MUSIKKOLLEGIUM WINTERTHUR
PABLO FERRÁNDEZ, cello
ROBERTO GONZÁLEZ MONJAS, director
Dubugnon, “Caprice à l’espagnole” – *Estreno
Elgar, Concierto para violonchelo
Mozart, Sinfonía núm.41 “Júpiter”
SALE OF SINGLE TICKETS: From July 30, 2026.
MUSIKKOLLEGIUM WINTERTHUR
The Musikkollegium Winterthur was founded in 1629 and is therefore one of Europe’s richest musical traditions. Winterthur stands out on the European cultural scene not only for its art collections, but also for its orchestra, the Musikkollegium Winterthur, which has been led by its chief conductor Roberto González-Monjas since the 2021/22 season.
The history of the Musikkollegium Winterthur has left its mark: the commitment of the bourgeois families of the 17th century continues today through the association’s numerous members. Especially decisive was the beginning of the 20th century. Patron Werner Reinhart and conductor Hermann Scherchen turned Winterthur into a centre of European musical life. Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss and Anton Webern passed through here, as did Clara Haskil and Wilhelm Furtwängler.
This is a demanding legacy: no other classical symphony orchestra in Switzerland devotes itself as naturally to contemporary musical creation as the Musikkollegium Winterthur. To this are added numerous world premieres, recently by Richard Dubugnon, Helena Winkelman, David Philip Hefti, Matthias Pintscher, Andrea Tarrodi and Arash Safaian. Other axes of the repertoire lie in Classicism and early Romanticism. But the agile and versatile orchestra also sheds new light on the great symphony, for example Brahms, to whom it devotes a recent recording. It also participates regularly in opera and ballet productions.
With more than 40 concerts per season, a wide range of music outreach offerings and cross-disciplinary formats, the orchestra maintains a prominent presence. Many artists have contributed to the ensemble’s high quality: chief conductors such as Franz Welser-Möst, Heinrich Schiff or Thomas Zehetmair; long-standing guest conductors such as Heinz Holliger, Reinhard Goebel and Michael Sanderling; as well as internationally prestigious soloists among whom Andreas Ottensamer, Barbara Hannigan, Sir András Schiff, Ian Bostridge and Carolin Widmann should be singled out, all regular guests in Winterthur.
PABLO FERRÁNDEZ. Cello
Winner of the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition and an exclusive SONY Classical artist, Pablo Ferrández is one of the most sought-after instrumentalists of his generation. His debut album Reflections (2021) was acclaimed by critics and received the Opus Klassik Award.
In 2022 he released his second album, with Brahms’s Double Concerto alongside Anne-Sophie Mutter, the Czech Philharmonic and Manfred Honeck, in addition to Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio with Mutter and Lambert Orkis. Moonlight Variations (May 2025), which includes Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, is his latest release with SONY Classical, together with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Martin Fröst and Julien Quentin, with excellent reviews and great success on streaming platforms.
In recent seasons he has appeared with orchestras such as the Boston, San Francisco and Pittsburgh symphonies, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic; La Scala Philharmonic; Santa Cecilia; the RAI; Tonhalle Zurich; Suisse Romande; Bavarian Radio Symphony; Bamberger Symphoniker; Münchner Philharmoniker; HR Frankfurt; Konzerthaus Berlin; NDR Elbphilharmonie and Radiophilharmonie; Rotterdam; Royal Philharmonic; National of Belgium; National of France; Oslo; Macao; Taipei and Seoul. He has also toured with the London Philharmonic, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, WDR, Antwerp and the Czech Philharmonic.
He is a regular guest at festivals such as Verbier, Salzburg, Dresden, Rheingau, Sion, Aix-en-Provence, Tsinandali, Tongyeong, Abu Dhabi and Dvořák Prague. The 25/26 season included debuts with the National Symphony Orchestra, the symphonies of Toronto, Utah, Radio Finland, SWR, NCPA and the Tsinandali Festival Orchestra, and returns to Boston, Pittsburgh, Vienna, Antwerp, Festival Strings Lucerne, Barcelona, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, the Valencian Community and the RAI. He was artist in residence in Monte-Carlo and Castile and León. The season also included a trio tour with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Yefim Bronfman and European tours with the EU Youth Orchestra and the National Orchestra of Spain.
He plays the “Archinto” Stradivarius (1689), loaned for life by a member of the Stretton Society.
ROBERTO GONZÁLEZ-MONJAS. Conductor
Highly sought after both as a conductor and as a violinist, Roberto González-Monjas has rapidly consolidated his place on the international scene. Recognised as a natural musical leader, he stands out for his solid artistic vision, charisma, inexhaustible energy and keen musical intelligence. He is chief conductor of the Musikkollegium Winterthur (since August 2021), music director of the Galicia Symphony Orchestra (since August 2023), chief conductor of the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg (since September 2024) and artistic director of Iberacademy in Colombia. In addition, he was principal guest conductor of the National Orchestra of Belgium between 2022 and 2025, and was appointed honorary conductor of Sweden’s Dalasinfoniettan after serving as its chief and artistic director between 2019 and 2023.
Highlights of the 2025/26 season include new productions of Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Salzburg Mozartwoche and Così fan tutte at Zurich Opera, as well as the world premiere of Edmund Finnis’s Cello Concerto with Sheku Kanneh-Mason and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. The season also includes a UK tour with the Galicia Symphony Orchestra, an Asian tour with the Mozarteum Orchester and guest conducting debuts with the National Orchestra of Spain and the Bamberger Symphoniker. In the 2025/26 season he debuted with Hong Kong, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. He collaborates again with the Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Swedish Radio Symphony, Netherlands Philharmonic and makes his debut with the Sinfonica de São Paulo.
He regularly collaborates with distinguished soloists such as Joyce DiDonato, Ian Bostridge, Yuja Wang, Hilary Hahn Andreas Ottensamer, Lisa Batiashvili, Fazıl Say, Reinhard Goebel, Thomas Quasthoff, András Schiff, Jan Lisiecki, Yeol Eum Son, and Kit Armstrong. Together with conductor Alejandro Posada, he founded Iberacademy in Colombia, a project dedicated to developing a sustainable model of music education in Latin America, with special attention to young talents and vulnerable communities.
