The Basque National Orchestra kicks off the 24/25 Season by participating in the opera 'Carmen' at the Musical Fortnight
The orchestra has been rehearsing for a few days now for this famous work by Georges Bizet, which will be performed at the Kursaal on the 8th and 10th of August. The Basque National Orchestra will also give a concert on the 14th in Senpere as part of the Walking Fortnight cycle, as well as a symphonic-choral concert with the Orfeón Donostiarra on the 23rd August in Kursaal.
In addition to its fruitful participation in the San Sebastian festival, over the next month the Basque National Orchestra will perform concerts in Lekeitio and Bergara, and will record works by Richard Strauss in Miramon for a new album on the Ondine label.
The Musical Fortnight premieres in a dual performance on 8th and 10th August (19:00) at Kursaal, a new opera production: a re-reading of Bizet's popular Carmen by Emilio López. The Basque National Orchestra will perform under the direction of José Miguel Pérez-Sierra, recently appointed musical director of the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid; the solo ensemble is headed by Tunisian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb (Carmen) and Ukrainian tenor Dmytro Popov (Don José); alongside them, Miren Urbieta-Vega (Micaela), Simón Orfila (Escamillo), Marifé Nogales (Mercedes), Helena Orcoyen (Frasquita), José Manuel Díaz (Dancaire), Juan Laborería (Morales), Mikel Zabala (Zúñiga) and Aitor Garitano (Remendado); and the choral passages will be performed by the voices of Easo Abesbatza.
In addition to this opera which the Basque National Orchestra is rehearsing these days, on 23rd August (20:00) at Kursaal there will be another important event in the Fortnight, a symphonic-choral concert by the Basque National Orchestra and the Orfeón Donostiarra, under the baton of the French conductor Jérémie Rhorer. The concert will focus on the Missa Solemnis, Beethoven's choral work par excellence, and the most difficult of this composer's works from a technical standpoint. It is considered by some to be the greatest mass ever composed. The orchestra and choir will be accompanied by soloists Chen Reiss, Victoria Karkacheva, Maximilian Schmitt and Hanno Müller-Brachmann.
Between opera and symphonic concert, the Basque National Orchestra will also perform on 14th August again in Senpere, as part of the cycle Walking Fortnight, with Alexandre da Costa in the dual role of concertmaster and director, and with works by Aita Donostia, Williams, Chiasson-Da Costa and Beethoven.
In addition to the Musical Fortnight, which will occupy the orchestra for much of this month, the Basque National Orchestra will offer concerts in Lekeitio, on 16th August, and in Bergara, on 6th September. In Lekeitio, Senpere's repertoire will again be performed with Alexandre Da Costa as master of ceremonies. In Bergara, the programme will consist of works by Mozart and Schubert, with Martin Funda acting as concertmaster and conductor.
Lastly, at the end of August, the Basque National Orchestra will record, under the Ondine label, works by Richard Strauss, a German composer that the orchestra had not recorded to date. And it will do so with two great, renowned scores such as the symphonic poem Macbeth and Symphonia Domestica.
The Basque National Orchestra Concert Season as of 27th September
The Basque National Orchestra’s Concert Season will begin on 27th September, with a grand symphony by Mahler, the Ninth, and an excerpt from the ballet Akelarre (Witches’ Sabbath) by Pascual Aldave, conducted by Robert Treviño. Season tickets, which include attendance at 10 concerts, have been on sale since last 1st July, and tickets for all the concerts during the Season will be on sale from 1st September.
