Roberto Forés Veses to Lead English Chamber Orchestra's Spain Tour

Roberto Fores Veses, Principal Guest Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra, will bring the orchestra to tour his native Spain in May 2026. He will also tour the Orquesta de Extremadura, of which he is Artistic Director, to the prestigious Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid. This will be the first time that Forés Veses has taken the ECO, whom he regularly conducts in London and around the UK, on an international tour.

The concert programs will include, variously, Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga's Overture op. 20; Haydn's Cello Concerto in D; Beethoven's Piano Concerto no. 4; and Beethoven's Fourth Symphony. Star cellist Steven Isserlis will alternate with Italian pianist Domenico Codispoti. The year 2026 marks 100 years since the death, and 120 years since the birth, of Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, whose overture is included in tribute to this brilliant Basque composer who was admired by Cherubini and nicknamed 'the Spanish Mozart'. Earlier in the month, Roberto Forés Veses and the ECO will also perform together at their regular home, Cadogan Hall in London.

Forés Veses has recently returned from engagements with regular collaborators the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire (ONPL), and the Orquesta de Extremadura, and he is now preparing for concerts with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse to conduct Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and Sibelius's Fifth Symphony. After that, he will make two debuts. First, with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid, conducting works by Rachmaninoff, Debussy and Michael Daugherty. Then he will join the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conducting an American program of music by Shulamit Ran, Bernstein, Gershwin and Copland, with soloist Vadim Gluzman. Next, he heads back to Spain for the Orquesta de Valencia and a program of Ravel, Eotvos and Prokofiev, with the great harpist Naoko Yoshino. And then he leads his Orquesta de Extremadura to Madrid's Auditorio Nacional de Música, for Grieg and Tchaikovsky.

"I am very excited to be bringing my dear English Chamber Orchestra, who have been such an important part of my life since I first conducted them, and then was honored to be named their Principal Guest Conductor, to my home country of Spain," says Forés Veses of the ECO tour, "Few orchestras in the world play with such a superb mix of refinement, detail and 'aliveness' as the ECO, and working with them is always a sheer joy, a joy which we hope to transmit to the Spanish audiences. I'm also especially excited to be working with Steven Isserlis, a great musician whom I have long admired."

Tour Dates

Tuesday, 12 May 2026: Auditorio de Castellón

Wednesday, 13 May 2026: Baluarte, Pamplona

Thursday, 14 May 2026: Kursaal, San Sebastián

Saturday, 16 May 2026: Festival de Úbeda

About Roberto Forés Veses

Roberto Forés Veses is the Artistic Director of the Orquesta de Extremadura, and Principal Guest Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra.

The many orchestras he has conducted also include the NHK Symphony, Nagoya Philharmonic, Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestra National des Pays de la Loire, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Saint-Petersburg Symphony, Russian National Orchestra, State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia "Evgeny Svetlanov", Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Prague Philharmonia, Het Residentie Orchestra (Netherlands), Orquesta Sinfónica da Porto Casa da Música, RTVE Symphony Orchestra (Madrid), Basque National Orchestra, Real Filharmonia de Galicia, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Israel Camerata Jerusalem, Pannon Philharmonic and many others.

Equally devoted to the symphonic and operatic repertoires, Forés Veses has conducted at the Zurich Opera, Bolshoi Opera, Opera de Lausanne, Teatro Regio di Torino and at the opera companies of Montpellier, Helsinki, Lyon, Rouen, Saint-Etienne and many more.

He regularly performs at many international festivals, including La Folle Journée de Nantes and Tokyo, La Chaise-Dieu, Murten Classics, Stresa Festival, Les Flâneries musicales de Reims, Festival de la Vézère, Festival de Polignac, Festival Bach en Combrailles and the Berlioz Festival. He has made more than a dozen recordings, including for Warner Classics and Aparte, and was recently ICMA Award-nominated two years in a row.

From 2011 until 2020, Forés Veses was Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Orchestre National d’Auvergne — where he oversaw the ensemble’s elevation to France’s ‘national’-level orchestras. Under his directorship, the ONA became much-in-demand as a recording orchestra — making many recordings, mainly for Warner Classics and boutique label Aparte Music, and in 2019 Forés Veses launched the orchestra's own label. He led the orchestra on many international tours, including to Japan, South America and Brazil.

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