I’m thrilled to be invited as Composer-in-Residence at Casa da Música in Porto, Portugal during 2025. Located in the famous futuristic concert hall designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, the Casa opened in 2005, so this is its 20th anniversary. The centre hosts its own symphonic orchestra, large contemporary music ensemble (Ensemble Remix), Baroque orchestra, Choir, and Children’s Choir as well as programming an extraordinarily diverse range of repertoires spanning jazz, classical, pop, fado, electronic music etc. I previously worked with the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música in 2013 when they performed my work The Guest with recorder soloist Jeremiah Schwarzer, conducted by Carl St Clair & last September 2023, Extinction Events and Dawn Chorus was performed by Ensemble Remix conducted by Peter Rundel.
In 2025, the year-long residency involves a substantial survey of my music ranging from works such as Songs found in dream (2008) to the orchestral Annunciation Triptych (2019-22) and my very recent cello concerto A Sutured World (co-commissioned by Casa da Música). There are 8 concerts programmed involving Remix Ensemble and the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música with soloists such as Wu Wei (sheng), Tamara Stefanovich (piano), Ashot Sarkissjan (violin), Nicolas Altstaedt (cello) and Emily Hindrichs (soprano), and conductors Stefan Blunier, Peter Rundel, Ryan Wigglesworth, Enno Poppe, Ilan Volkov, Brad Lubman, Baldur Brönnimann and Andrew Gorlay.
Concert 1: 14 Jan 2025 [Reich, Nemtsov, Lim]
How Forests Think (2016), sheng & ensemble
Wu Wei, Sheng, Ensemble Remix cond. Peter Rundel
Concert 2: 18 Jan 2025 [Delibes, Saint-Saëns, Lim, Márquez, Zimmermann, Gershwin]
World as Lover, World as Self (2021), piano concerto
Tamara Stefanovich, solo piano, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música cond. Stefan Blunier
Concert 3: 22 March 2025 [Turnage, Lim, Prokofiev]
Sappho/ Bioluminescence (2019), from Annunciation Triptych
Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música cond. Baldur Brönnimann
Concert 4: 25 March 2025 [Kondo, Lim, Zhao, Neuwirth]
Speak, Be Silent (2015), violin concerto
Ashot Sarkissjan, solo violin, Ensemble Remix cond. Ilan Volkov
Concert 5: 31 May 2025 [Tenney, Kaldas, Lim]
Fatimah/ Jubilation of Flowers (2022), from Annunciation Triptych
Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Amateur Chorus from the Porto Region
Brad Lubman conductor, Emily Hindrichs soprano
Concert 6: 16 Sept 2025 [Lim, Mundry, Staud, Lopez]
Songs found in dream (2008), Remix Ensemble cond. Enno Poppe
Concert 7: 4 October 2025 [Lim, Bruckner]
A Sutured World (2024), cello concerto
Nicolas Altstaedt, solo cello, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música cond. Ryan Wigglesworth
Concert 8: 13 December 2025 [Pinto, Ligeti, Lim, Mussorgsky/ Ravel]
Mary/ Transcendence after Trauma (2022), from Annunciation Triptych
Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música cond. Andrew Gourlay
Liza Lim 