Tour with Sir Antonio Pappano and Maria Dueñas
8th - 23rd November 2025

If last year’s tour with Antonio Pappano had a strong American component, this year’s definitely has a Spanish theme: joined by Spanish violinist Maria Dueñas, the Orchestra will perform Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole in four Spanish cities – Valencia (11 November), Madrid (13 November), Zaragoza (14 November) and Seville (16 November). The programme also features Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances op. 46 and, following their Spanish concerts, the COE will travel to Ferrara (18 November), Berlin (20 November) and Eisenstadt  (22 November). As always, our concert in Eisenstadt will be broadcast live on medici.tv.

María Dueñas

This will be our second project with Maria since our first concert together back in May 2023 with Herbert Blomstedt in Dresden, when she had performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

María Dueñas has emerged as a luminous talent in classical music, captivating audiences with her extraordinary range of tonal colours, impeccable technical prowess, and interpretations that blend artistic maturity with bold expressiveness. The New York Times praised her ability to breathe “new life into well-known pieces” and described her as a “22-year-old violinist who has something to say, and the skill to say it brilliantly”. Many of you will have read the news that recently Maria has won two Gramophone Awards this year: Young Artist of the Year and Instrumentalist of the Year for her recording of Paganini’s 24 Caprices.

For Maria’s full biography, please visit her agent’s website here.

The COE and Sir Antonio Pappano

Antonio Pappano has been a regular artistic partner of the COE since 2016 and as ever we look forward to his inspiration and infectious enthusiasm that always take us on a wonderfully creative voyage every time we meet. All our projects together have featured world-class soloists including oboist François Leleux, violinists Lisa Batiashvili, Janine Jansen and Veronika Eberle as well as pianists Beatrice Rana and Bertrand Chamayou. For him, as per the short video below, one of the aspects that attracts him most to the COE is the mix between the older and younger generations and the ability of the Orchestra to build on its incredible heritage shaped among others by Claudio Abbado and Nikolaus Harnoncourt whilst also taking in more recent influences in its stride.