Concert by the Princess of Asturias Foundation Choir and the Oviedo Filarmonía Orchestra on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the proclamation of His Majesty King Felipe VI

The Princess of Asturias Foundation Choir, together with Oviedo Filarmonía orchestra, will offer a commemorative concert on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the proclamation of His Majesty King Felipe VI as King of Spain. The institution thus joins in the various celebrations that have been taking place since last June to commemorate this notable event.

The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. on 7th February at the Campoamor Theatre, provided for the occasion by the City Council of Oviedo.

Music for the Royal Fireworks by G. F. Haendel and the Mass in C major, K. 317, «Coronation Mass» by W. A. ​​Mozart will be performed under the baton of Lucas Macías, principal conductor of Oviedo Filarmonía, with the participation of soloists María Zapata (soprano), Serena Pérez (mezzo-soprano), Juan Noval-Moro (tenor) and David Menéndez (baritone).

This concert marks the return of the Choir to the Campoamor Theatre, as their last performance dates back to 2014 when they participated in the Dance Festival with Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck. The four solo voices are considered prominent artists on the current music scene.

 

Ticket collection

The Princess of Asturias Foundation will make around 1,000 free tickets available to the public for this concert. These may be picked up at the Campoamor Theatre box office from 10 am to 2 pm and from 4 pm to 6 pm on 1st February, until seats are sold out. A maximum of two tickets will be given out per person.

 

Lucas Macías*

Principal conductor of Oviedo Filarmonía since 2018 and artistic director of the Granada City Orchestra since 2020, he has been appointed principal conductor of the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville starting in September 2025.

He began his musical studies at the age of nine and was later accepted into Heinz Holliger's oboe class at the University of Freiburg. He continued his training at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic and then in Geneva with Maurice Bourgue. As a conductor, he trained with Mark Stringer at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. He made his conducting debut at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 2014, following an exceptional career as one of the world’s finest oboists. He was principal oboist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and a founding member of the Mozart Orchestra alongside Claudio Abbado, with whom he acquired a profound insight into both chamber and symphonic repertoires. In previous seasons he has conducted the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre de Paris —where he was assistant conductor for two years in close collaboration with Daniel Harding—, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Staatskapelle Dresden, Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, Het Gelders Orkest, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Orquestra Simfònica del Liceu and Euskadiko Orkestra, among others. In 2024 he returned to the Orquesta Nacional de España and made his debut conducting the Orchestra Sinfónica di Milano. Upcoming engagements include the Sinfónica de Tenerife; conducting Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at the Oviedo Opera; collaborating with soloists such as Christian Zacharias, Tabea Zimmermann, István Várdai, Chen Reiss, Sondra Radvanovsky and Piotr Beczala in a wide symphonic repertoire, from Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 “Titan” to Strauss’ A Hero’s Life and Four Last Songs, Tchaikovsky and Dvořák; as well as oboe concertos by Bach, Marcello and Mozart, which he will also perform.

He has won several first prizes, including the Sony Music Foundation Tokyo International Oboe Competition in 2006.

 

Oviedo Filarmonía*

Markedly lyrical in nature, with tremendous versatility and an intense connection with the city that lends it its name, Oviedo Filarmonía was founded in February 1999 as the City of Oviedo Symphony Orchestra on the initiative of the Oviedo City Council. Its creation responded to the need to support the new musical activities that were being launched in the city and it has since become one of Oviedo’s major signs of identity. In 2024 the orchestra celebrated its 25th anniversary, for which it was awarded the Silver Medal of Oviedo. The principal ensemble of the Spanish Lyric Theatre Festival of Oviedo, the Campoamor Theatre Dance Festival, the Auditorium Concert Series and the Luis G. Iberni Piano Festival, Oviedo Filarmonía also performs in three of the five operas comprising the Oviedo Opera season. It carries out an intense programme that includes both its traditional school concerts and the open-air summer series at the University, as well as the screening of films with live soundtracks and performances in venues such as the Carlos Tartiere football stadium and the Oviedo Cathedral Square. In recent years, both the close relationship it maintains with the public as well as its social facet have been strengthened via streaming concerts, new educational projects and charity concerts.

Throughout its history, Oviedo Filarmonía has accompanied prestigious soloists such as Edita Gruberová, Juan Diego Flórez, Mischa Maisky, Elina Garança, Bryn Terfel, Ainhoa Arteta, Midori, Javier Camarena, Ermonela Jaho and Benjamin Bernheim, among many others. It has performed a wide repertoire under the baton of conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Alberto Zedda, Shi-Yeon Sung or Joana Carneiro, to name just a few. From 2004 to 2011, its principal conductor was Friedrich Haider, with whom the orchestra made the leap onto the international scene with a tour of Japan and concerts in Paris. Between 2011 and 2017, the orchestra strengthened its links with the city of Oviedo under the baton of Marzio Conti, reaching out to different audiences. Currently, its principal conductor is Lucas Macías. Oviedo Filarmonía has recorded for various record labels, such as Farao Classics, Philartis, Naxos, Eudora Records and Warner Classics International, and has been a member of the Spanish Association of Symphony Orchestras (AEOS) since 2003.

 

Princess of Asturias Foundation Choir

In keeping with the traditional love of Asturians for choral music, the Princess of Asturias Foundation established a polyphonic ensemble in 1983 with the aim of elevating its performance to the highest of levels. Conducted by José Esteban García Miranda since 1989, the Princess of Asturias Foundation Choir is considered an outstanding amateur group that enjoys recognized prestige on the international scene. In December 2007, the European Parliament distinguished the Choir via an extraordinary acknowledgement “for its outstanding services to the European Union”. Throughout its history, it has also been conducted by Luis Gutiérrez Arias, Sabas Calvillo, Víctor Pablo Pérez and Luis Vila. Jesús López Cobos, 1981 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, was joint honorary conductor of the Choir until his death in 2018, along with Krzysztof Penderecki, who died in 2020 and who received the same award in 2001.

The Choir has toured Europe, America and the Middle East. In Europe, it has performed in France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Russia, the UK, Greece and Portugal. It has also performed in Jerusalem, Tampa (Florida), Washington, New York –in St Patrick’s Cathedral and at the Lincoln Center– on the occasion of Columbus Day, in São Paulo, Mexico City and Bogotá. Furthermore, in 2004 it was invited to participate at the marriage of Their Majesties King Felipe and Queen Letizia, performing during the traditional offering of the bride’s bouquet to the Virgin in the Royal Basilica of Our Lady of Atocha. It has also performed Cherubini’s Requiem in C minor alongside the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Riccardo Muti, 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts; alongside the orchestra and soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, conducted by the institution’s artistic and general director Valery Gergiev; excerpts from Richard Wagner’s opera Parsifal; The Dream of Gerontis, Op. 38 by Edward Elgar, under the baton of Rossen Milanov; as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Sergei Prokofiev’s Ivan the Terrible, conducted, respectively, by Pedro Amaral and Mykola Dyadyura. During these years, the Princess of Asturias Foundation Choir has likewise been conducted by outstanding maestros such as Marcus Creed, Friedrich Haider, Ros Marbá, Peter Maag, John Neschling, Yuri Bashmet, Alberto Zedda, Paul Mann, Jesús López Cobos, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Neville Marriner, Marzio Conti, Juanjo Mena and Jonathan Webb. It has also collaborated with the Symphony Orchestra of the State of São Paulo; the Vienna Sinfonietta Classical Orchestra; the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, belonging to the National Network of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela (2008 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts); and the Philharmonic Orchestra (OFUNAM) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (2009 Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities), among others. In 2022, the Choir accompanied the Asturian musician Víctor Manuel at four symphonic concerts, on the occasion of his 75th anniversary tour, which included a performance at the WiZink Center in Madrid before more than eight thousand people.

 

 

* Biographies prepared with information provided by Oviedo Filarmonía.