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The Gulbenkian Choir was founded in 1964 by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. With a full symphonic formation of about 100 singers, it can also appear as a smaller vocal ensemble, according to the nature of the specific performed works. Thus the Gulbenkian Choir may appear as an a cappella ensemble, performing 16th to 18th century Portuguese polyphony, or join the Gulbenkian Orchestra or other orchestras to perform the Classical and Romantic mainstream choral-symphonic literature, as well as 20th century music, having performed (and often premiered) many contemporary works by Portuguese and international composers. It has been frequently invited to collaborate with major international orchestras - the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, the Baden-Baden Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Czeck Philharmonic, the Strasbourg Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, among others -, working with conductors such as Colin Davis, Frans Brüggen, Claudio Abbado, Istvan Fischer, Gerd Albrecht, Emmanuel Krivine, Theodor Guschlbauer, Michael Gielen, Rafael Frübeck de Burgos and Franz Welser-Möst. Besides its regular season in Lisbon and its national tours, the Gulbenkian Choir has repeatedly toured Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Macao (under Portuguese administration), Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom and Uruguay. In 1992 a tour of Holland and Germany with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century led to the live recording of Beethoven's Ninth for Philips, within Frans Brüggen's complete Beethoven cycle. It would be the beginning of a close partnership between the Gulbenkian Choir and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, which resulted on several other international tours in Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom and more recently (2005) in China (Hong Kong). In addition to those tours and the ones that the Gulbenkian Choir has frequently done abroad with either the Gulbenkian Orchestra or other significant orchestras and ensembles, the Choir has collaborated with important music festivals around the world, including presentations in Eurotop Festival (Amsterdam), the Veneto Festival (Padua and Venice), the International Music Festival of Granada and the Hong Kong Arts Festival. The Gulbenkian Choir has recorded extensively for Philips, Archiv-Deutsche Grammophon, Erato, Cascavelle, Musifrance, FNAC-Music, performing a wide-spanned repertoire, from Early-Renaissance polyphony to Xenakis, either a cappella or with different orchestras. Several of these albums received international awards such as the Berlioz Prize of the French Académie Nationale du Disque Lyrique, the Grand Prix International du Disque of the Charles Cross Academy or the Orphee d'Or, amongst others. Michel Corboz has been the Chief Conductor of the Gulbenkian Choir since 1969, with Fernando Eldoro and Jorge Matta as Associate and Assistant Conductors respectively.