José Eduardo Gomes
Conductor
Biography
José Eduardo Gomes is part of the new generation of Portuguese chefs, considered one of the most promising.
A disciple of Jesus Lopez Cobos, he studied at the Geneva University of Music (Switzerland) with Laurent Gay. He was an assistant to Peter Eötvös and attended masterclasses with Douglas Bostock, Jorma Panula, Peter Rundel, and Kazushi Ono.
In 2021, he replaced conductor Trevor Pinnock at short notice for a concert with Maria João Pires and the Gulbenkian Foundation Orchestra, which has since called on him very regularly.
JEG won First Prize and the prize for best performance of a Beethoven piece at the 2020 European Union Conducting Competition. These awards opened up opportunities for him abroad, notably with the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra in Italy, the MAV Symphony in Hungary and the Orchestre National de Cannes in France.
During the 24-25 season, he will notably conduct Tchaikovsky’s Ballet Alice in Wonderland for 12 performances with the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, the Gulbenkian Orchestra for two seasonal concerts, the Porto Symphony Orchestra Casa da Musica, the Madeira Orchestra with clarinettist Carlos Ferreira in Mozart’s clarinet concerto…
He was principal conductor of the Orquestra Clássica do Centro (Coimbra – Portugal), associate conductor of the Orquestra Clássica do Sul (Faro), principal conductor of the Carouge Chamber Orchestra, Switzerland and principal conductor of the Circulo Portuense de Opera Choir (Oporto).
In recent years he has been invited to work with the main Portuguese orchestras, such as the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Cdm, the Orquestra SInfónica Portuguesa, with soloists such as Maria João Pires, Diemut Poppen, Maria Elisabeth Lott, Sebastian Klinger, Adriana Ferreira, among others and performing in important festivals, such as Dias da Música, Festival de Sintra, Festival PJM, Festival Cantabile, Festival das Artes, Festival de Música de Leiria, FIMA, Música no Colégio, Festival Internacional de Música Religiosa de Guimarães, among others.
At the Opera, he has directed several productions including: “Don Giovanni” and “Cosi Fan Tutte” by Mozart, Blimunda by A. Corghi, “La Donna di Genio Volubile” by Marcos de Portugal, “Lo Speziale” by Haydn, and more recently the Trilogias das Barcas/J.B. Santos.
Since 2019, José Eduardo has been the artistic director of JOF (Jovem Orquestra Famalicão), a young symphony orchestra, with some of the most prominent young Portuguese musicians.
José Eduardo Gomes studied clarinet in his hometown and continued his studies at ARTAVE and ESMAE – Porto, where he graduated in the class of Antonio Saiote. He studied orchestral conducting at the Geneva University of Music (Switzerland), with Laurent Gay, and choir conducting with Celso Antunes.
José Eduardo is the founder of the clarinet ensemble Quarteto Vintage and Serenade Ensemble.
In 2018, he received the Medal of Cultural Merit from his hometown, V.N. Famalicão.
Press
Lisbon. National Theater of São Carlos. 14-XI-2022. Corgi: Blimunda. Dora Rodrigues, Julian Hubbard, Luis Rodrigues, Maroa Luísa de Freitas, Luis Madureira. Choir of the National Theater of São Carlos. Portuguese Symphony Orchestra. Musical direction: José Eduardo Gomes. Director: Nuno Carinhas.
The choir and the main orchestra of the old and historic São Carlos have shown qualities and qualities clearly superior to those of times gone by. The effective and careful musical direction of the young Portuguese maestro José Eduardo Gomes, who maintained the lively and ethereal acoustic pulse of an action faithful in substance and form to the careful and concise scenario, is not unrelated to this. A relevant success. Performers and an opera that clearly deserve more space and presence in the hackneyed contemporary lyrical universe. Happy centenary, dear Yosé Saramago!
Just Romero for Scherzo (Spain)
The National Theatre Choir, conducted by Giampaolo Vessella, and the orchestra under the direction of José Eduardo Gomes, responded brilliantly to the challenges of this complex score. The audience’s reaction at the end was quite enthusiastic, both due to the good performance of those who participated in the performance and the centenary celebration itself.
António ESTEREIRO, Lisbon correspondent for ÓPERA ACTUAL