THE BASQUE NATIONAL ORCHESTRA AND THE ORFEÓN DONOSTIARRA TO PERFORM PRO HAITI CONCERT

The Basque National Orchestra and the Orfeón Donostiarra will be joining forces at the Kursaal auditorium to perform a concert on Saturday, February 27th in solidarity with the victims of the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th. BNO managing director Iñigo Alberdi, Orfeón Donostiarra chairman José Mª Echarri, and Orchestra instructor Mario Telenti offered a press conference with details of the event.

The two groups have come together on this joint initiative to give a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Messa da Réquiem. The concert will be conducted by BNO principal conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada, and featuring soprano Esther Lee, mezzo-soprano Iris Vermillion, tenor Aquiles Machado and bass Adam Horvath. All of the performers have agreed to donate their talents to help the victims of the catastrophe.

Concert tickets have been on sale since February 5th for the price of 45 and 25 euros. Tickets are available for purchase through Servikutxa, Telekutxa (943 00 12 00), www.kutxa.net and at the Kursaal ticket office (on days of Kursaal Foundation sponsored performances).

All of the proceeds from ticket sales will go to the Red Cross, the NGO entrusted with making sure the money is well spent in Haiti. Since the aftermath of the earthquake, over 400 Red Cross and Half Red Crescent workers have been deployed to the area. Volunteers of the Haitian Red Cross are on the front line of operations and have been working around the clock in spite of personal tragedy. So far over 540 tonnes of humanitarian aid from the Red Cross and Red Crescent have made it to Port-au-Prince by air or overland from Santo Domingo, the capital of the neighbouring Dominican Republic. The Red Cross and Red Crescent are seeking 105 million Swiss francs for the immediate relief effort.

The concert
Saturday, February 27 Kursaal Auditoriim, Donostia-San Sebastián. 8:00 pm

Programme
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): Messa da Requiem [84']

Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Esther Lee, soprano
Iris Vermillion, mezzo-soprano
Aquiles Machado, tenor
Adam Horvath, bass
Orfeón Donostiarra (Dir. José Antonio Sainz Alfaro)
Basque National Orchestra