The Orquestra Clássica da Madeira
The Orquestra Clássica da Madeira (Madeira Classical Orchestra) was originally founded as the Orquestra de Câmara da Academia de Música da Madeira (Chamber Orchestra of the Madeira Music Academy), conceptualised and managed by the old Academia de Música e Belas Artes da Madeira (Madeira Academy of Music and Fine Arts) (AMBAM), on the 13th of February 1964. On this date the orchestra gave its first public performance at the Portuguese Music Festival, which took place both integrally and for the first time in the city of Funchal, in the Municipal Theatre Teatro Municipal Baltazar Dias.
The Chamber Orchestra of the Madeira Music Academy was created by Professor Jorge Madeira Carneiro, violinista and director of the music department of AMBAM. The aim of the orchestral was initially exclusively pedagogical and for that reason it consisted of students who attended the Superior Course and some teaching staff from AMBAM. The teachers were invited to fill in on instruments where there was a lack of students with the necessary level to participate in the ensemble. At the beginning of the 1970s, and because this orchestra had been made up of old students and teachers, with an average of 15 to 20 participants, the orchestra broke away from AMBAM and began its journey under the name of the Orquestra de Câmara da Madeira (Madeira Chamber Orchestra).
On the 17th of May 1984, after twenty years, the Orquestra de Câmara da Madeira became a designated association, through the signing of a public contract by the second registry of the notary Graciano Ferreira Alves at the Notary Office of Funchal.
Over the years, its constitution has been altered with the integration of various wind instruments, strings and percussion. In the mid 1990s, thanks to the decisive support of the Regional Government of Madeira, there was a reinforcement of around forty performers, giving it the status of “Classical” and it was as the beginning of the 1996/1997 season that the orchestra became known as the Orquestra Clássica da Madeira (Madeira Classical Orchestra).
Since the 27th of May 2013, the Madeira Classical Orchestra has been managed and dynamized by the Associação Notas e Sinfonias Atlânticas (Atlantic Notes and Symphonies Association). It is one of the longest active orchestras in the country with, to this present day around sixty years of existence (2024).
Throughout its existence, the orchestra has performed concerts on both a national, an international, as well as a regional level. Namely in festivals all over the world including Spain (Madrid), Italy (Rome), Macau (before the 20th of December 1999), Angola and on the Portuguese continent (Festival Internacional de Música (International Music Festival) in the Vila Nova of Gaia, the Festival ao Largo (Offshore Festival) in Lisbon and the Festival de Artes do Zêzere (Zêzere Festival of Arts) in Ferreira of Zêzere and in Tomar, among others).
In 1998, the orchestra recorded a CD with the violinist Zakhar Bron and in 2009, five CD’s with Portuguese soloists for EMI Classics, which included master pieces by W. A. Mozart.
The orchestra has been conducted by maestros such as: Zoltan Santa, Roberto Perez e Rui Massena e por maestros convidados como Gunther Arglebe, Silva Pereira, Fernando Eldoro, Merete Ellegaard, Paul Andreas Mahr, Manuel Ivo Cruz, Miguel Graça Moura, Álvaro Cassuto, Jaap Schröder, Luiz Isquierdo, Joana Carneiro, Cesário Costa, Paolo Olmi, Jean-Sébastian Béreau, Maurizio Dini Ciacci, Francesco La Vecchia, David Giménez, Martin André, Jean-Marc Burfin, Philippe Entremont, Maxime Tortelier, Rui Pinheiro, Pedro Neves, Beatrice Venezi, Ariel Zuchermann, Gianluca Marcianò, Benoit Fromanger, Ernst Schelle, Evan-Alexis Christ, Stefan Dohr, José Eduardo Gomes and Nuno Coelho, Albrecht Mayer among others.
And featured recognized soloists such as:
Elizabete Matos, Kiri Te Kanawa, Josep Carreras, Leonid Brumberg, Alexei Gorokhov, Artur Pizarro, Pedro Burmester, Tania Aszot-Harutunian, Grigori Zhislin, Olga Prats, Ana Bela Chaves, Vesko Eschkenazy, Zakhar Bron, António Rosado, Paulo Gaio Lima, Abel Pereira, Mário Laginha, Maria João, Carlos Guilherme, Alexander Buzlov, Ilya Grubert, Amihai Grosz, Roby Lakatos, Pavel Gomziakov, Natalia Lomeiko, Emily Beynon, Juliette Hurel, Naum Grubert, Pedro Caldeira Cabral, Arno Piters, Vitaly Samoshko, Stefano Pietrodarchi, Mayuko Kamio, Michael Guttman, Jing Zhao, Stefan Dohr, Sarah Willis, Ekaterina Mochalova, Haik Kazazyan, Albrecht Mayer, Carmen Giannatasio,Alissa Margulis, Lily Maisky, Mischa Maisky, João Barradas, among others;
The orchestra has also tackled other musical genres with artists such as:
Carlos do Carmo, Mariza, Rui Veloso, Kátia Guerreiro, Dulce Pontes, Vanessa Mae, Rodrigo Leгo, Jorge Palma, António Zambujo, Luís Represas and Rão Kyao, among others.
After around six decades of activity, the Madeira Classical Orchestra embraces a bold artistic project, offering season rich in programs from the classical, romantic and contemporary periods, interpreting varied works, including world premieres. Our current artistic project consists of three cycles “Great Soloists”, “Young Soloists” and “Great Works”. For each program of this ambitious project, the orchestra invites a conductor and soloists, all of which hold national and international stature and repute.