ADDA SIMFÒNICA ALICANTE
BENEDICT KLOECKNER, violonchelo
MARGARITA BALANAS, directora invitada
Mozart, Sinfonía núm. 35 “Haffner”
Haydn, Concierto para violonchelo en Do mayor
Mendelssohn, Sinfonía núm. 2 “Lobgesang” (Himno de Alabanza)
SALE OF SINGLE TICKETS: From July 30, 2026.
BENEDICT KLOECKNER. Cello
Benedict Klöckner is today among the most distinguished cellists of his generation. Winner of numerous international competitions, he pursues an intense career as a soloist with top-level orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie, the NDR Radiophilharmonie, the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, the Kremerata Baltica, the MDR Symphony Orchestra and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Throughout his career he has worked with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Sanderling, Ingo Metzmacher, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Joana Mallwitz, Cristian Măcelaru and Sir Simon Rattle.
His artistic presence has taken him to internationally renowned stages such as the Berlin Philharmonie, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, Zurich’s Tonhalle and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. A regular guest at international festivals, he has shared the stage with musicians such as Emanuel Ax, Lisa Batiashvili, Gidon Kremer and Anne-Sophie Mutter, consolidating a career that combines solo projection, chamber music and a close relationship with some of the world’s leading musical centres.
For more than ten years he has been founder and artistic director of the International Music Festival of Koblenz, IMUKO. In the 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 seasons he maintains a particularly prominent international schedule, with appearances at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Cologne Philharmonie, Zurich’s Tonhalle, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, in addition to his return to New York at Lincoln Center and his debut with the NCPA Orchestra in Beijing.
His recent discography includes the album Dvořák, released by Berlin Classics in 2024 with Cristian Măcelaru, the Romanian Chamber Orchestra and Danae Dörken, as well as the recording of the Brahms sonatas with Yu Kosuge, released by Sony in 2023. He has also recorded the complete Bach Cello Suites, and his recordings have been recognised with distinctions such as the OPUS Klassik Award and the Supersonic Award.
Trained at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe with Martin Ostertag and at the Kronberg Academy with Frans Helmerson and Gary Hoffman, Benedict Klöckner is currently a professor at the École Normale de Musique de Paris. He plays the “Ex Maurice Gendron” cello, built by Francesco Ruggeri in 1680. Also committed to contemporary creation, he has premiered works by Wolfgang Rihm, Eun Hwa Cho, Eric Tanguy and Dai Fujikura in important international concert contexts.
MARGARITA BALANAS. Guest conductor
Latvian cellist and conductor Margarita Balanas has established herself as one of the most singular musicians of her generation, with appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Sydney Opera House, the Fondation Louis Vuitton and L’Auditori in Barcelona. She has received Latvia’s Grand Music Award and has appeared as a soloist with the Munich Philharmonic, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, in addition to taking part in festivals such as the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, the International Cello Festival Shanghai, the Moritzburg Festival and the Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier. She is a Decca Classics artist and, together with her sister, violinist Kristīne Balanas, has released Castillo Interior by Pēteris Vasks. She has also collaborated closely with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Mutter Virtuosi.
Balanas is also a pioneering figure in orchestral conducting: the first female symphonic conductor from Latvia, founder and director of the ANONIMI Orchestra and Charity, and former assistant conductor to Paavo Järvi at the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich during the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons. She plays the 1849 Charles-Adolphe Gand “Auguste Tolbecque” cello, loaned by The Little Butterfly Foundation, the same instrument linked to the 1873 premiere of Saint-Saëns’s Cello Concerto No. 1.
Born in Dobele, Latvia, and with no family tradition in classical music, she began by singing rock and roll with her family and playing in the street with her siblings to help pay for instruments and travel. At age 15 she won a full scholarship to study at the Purcell School and later studied cello and conducting at London’s Royal Academy of Music, where she received the Bicentenary Scholarship. Artistically guided by Lynn Harrell and selected for Gautier Capuçon’s Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle, she has traced an extraordinary path from the streets of Latvia to the world’s great halls.
