The Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa (OML), under the management of AMEC, made its first public appearance on the 10th of June of 1992 with the pianist Maria João Pires as soloist. Since then, its musicians ensure a wide activity ranging from baroque to classic and symphonic repertoire, being this last one performed together with the young musicians of the Metropolitan Academy Orchestra.
This versatility, that also includes jazz and fado, opera and contemporary music, has been a major contribution to bring new publics to the orchestra and at the same time to strengthen the innovative character of its project. This project adds to its artistic dimension the pedagogic practice of its schools. OML perform regularly in several small cities in the south and center regions of Portugal and, together with one of its founders – INATEL – promotes a policy of cultural decentralization throughout the country. From the very beginning OML has appeared as a reference in the Portuguese orchestral scene. One year after its debut, with Miguel Graça Moura as conductor, OML was invited by the European Commission and Parliament to perform in Brussels and Strasbourg. In 1997, OML toured Italy, India, South Korea, Macau and Thailand followed, in 1999, by a very successful tour in Japan. In 2001 OML was invited back to Thailand, to participate in the 3rd International Festival of Music and Dance of Bangkok. With Augustin Dumay as the new Musical Director, as from February 2008, the orchestra has been directed by important Portuguese conductors such as Joana Carneiro, Álvaro Cassuto, Cesário Costa and Manuel Ivo Cruz and by prestigious names of the international scene like Jean-Sébastien Béreau, Marc Tardue and Michael Zilm, among many others. Among several worldwide known soloists that have been performing with the orchestra, there are names like Pedro Burmester, Monserrat Caballé, José Carreras, José Cura, Augustin Dumay, Maria João Pires, Artur Pizarro, Elisabete Matos and Eric Stern. Very recently some other important names were added to the list: Leon Fleisher, Natalia Gutman, Raphaël Oleg, Oleg Marshev, Pascal Rogé and again in 2007 Maria João Pires. The Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa has recorded nine CDs for different labels. In 1996 the orchestra was awarded the Platin Record for its second recording.
The members of the Board of Directors responsible for AMEC are Gabriela Canavilhas (President) and João Villa-Lobos (Director).
Biography
The Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa (OML), under the management of AMEC, made its first public appearance on the 10th of June of 1992 with the pianist Maria João Pires as soloist. Since then, its musicians ensure a wide activity ranging from baroque to classic and symphonic repertoire, being this last one performed together with the young musicians of the Metropolitan Academy Orchestra. During the regular season, OML develops a Chamber Music season as well. This versatility, that also includes jazz and fado, opera and contemporary music, has been a major contribution to bring new publics to the orchestra and at the same time to strengthen the innovative character of its project. This project adds to its artistic dimension the pedagogic practice of its schools - Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra and Conservatório Metropolitano de Música de Lisboa. OML perform regularly in several small cities in the south and center regions of Portugal and, together with one of its founders – INATEL – promotes a policy of cultural decentralization throughout the country. From the very beginning OML has appeared as a reference in the Portuguese orchestral scene. One year after its debut, with Miguel Graça Moura as conductor, OML was invited by the European Commission and Parliament to perform in Brussels and Strasbourg. In 1997, OML toured Italy, India, South Korea, Macau and Thailand followed, in 1999, by a very successful tour in Japan. In 2001 OML was invited back to Thailand, to participate in the 3rd International Festival of Music and Dance of Bangkok. With Augustin Dumay as the new Musical Director, as from February 2008, the orchestra has been directed by important Portuguese conductors such as Joana Carneiro, Álvaro Cassuto, Cesário Costa and Manuel Ivo Cruz and by prestigious names of the international scene like Jean-Sébastien Béreau, José Collado, Olivier Cuendet, David Gimenez, Nicholas Kraemer, Lucas Pfaff, Arild Remmereit, Brian Schembri, Marc Tardue, Victor Yampolsky and Michael Zilm. Among several worldwide known soloists that have been performing with the orchestra, there are names like Pedro Burmester, Monserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Ana Bela Chaves, José Cura, Augustin Dumay, Irene Lima, Paulo Gaio Lima, Tatiana Nikolayeva, Maria João Pires, Artur Pizarro, Elisabete Matos, Anne Queffélec, Gerardo Ribeiro, António Rosado and Eric Stern. Very recently some other important names were added to the list: Leon Fleisher, Natalia Gutman, Raphaël Oleg, Oleg Marshev, Pascal Rogé and again in 2007 Maria João Pires. The Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa has recorded nine CDs for different labels, including EMI Classics and RCA Classics. In 1996 the orchestra was awarded the Platin Record for selling over 24.000 copies of its second recording. Its last CD contains three symphonies by Carl Ditters con Dittersdorf and has been recently released by NAXOS. The members of the Board of Directors responsible for AMEC are Gabriela Canavilhas (President) and João Villa-Lobos (Director).
