The Basque National Orchestra inaugurates its Season Concerts

On Thursday 23 and Friday 24 September, Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz will serve as the setting for the first performances in the Basque Orchestra's 2010/2011 Season Concerts. On this first Season Concert programme, the extraordinary violinist Vadim Repin debuts as guest soloist with the Basque Orchestra, under the direction of its chief conductor, Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Vadim Repin has performed with first-line orchestras on the international scene, like the Berlin, New York, Los Angeles or Saint Petersburg philharmonics or the London, Boston, Chicago symphony orchestras and the La Scala Orchestra, under some of the greatest conductors: Ashkenazy, Boulez, Dutoit, Chailly, Eschenbach, Gergiev, Masur, Mehta, Nagano, Rattle, etc. On this occasion, Repin will perform L.V. Beethoven's Concerto for violin and orchestra in D major, Op. 61. The programme of these concerts will be rounded off with A. Dvorák's 7th Symphony in D minor, Op. 70.

Joana Carneiro and Momo Kodama will launch the Season Concerts in Pamplona and San Sebastian. The Orchestra will open its season in Pamplona on 29 September and in San Sebastián on 30 September and 1 October. It will be conducted on these occasions by Joana Carneiro, music director of the Berkeley Symphony and official guest conductor at the Gulbenkian Orchestra, and accompanied by the pianist Momo Kodama as guest soloist.

These new Season Concerts mark the second in the tenure of Andrés Orozco-Estrada as chief conductor and of Andrey Boreyko as principle guest conductor. While both will conduct a large part of the programmes, the season also includes the presence of other famous guest conductors: Howard Griffiths, Oleg Caetani, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Eduardo Portal, Jesús Amigo, Iker Sánchez, Michal Nesterowicz, winner of the 9th Cadaques International Conducting Competition, and Gilbert Varga, former chief conductor of the Orchestra over ten seasons. In addition to Repin and Kodama, in the coming months we will be treated to performances by the violinists Julian Rachlin, Daniel Hope and Luis Esnaola, the pianists Arcadi Volodos and Khatia Buniatishvili, the cellist Johannes Moser and the great American saxophonist Branford Marsalis. Basque Orchestra soloists Bruno Claverie (flute) and Pascal Laffont (oboe) will also perform one of the programmes. In the symphony-choral repertoire we underline an extraordinary line-up for Beethoven's 9th Symphony, with Ainhoa Garmendia, Itxaro Mentxaka, José Ferrero and Attila Jun alongside the Bilbao Choral Society. For her part, the soprano Christiane Karg will join the Orchestra to perform Mahler's 4th Symphony. One of the season highlights will take place in March, when the Orchestra will lend its stage to the Malandain Ballet Biarritz to perform "Magnifique. Suites Tchaikovsky". This will be a unique occasion to enjoy dance with live music, played by the Orchestra from its pit. As far as Basque composers are concerned, we feature the absolute premiere of Jesús Eguiguren's Kindly Symphony, on commission, by the Basque Orchestra; the performance of Pascual Alcave's Nerabe Sorta, and two short works by Valentín de Zubiaurre, featuring on the latest Orchestra recording. One of the programmes will pay homage to Enrique Jordá, first conductor and promoter of the Basque Orchestra, on the centenary of his birth. In addition, our season concerts will welcome two guest orchestras: the Extremadura Orchestra, with its Chief Conductor, Jesús Amigo and the violinist Alexandre Da Costa, plus the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, under the baton of its chief conductor Andrey Boreyko, together with the pianist Khatia Buniatishvili.

1st Season Concert programme
23 September: Palacio Euskalduna, Bilbao. 20:00
24 September: Teatro Principal. Vitoria-Gasteiz. 20:00

The programme
Antonin Dvorák (1841-1904)
7th Symphony in D minor, Op. 70 [36']
Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major, Op. 61 [42']

Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Vadim Repin, violin