07:00 pm
Nuno Coelho Conductor
Francisco Fullana Violin
Fabià Santcovsky Composer
FABIÀ SANTCOVSKY · “Concierto de los Elementos I & II” for Violin and Orchestra (German Premiere)
ISAAC ALBÉNIZ · Suite “Iberia” (1905-1909) arr. Francisco Guerrero (Excerpts)
IGOR STRAVINSKY · “Le Sacre du printemps” (1911-1913)
The many qualities of the National Youth Orchestra of Spain, JONDE, are indisputable. At its regular appearances at Young Euro Classic, the Spanish musicians have demonstrated the excellence of their preparation every time – adding an extra spark with their charisma and temperament. Once again, they bring Spanish repertoire to the Konzerthaus, and contemporary music at that: the evening begins with a violin concerto by the young Catalan composer Fabià Santcovsky, which has its german premiere on this evening. It is followed by an iconic work of Spanish piano music, Iberia by Isaac Albéniz, the orchestral version of three particularly colourful movements has been chosen for maximum effect. A magical journey into the world of Andalusia! And then there is Le Sacre du printemps, Igor Stravinsky’s ingenious ballet music that has become a signature piece for ambitious youth orchestras, having lost none of its wildness, freshness and fascination after more than one hundred years.
The National Spanish Youth Orchestra – Joven Orquesta Nacional de España, or JONDE – has been one of the most popular guests at Young Euro Classic from the very beginning of the festival. Its high quality and infectious temperament have given the audience many unforgettable evenings. A sub-department of the Spanish Ministry for Education, Culture and Sports, the JONDE was founded in 1983; ever since, it has been conducted by numerous renowned conductors and worked with outstanding soloists, including Carlo Maria Giulini, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Pablo Heras-Casado, Fabio Biondi, John Williams and Juan Diego Flórez, to name but a few. The orchestra members, aged 18 to 24, are selected through annuals that take place twice a year. The repertoire of the JONDE includes not only works of the classical and romantic eras as well as classical modernism, but has always had a special focus on contemporary music. It is not only taught via specialist academies, but also highlighted through the Premio Reina Sofia for contemporary composition, awarded by the orchestra.
Born in Porto, Nuno Coelho studied at the Zurich University of the Arts and became a fellow of the German Music Council’s Conductors’ Forum in 2015. Since 2022, Coelho has been chief conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Northern Spain; during the past season, invitations took him to orchestras throughout Europe, from Tampere in Finland to Stavanger, Norway, from Nuremberg and Antwerp to the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon. There, Coelho also directed and conducted performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte. As the first-prize winner of the International Conducting Competition in Cadaquès in 2017, Nuno Coelho received invitations to lead the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Teatro Regio in Turin. Further highlights of the recent past were invitations to conduct the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Orquestra Sinfônica de São Paulo and the Orquesta Nacional de España.
The Spanish violinist Francisco Fullana began his studies at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid; later, he studied with Donald Weilerstein at the Juilliard School in New York and with Midori at the University of California. One of the focuses of his current activities is in the USA; thus, Fullana is Artist-in-Residence at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia during the 2024/25 season. He appears regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York; he is also a regular member of the baroque ensemble Apollo’s Fire, with which he has recorded Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. His special interest in working with youth orchestras as part of the “Fortissimo” initiative led to his Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Youth Symphony. Francisco Fullana plays the ex-Kreisler Guarneri del Gesù “Mary Portman” of 1735, on loan to him from the Stradivari Society in Chicago.
The Catalan composer Fabià Santcovsky, born in Barcelona in 1989, started composing after initially studying guitar. After first lessons in his hometown, he moved to the Stuttgart Music Academy, where Marco Stroppa was his teacher, and then on to the Berlin University of the Arts, where he is currently completing a master’s degree with Daniel Ott. He studied with George Benjamin and Chaya Czernowin during the ArteFeste Academy at IRCAM in Paris. Furthermore, he participated in master classes with Helmut Lachenmann, Klaus Huber, Salvatore Sciarrino, Hilda Paredes, Aureliano Cattaneo, Marc Sabat, Elena Mendoza and Iris ter Schiphorst. Among his most important works in recent times are the chamber opera L’Ocell Redemptor, which was premiered at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona in 2022. His orchestral work Rose der Winde was written for the ECLAT Festival of New Music in Stuttgart in 2020; his duo Consuelos for violin and cello was premiered in Pamplona in 2022.