música Catalana and the Auditori in Barcelona, as well as internationally at the Tonhalle in Zurich.

Nowadays, Tomàs is the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Franz Schubert Filharmonia, and he is often invited to conduct other orchestras, such as the Orquesta Simón Bolívar, Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, ADDA Simfònica, Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga, Orquesta Sinfónica de la Región de Murcia, Orquesta de Córdoba, Orquesta Sinfónica de Burgos, Beethoven Philharmonie and Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, among others. He has recorded for labels such as Sony Classical, ARS Produktion (label of the year at the International Classical Music Awards) and Discmedi.

Among his immediate commitments, he will be conducting such soloists as Ermonela Jaho, Miloš Karadaglić, Rafael Aguirre, Anna Fedorova and Maxim Vengerov.

Born in Barcelona in 1979, Tomàs Grau studied music at the Superior Conservatory of Music in his own city. He continued his conducting studies at the Superior School of Music of Catalonia, where he graduated in Orchestral Conducting, with top ratings. His Orchestral Conducting studies were completed in the Wiener Meisterkurse. For more information, please visit www.tomasgrau.com.

Rafael Aguirre is one of the most sought-after guitarists at an international level, having received 13 top First Prizes for his instrument, such as in the Tárrega Competition, and also obtaining relevant awards in all instrumental categories, such as the New York Pro Musicis. He has performed in 42 countries.

With a solid classical training, the result of the inheritance of the tradition of Andrés Segovia and Narciso Yepes, Rafael Aguirre has multiple musical interests beyond recitals and performances with orchestra, performing with an ensemble of musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic, the sopranos Fatma Said and Hera Hyesang Park, regularly with the cellist Nadège Rochat and many others. He is also committed to expanding the repertoire of his instrument, working with multiple living composers and also including in his performances flamenco, Latin American and Spanish popular music and even reaching pop and film music.

With a repertoire of more than 30 concerts for guitar and orchestra, he has performed under the batons of Jesús López Cobos, Ludovic Morlot, Lorenzo Viotti, Alondra de la Parra, Karina Canellakis, José Serebrier, Roberto González Monjas, Manuel Hernandez Silva, François López-Ferrer, Clemens Schuldt, Domingo Hindoyán, Guillermo García Calvo, Pablo Mielgo, Pavel Baleff, Clark Rundell, Juan Carlos Lomónaco, Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez, Álvaro Albiach, Yoel Levi and Gabriel Bebeselea, among many others. 

He also performs with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Kyushu Symphony orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Daejeon Philharmonic, Sinfónica del Estado de Sao Paulo (OSESP), Orchestre National de Lyon, Orquesta Nacional de España, Orchestre Royal Philharmonique de Liège, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn, Ulster Orchestra, Billings Symphony (EE.UU), Baden-Baden Philharmonie, Thüringen Philharmonie, Pforzheim Kammerorchester, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, Moscow New Russia , Bulgarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Serbian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de l´Opéra de Toulon, Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga, Franz Schubert Philharmonia, Orquesta de Extremadura, among others.

He released his first album with a recital published by RTVE Música, which was followed by two more recitals for Naxos. With the German label KSGExaudio he released “Transcriptions”, with a program featuring music by Bach, Scarlatti, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Debussy, Ravel and Gershwin transcribed for guitar from original piano works. His assiduous collaboration with cellist Nadège Rochat gave rise to “La Vida Breve” published by Ars Produktion. Two other projects introduced him to Brazilian music (together with Anette Maiburg's ensemble for the German label MDG) and fado (together with singer Filipa Tavares). His made the world premiere recording of "Fulgores" by Lorenzo Palomo together with the Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra, the violinist Ana Valderrama and Maestro Jesús López Cobos, for the Naxos label. He recently recorded with soprano Fatma Said for Warner Classics. 

As a result of this recording work, he has been pre-nominated for a Latin Grammy and has received enthusiastic reviews from Gramophone, The Strad and Crescendo Magazines, as well as appearing on international radio programs such as the BBC, NPR, CBS, Radio Stephansdom of Vienna, Radio Berlin Brandenburg, HR Hessische Rundfunk, Bayerische Rundfunk, NDR, MDR, Radio Nacional de España and Toronto's The New Classical FM.

At the age of 16 he made his orchestral debut with the Málaga Youth Orchestra on a tour in Spain and Morocco. He received a scholarship from the Junta de Andalucía and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn to study in Germany with Professor Joaquín Clerch at the Hochschule Robert Schumann in Düsseldorf, where he graduated with honors. He later studied with Professor Michael Lewin at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He currently resides in Madrid.

The Franz Schubert Filharmonia has enjoyed a great reception from the public since its inception, both for its artistic quality and for the relevance of its programmes.

Formed by a new generation of the best musicians in the country who perform under the inspired direction of Tomàs Grau, Chief conductor and Artistic director, the orchestra has collaborated with such soloists as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Maria João Pires, Joshua Bell, Mischa Maisky, Midori, Ivo Pogorelich, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Rudolf Buchbinder, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Stephen Kovacevich, Gautier Capuçon, Sabine Meyer, Steven Isserlis, Paul Lewis, Alexei Volodin, Roberto Alagna, Mark Padmore, Seong-Jin Cho, Alice Sara Ott, Javier Perianes, Ainhoa Arteta, Asier Polo, Leticia Moreno, Pablo Ferrández, Judith Jáuregui and Iván Martín.

The Franz Schubert Filharmonia has also worked with such conductors as Josep Pons, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Antoni Ros Marbà, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Salvador Mas, Pablo González, Edmon Colomer, Paul Agnew, Guillermo García Calvo, Thomas Rösner, Virginia Martínez, Jordi Mora, Josep Caballé Domenech, Marzio Conti y Salvador Brotons, among others.

The orchestra has performed in such venues as the Palau de la Música Catalana, Gran Teatre del Liceu, L'Auditori de Barcelona, Auditorio Nacional de Música de Madrid, Auditorio de Zaragoza, Palacio Euskalduna de Bilbao and Palau de las Artes de Valencia, and has made concert tours in Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

The Franz Schubert Filharmonia performs its subscription seasons in Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida and Sant Cugat, and since 2009 has had the honor of being the resident orchestra of El Vendrell, the birthplace of the great maestro Pau Casals.

The orchestra has recorded several albums, among which we can highlight Die Romantische Seele with the pianist Judith Jáuregui. Produced by the German label ARS Produktion, winner of the International Classical Music Awards, and nominated for the Opus Klassik Awards, and Alba Eterna, an opera by the composer Albert Guinovart and produced by the Sony Classical label.