Benjamin Alard, Mahler Chamber Orchestra & Pablo Heras-Casado
Biography Benjamin Alard, Mahler Chamber Orchestra & Pablo Heras-Casado
Pablo Heras-Casado
has achieved remarkable success conducting repertoire spanning from early music and historically informed performance to great symphonic and operatic literature as well as contemporary works. In great demand as guest conductor, Heras-Casado regularly appears with Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Staatskapelle Berlin, Münchner Philharmoniker, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, SWR Symphonieorchester, Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, NHK Symphony Orchestra and many others. In North America, he is frequently working with the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. He has also conducted the Berliner and Wiener Philharmoniker, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony and The Mariinsky orchestras. He enjoys a long-term collaboration with Freiburger Barockorchester, featuring extensive touring and recording projects, most recently Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In summer 2022, he commenced a new partnership with Anima Eterna Brugge touring and recording Bruckner’s Symphonies on historical instruments.
Heras-Casado recently made a highly successful debut at the Bayreuther Festspiele conducting Wagner’s Parsifal and will reprise it in 2024. He enjoys a regular collaboration with Wiener Staatsoper, where he has conducted the Monteverdi trilogy (L’Orfeo, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria) in recent years. This season,he performs Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and Ligeti’s Le Grande Macabre with Wiener Philharmoniker. In spring 2024, he makes his debut at the Opéra National de Paris conducting Mozart’s Così fan tutte. As Principal Guest Conductor of Teatro Real in Madrid, he recently completed a Ring Cycle across four consecutive seasons and performs Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in the 2023/24 season. He has also previously appeared at the Teatro alla Scala, Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Deutsche Oper in Berlin, The Metropolitan Opera in New York, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Festspiel Baden-Baden.
An extensive discography for harmonia mundi includes a developing series entitled ‘Die Neue Romantik’, featuring music by Mendelssohn (the complete symphonies cycle), Schubert (his latest release with the Freiburger Barockorchester features Schubert symphonies No. 5 and 7 “unfinished”) and Schumann (complete concerti). Other releases on the label include a series of albums celebrating Beethoven’s 250th anniversary in 2020 (Freiburger Barockorchester), music of Manuel de Falla (Mahler Chamber Orchestra), Debussy (Philharmonia Orchestra), Schumann’s complete symphonies and Bartók (Münchner Philharmoniker), Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring alongside Péter Eötvös Alhambra (Orchestre de Paris and Isabelle Faust), a work he co-commissioned for the Granada Festival, for which he was Music Director between 2017 and 2019, as well as DVD releases of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer at Teatro Real and Monteverdi’s Selva morale e spirituale with Balthasar-Neumann-Chor & Ensemble. A recipient of numerous awards, including two Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, two Diapason d’Or, and a Latin Grammy, he also recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Decca and Sony Classical.
A dedicated educator, Heras-Casado makes a personal commitment to work with young musicians all over the world, regularly leading youth ensembles and projects, such as the Karajan Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker, Juilliard School of Music Orchestra and Juilliard415 ensemble, RCO Young, Escuela de Música Reina Sofia, Fundación Barenboim-Said, Joven Orquesta Nacional de España and Gustav Mahler Academy.
2021 Artist of the Year at the International Classic Music Awards, and Musical America’s 2014 Conductor of the Year, Heras-Casado holds the Medalla de Honor of the Rodriguez Acosta Foundation, Medalla de Andalucia 2019 and this region’s Ambassador Award. He is Honorary Ambassador and recipient of the Golden Medal of Merit by the Council of Granada, as well as Honorary Citizen of the Province of Granada, his hometown. In 2018 he is granted the title Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic.
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Since its creation in 1997, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO) continuously keeps shaping its distinct sound, independent artistic identity, and agile and democratic structure. To this day, the MCO is still governed by its musicians in collaboration with its managing office.
The orchestra is constantly on the move in search of the next musical horizon. It has, to date, performed in over 40 countries across five continents.
The MCO’s sound is characterized by the chamber music style of ensemble playing among its alert and independent musical personalities. Its core repertoire, ranging from the Viennese classical and early Romantic periods to contemporary works and world premieres, reflects the MCO’s agility in crossing musical boundaries.
The orchestra received its most significant artistic impulses from its founding mentor, Claudio Abbado, and from Conductor Laureate Daniel Harding. The MCO works closely with a network of Artistic Partners who inspire and shape the orchestra in long-term collaborations. Current MCO Artistic Partners include pianists Mitsuko Uchida and Yuja Wang, as well as violinist Pekka Kuusisto. Concertmasters Matthew Truscott and José Maria Blumenschein lead and direct the orchestra regularly in chamber orchestra repertoire, while the MCO’s longstanding collaboration with Artistic Advisor Daniele Gatti focuses on larger symphonic works.
MCO musicians all share a strong desire to continually deepen their engagement with audiences. This has inspired a growing number of offstage musical encounters and projects that bring music, learning and creativity to communities across the globe. Since 2012, Feel the Music has opened the world of music to deaf and hard-of-hearing children through interactive workshops in schools and concert halls. MCO musicians are equally committed to sharing their passion and expertise with the next generation of musicians: since 2009, they have, through the MCO Academy, worked with young musicians to provide them with a high-quality orchestral experience and a unique platform for networking and international exchange. Welcome Home: a concert about finding the place where you belong is a concert format in which school groups are invited on a multicultural journey, fostering introspection and contemplation on the theme of "Belonging". These endeavours highlight the MCO's commitment to enriching lives through music and promoting inclusivity.
Each summer, the MCO forms the core group of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Meetings with Conductor Laureate Daniel Harding and Artistic Advisor Daniele Gatti bring the MCO to numerous prestigious festivals and concert halls in Europe. This season, the partnership with Mitsuko Uchida spans three continents and includes a residency at Ojai Music Festival in California. The first project with the MCO’s newest Artistic Partner Yuja Wang takes place in January, with a programme that crosses musical styles. In 2024, the orchestra will fulfil its inaugural year as Artistic Director of Musikwoche Hitzacker, in the company of violinist Alina Ibragimova. MCO debuts are made by conductors Maxim Emelyanychev and Sir Simon Rattle, and cellist Kian Soltani.
