Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia
Orchestras
Founded in 1992 by the A Coruña City Council and resident orchestra at the Palacio de la Ópera in the same city, the Galician Symphony Orchestra (GSO) is today one of Spain’s leading orchestras.
The GSO, with Víctor Pablo Pérez as its principal conductor, was the resident orchestra at the Rossini Festival in Pésaro (Italy) from 2003 to 2005 and at the A Coruña Mozart Festival since its creation in 1998. It has also undertaken several tours of Germany and Austria, and given concerts at leading venues and in major concert seasons all over Spain. It recently toured South America for the first time, giving concerts in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
The GSO regularly plays with soloists such as Maurizio Pollini, Krystian Zimerman, Gil Shaham, Sarah Chang, Grigory Sokolov, Leonidas Kavakos, Arcadi Volodos, Maria Joao Pires, F. P. Zimmermann, Mischa Maisky or Christian Lindberg, amongst others. Singers who have performed with the orchestra include Alfredo Kraus, Teresa Berganza, Plácido Domingo, María Bayo, Ainhoa Arteta, Juan Diego Flórez, Simon Estes, Mirella Freni, Ann Murray, Amanda Roocroft, Ildar Abdrazakov, Hildegard Behrens, Eva Marton, Giuseppe Giacomini, Philip Langridge, Carlos Chausson, Raúl Giménez, Isabel Rey, Carlos Álvarez, Ana María Sánchez and Giuseppe Sabbatini, to name but a few, whilst its long list of guest conductors includes Daniel Harding, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Maurizio Pollini, James Judd, Jean-Pascal Tortelier, Stanislaw Skrowaczeski, Libor Pesek, Peter Maag, Jesús López Cobos, Osmo Vänskä, Alberto Zedda, Emmanuel Krivine, Yoav Talmi, Raymond Leppard, Gabriel Chmura, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Josep Pons, John Nelson, Gianandrea Noseda, Ron Goodwin and Manfred Honeck.
In recordings it has released on the EMI, DECCA, Koch, Naïve, BMG and Arts labels it is accompanied by leading names such as Juan Diego Flórez, Peter Maag, Antonio Meneses, Manuel Barrueco (with whom it was nominated for the 2007 Grammy Awards in the best classical album of the year category), Kaori Muraji, María Bayo, Plácido Domingo, Juan Pons or Ewa Podles, amongst others.
La GSO is funded by the A Coruña City Council and the Government of Galicia.
SEASON 2009/2010
VÍCTOR PABLO PÉREZ
Principal Conductor of the Galician Symphony Orchestra (GSO) since 1993, during which time he has endowed the orchestra with the artistic and technical maturity that are its hallmark, Victor Pablo Pérez is considered by critics and concert-goers alike as one of Spain’s leading conductors. In his work with the GSO he has been able to call on world class soloists from home and abroad, the latter including musicians such as Manuel Barrueco, Mischa Maisky, Gil Shaham, Grigory Sokolov, Kristian Zimerman, Frank-Peter Zimmermann and Jorge Federico Osorio, or singers such as Carlos Álvarez, María Bayo, Plácido Domingo, Simon Estes, Raúl Giménez, Alfredo Kraus, Philip Landgridge, Eva Marton, Ann Murray, Ewa Podles and Giuseppe Sabbatini.
In 1995 he led the GSO on a tour of Germany and Austria, on which conductor and orchestra alike received excellent reviews. His recordings with the GSO range from one of works by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villalobos, featuring the cellist and fellow-Brazilian Antonio Meneses, to his latest CD on the EMI label with Cuban guitarist Manuel Barrueco, which includes the first-ever recording of Roberto Sierra’s Variaciones sobre las Folías de España and Concierto Barroco, taking in a selection of works by Mozart for the Auvidis label, with María Bayo or the zarzuela La Tabernera del Puerto, with Plácido Domingo, María Bayo and the Orfeón Donostiarra.
He has successfully conducted orchestra such as the London-based Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Dresden and Munich, the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome, the Verdi Orchestra of Milan, the City of Barcelona Orchestra and the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra. He recently conducted the Berlin Symphony Orchestra in the city’s Konzerthaus and the Swedish Symphony Orchestra in Helsingborg.
In September 2005 he appeared in the pit of the Teatro Real in Madrid to conduct Mozart’s Don Giovanni, returning the following year to conduct Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky. In 2007 he made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona where he conducted Massenet’s Manon, to great acclaim from both critics and audiences.
Born in Burgos, Víctor Pablo Pérez studied at the Madrid Conservatory and the University for Music and the Performing Arts in Munich, completing his musical education in Italy and Austria. On his return to Spain in 1977 he was appointed Director of Opera and Harmony at the Escuela Superior de Canto in Madrid and then (1980-1988) Principal Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Asturias. Between 1983 and 2006 he was Principal Conductor of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, with which he made a significant number of recordings and undertook a series of major tours.
Víctor Pablo Pérez is a past winner of Spain’s National Award for Music and a holder of the Gold Medal for Fine Arts, and has won prizes at competitions such as the Premio Ondas, Spain’s radio awards, and the Cannes Classical Awards.
SEASON 2009/2010
