The Madeira Classical Orchestra (OCM) presents another special concert on Saturday the 18th of January, at 18:00, in the Noble Hall of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira. The concert will feature Madeiran violinist Filipe Fernandes, under the guidance of conductor Jan Wierzba.
“This concert is also very special because the Classical Orchestra of Madeira and its managing entity, Associação Notas e Sinfonias Atlânticas, are associated with the 2025 Jubilee at the invitation of the Diocese of Funchal. Each performance will evoke the best we have in us and messages of hope and peace,” states artistic director of OCM, Norberto Gomes.
Filipe Fernandes was born in Madeira, in the city of Funchal. He began his violin studies at the age of six with teacher Nana Khachkalyan at the ‘Coordinating Office of Artistic Education,’ the current ‘Office of Free Courses in Arts’ of the Conservatory – School of Arts of Madeira, Eng. Luiz Peter Clode.
Later he tutored under Professor Norberto Gomes, gaining top marks. In 2013, he was concertmaster of the Youth Orchestra of the Official Conservatories of Music of Portugal, in Lisbon, under the guidance of maestro Jean Sébastien Béreau.
He went on to do his degree in 2019 and his master’s degree in 2021 at the Amsterdam Conservatory, both in the classes of Ilya Grubert and Maria Milstein;his master’s degree was funded with a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
He is regularly invited to collaborate as a substitute musician in some of the most important orchestras in the Netherlands, including the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the Sinfonia Rotterdam; and since September 2022, he has held the position of Associate principal second violin at Radio Filharmonisch Orkest in the Netherlands.
In 2017, he was invited for the first time to perform solo with the Classical Orchestra of Madeira, and in 2019 he was a finalist in the Leonid Kogan International Competition, in Brussels. In 2021 he was awarded the 3rd prize in the Young Musicians Award competition of RTP – Antena 2.
Filipe Fernandes also participates in several festivals, where he had the opportunity to meet and work with notable artists such as Sergey Khachatryan, Stephan Picard, Boris Borvtsyn, Jack Liebeck, Alissa Margulis, Yuri Zhishlin, Eliot Lawson, Maria Milstein, Liviu Prunaru, Christian Altenburger, Tanja Becker-Bender, Christoph Schickedanz and Ilya Grubert.
Conductor Jan Wierzba, was born in Poland and at the age of 4 came with his parents and brother to Portugal. he is known as one of the most versatile conductors of his generation.
His interest in terms of repertoire ranges from baroque music to contemporary creation, often crossing borders with other musical genres. He performs regularly in operatic, symphonic, and choral-symphonic contexts. He is an enthusiast of multidisciplinary projects, seeking new artistic perspectives through the intersection of various forms of creation. He is interested in the development of new possibilities in the art of orchestral conducting and its pedagogy.
He is the artistic director and principal conductor of the Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras, as well as Professor of Orchestra at the Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo and also Principal Guest Conductor of Opera Fest Lisboa. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Heritage Movement for Portuguese Music (MPMP) and is also the Artistic Director of the MPMP Ensemble.
He was assistant conductor of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra between 2017 and 2019. He has conducted the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Porto Symphony Orchestra Casa da Música, Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Filharmonia de Galicia, Portuguese Chamber Orchestra, Jalisco Philharmonic, Southern Classical Orchestra, Beiras Philharmonic Orchestra, Northern Orchestra, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Espinho Classical Orchestra, Madeira Classical Orchestra, Synthesis Ensemble, Sepia Ensemble, Portuguese Pop Orchestra, amongst others.
Samantha Gannon
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