The Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa (OML) is the cornerstone of a project that extends beyond the usual format of a classical orchestra.
When it first performed publicly at the Jerónimos Monastery on June 10, 1992, the orchestra announced its mission to converge artistic, educational, and civic goals through optimized resource management and a broad, integrated vision of all aspects of the musical phenomenon. Always supported by the Lisbon City Council, government institutions, and several municipalities in the surrounding area, and after three decades of activity, the value of this initiative is now widely recognized—not only for the results achieved but also for its significance in the current musical landscape of the country.
The OML often branches out into smaller chamber ensembles and regularly joins forces with students to form a full symphony orchestra. This flexibility has enabled it to interpret a wide-ranging repertoire, from the Baroque to the contemporary, including opera and major Romantic symphonies.
Rather than concentrating its performances in a single concert hall, OML has been consolidating a territorial presence that radiates from the city of Lisbon to nearby municipalities and, more occasionally, to the rest of the mainland and the archipelagos.
Throughout its history, the orchestra has also performed in France, Belgium, Spain, Austria, Poland, Cape Verde, India, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, and China. It has given more than two thousand concerts in orchestral formation, recorded 23 CDs and one DVD, and has had numerous radio and television broadcasts.
The OML has collaborated with many of Portugal’s most celebrated soloists, including Maria João Pires, Sequeira Costa, António Rosado, Artur Pizarro, Pedro Burmester, Elisabete Matos, Gerardo Ribeiro, Vasco Barbosa, Paulo Gaio Lima, and Ana Bela Chaves, as well as renowned international soloists such as Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Leon Fleisher, and Natalia Gutman. It has been conducted by numerous distinguished maestros, including Enrique Dimecke, Arild Remmereit, Christopher Hogwood, Theodor Guschlbauer, and Emilio Pomàrico, and more regularly by Nicholas Kraemer, Brian Schembri, Olivier Cuendet, Enrico Onofri, and Michael Zilm.
The artistic direction of the OML has been entrusted to Miguel Graça Moura (founder of the project), Jean-Marc Burfin, Álvaro Cassuto, Augustin Dumay, Cesário Costa, and Pedro Amaral.
Since January 2021, Pedro Neves has served as the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the orchestra.
