Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon has Appointed Giancarlo Guerrero as Its New Principal Guest Conductor

NEW YORK, NY/NASHVILLE, TN – November 16, 2017 – Giancarlo Guerrero, who has led the Nashville Symphony as its Music Director for nearly a decade, has in the last six months picked up two additional posts in Europe. Today, theGulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon announced that it has appointed Guerrero Principal Guest Conductor. He will conduct up to four weeks with that orchestra, beginning in August 2018. Just six months ago, in June 2017, it was announced that Guerrero will be the new Music Director of the NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic in Poland, where he will conduct four weeks in 2017/18 - increasing to eight weeks in the 2018/19 season - and take part in touring and recording projects. 

Guerrero was appointed Music Director of the Nashville Symphony in 2009 and has committed to serve in this role through the 2024/25 season. During his tenure, Guerrero and the orchestra have made more than a dozen award-winning recordings for Naxos, and have won eight of the ensemble’s 11 GRAMMY® Awards.
 
The Gulbenkian Orchestra was formed in 1962 as part of the Gulbenkian Foundation, an organization established to foster knowledge and raise the quality of life of persons throughout the arts, charity, science and education. The orchestra performs at the Gulbenkian Grand Auditorium in Lisbon and throughout Portugal, as well as on tour in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The orchestra has recorded for Philips, Deutsche Grammophon, Hyperion, Teldec, Erato, Naïve and Pentatone, and has been recognized with several prestigious international prizes. Guerrero joins the Orchestra as Principal Guest Conductor at the same time that French-Swiss conductor Lorenzo Viotti will take the helm as Principal Conductor and Music Director.
 
Guerrero’s appearance with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in February 2017 was praised by the Portuguese newspaper Expresso as, "magnificently performed by the orchestra, galvanized by the lively conducting of Giancarlo Guerrero in this well-timed comeback at Gulbenkian.... One thing is certain: an unforgettable concert."
 
Giancarlo Guerrero commented on his appointment in Lisbon:
“Gulbenkian was the first orchestra I conducted in Europe, so it has a special place in my heart. Returning as Principal Guest Conductor feels a bit like coming home. There was wonderful chemistry with the musicians from the very first concert I performed with them more than a decade ago, and they have been so welcoming every time I have returned. They took a chance on me as a young conductor, and I remain grateful for that.
 
“I have also fallen in love with Lisbon and the Gulbenkian Foundation, a cultural cornerstone of the city which is constantly forging connections beyond its own walls and into the community. The same can be said about the virtuosic and deeply committed members of the orchestra, who are true ambassadors for the institution.”
 
Risto Nieminen, director of the Music department of the Gulbenkian Foundation, says:
"In Lisbon Giancarlo Guerrero is greatly loved by the orchestra as well as the audience. He transmits musical energy that is contagious and creates extraordinary concerts. At home with a wide variety of repertoire, I am sure Giancarlo will take us on many enlightening musical journeys."
 
Nashville Symphony President & CEO Alan D. Valentine adds:
“This latest news — following his appointment in Wroclaw, Poland — affirms what we’ve known in Nashville for many years: Maestro Guerrero is a dynamic and engaging conductor on the podium, and a phenomenal, forward-thinking collaborator behind the scenes. The Gulbenkian Orchestra has long been celebrated for its artistic excellence, its wide-ranging programming and its impressive discography, and I feel confident that Maestro Guerrero will add considerably to this storied ensemble’s legacy while continuing to deliver the stunning performances that audiences here in Nashville and around the world have come to expect.”
 
ABOUT GIANCARLO GUERRERO
Giancarlo Guerrero is the five-time GRAMMY® Award-winning Music Director of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, a post he has held since 2009 and has committed to serving through the 2024-25 season. A passionate proponent of new music, Guerrero has championed the works of several of America's most respected composers. He has presented eight world premieres with the Nashville Symphony, including Béla Fleck’s The Impostor banjo concerto, Terry Riley’s Palmian Chord Ryddleelectric violin concerto, and the 2016 performance and recent GRAMMY®-winning recording of Michael Daugherty’s cello concerto Tales of Hemingway. Guerrero’s guest conducting engagements take him to orchestras including the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, DSO Berlin, Frankfurter Museums-Gesellschaft, NDR Hannover, Deutsche Radio Philarmonie, Brussels Philharmonic, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Sinfónica de Galicia, and the Sydney Symphony. Maestro Guerrero has also appeared with prominent North American orchestras, including those of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Montréal, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Vancouver, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.giancarlo-guerrero.com.
 
ABOUT GULBENKIAN FOUNDATION
Established in 1956 as a Portuguese foundation for the whole of humanity, the Foundation’s original purpose focused on fostering knowledge and raising the quality of life of persons throughout the fields of the arts, charity, science and education. Bequeathed by the last will and testament of Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, the Foundation is of perpetual duration and undertakes its activities structured around its headquarters in Lisbon (Portugal) and its delegations in Paris (France) and London (the United Kingdom).
 
ABOUT NASHVILLE SYMPHONY
The GRAMMY® Award-winning Nashville Symphony has earned an international reputation for its innovative programming and its commitment to performing, recording and commissioning works by America’s leading composers. The Nashville Symphony has released 28 recordings on Naxos, which have received 20 GRAMMY® nominations and 11 GRAMMY® Awards, making it one of the most active recording orchestras in the country. . The orchestra has also released recordings on Decca, Deutsche Grammophon and New West Records, among other labels. With more than 140 performances annually, the orchestra offers a broad range of classical, pops and jazz, and children’s concerts, while its extensive education and community engagement programs reach 60,000 children and adults each year.

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