More than 40 activities during the 22-23 Season of the Music Room series

After two seasons in which the schedule of activities was reduced due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, the Basque National Orchestra's educational series, Music Room, is back in full swing with more than 40 activities. It is a series with a long tradition in the orchestra's programming, created with the aim of bringing music to the public in general and in particular to society’s younger members. The concerts it offers are educational, pedagogical and approachable, and are aimed at different age groups. This Season it will cover a spectrum ranging from ages 3 to 12.

Year by year, the Basque National Orchestra is committed to creating its own productions with original scripts and shows created expressly to be launched within its educational series. A total of four productions of its own are scheduled for this Season. First of all, for our younger audience, we have designed a concert entitled Ondinaren Magia which combines music and magic through an original adventure story featuring fairies and undines (water nymphs in Greek mythology). Living Room Music, a percussion concert without percussion instruments that takes us to the lockdown to highlight the value of human creativity in times of crisis, through humour. It will be followed by Boléro, a symphony concert where our audience of schoolchildren can enjoy the most famous crescendo in history and participate in a joint choreography specially created for this concert. And finally, Elkarrekin sortu, an innovative concert for all ages, in which the audience will be a fundamental part of the music we will listen to.

These four productions are presented in two formats, Concerts for Schoolchildren and Family Concerts.

On the one hand, it is expected that in total more than 11,000 pre-school, primary and secondary education pupils will go to the Concerts for Schoolchildren of these four productions. These are pupils from close to 100 schools in towns such as Alkiza, Azpeitia, Berrobi, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Lizartza, Mendaro, Olaberria, Orio, San Sebastian, Urretxu, Zerain, Zestoa and Zumaia, among others. The School Concerts currently receive the collaboration of the General Assembly of Gipuzkoa, Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, the Education Department of San Sebastian City Council and Kursaal Eszena.

On the other hand, the productions will be carried out in San Sebastian and Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Family Concert format, the longest-running and most established within Music Room. This cultural leisure alternative to enjoy as a family with young children has been a constant feature of the orchestra’s programming for 26 years. The Family Concerts in San Sebastian are sponsored by El Diario Vasco, and the one that will be carried out in Kursaal, Elkarrekin sortu, has been done in collaboration with Kursaal Eszena. The concerts in Alava’s capital city, on the other hand, receive the collaboration of the Municipal Theatre Network of Vitoria-Gasteiz. The purchase of tickets for all the events, whose prices range between 3 and 8 euros, can be done on the website euskadikoorkestra.eus as the date for each show approaches. Tickets can also be purchased at the ticket booths and on the websites (kursaal.eus, principalantzokia.org) of the corresponding venues.

Below is more detailed information on the productions and the dates of the Concerts for Schoolchildren and Family Concerts:

1. ONDINAREN MAGIA

3 < 6 years old
40’
Maite Abasolo*, viola
Ander Erburu*, flute
Iván Bragado*, harp
Txan Magoa
Ana Eguiazabal, presenter
Mikel Cañada, script

* Member of the Basque National Orchestra

It is the first time that the Family Concerts in this series include magic as the main feature of a show, which means that Ondinaren Magia will offer a totally new experience. Undines are mysterious beings in popular legends. In Greek mythology, 'undines' were aquatic nymphs that lived in the Mediterranean. And precisely, this spectacle tells the story of an undine, a girl who every evening turns into a fish on the beach and who, among other adventures, meets a wizard. Playing with the elements of nature, four magic performances will be offered within the framework of the show. The music will also be very special, and will be performed by three instruments: a harp, representing the waves and marine depths; a flute, talking about the wind’s mysteries; and a viola, which tells of the earth and its mysteries. Through a story expressly created for this concert, and with music by authors such as Duboit, Jolivet, Ravel or Debussy, we will play with our senses for the pure pleasure of enjoying the arts.

CONCERTS FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN
13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20 October
9:45 / 11:15
Miramon
Pre-school education

FAMILY CONCERT
Donostia / San Sebastian
15 October
11:00 / 12:30
Miramon

Vitoria-Gasteiz
26 February
17:00 / 18:30
García Lorca

2. LIVING ROOM MUSIC

6 < 12 years old
55’
Anthony Lafargue*, percussion
Héctor Marqués*, percussion
Igor Arostegi*, percussion
Gorka Catediano, percussion
Ana Hernández Sanchiz, actress
Mikel Cañada, script

*Members of the Basque National Orchestra

Four musicians are forced into lockdown in an apartment, which they cannot leave, in a faraway city. Far from their relatives, confined through obligation and quite bewildered and nervous, they explore all the elements in the home with which music can be created: tables, spoons, fans, water, lamps, flowerpots, stairs, dustbins, their hands, their voices… Their only contact with the outside world is a fairly indiscreet neighbour, in the same situation, who starts becoming annoyed by the terrible "noises" of her neighbours, and is constantly pestering them…

CONCERTS FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN
18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26 January
9:45 / 11:15
Miramon. Orchestra HQ
Primary and secondary education

FAMILY CONCERT
Donostia / San Sebastian
21 January
11:00
Miramon. Orchestra HQ

3. BOLERO

6 < 12 years old
50’
Basque National Orchestra
Nelly Guilhemsans, choreography
Kilika, puppet company
Ana Eguiazabal, presenter
Mikel Cañada, script

History tells us that the famous melody of the ballet Boléro came to Maurice Ravel while he was still in his pyjamas and moments before going to swim on the beach of Ciboure, the town where he was born. Little did the composer imagine that the melody, which he played several times on the piano with a single finger on that summer morning of 1928, would be the seed of a monumental work that today, almost 100 years later, is still one of the most performed pieces in concert halls around the world. The Basque National Orchestra will perform this work for our younger audience, along with another ballet also composed by Ravel, Ma mère l’oye, with a staging that seeks to get the entire audience moving.

CONCERTS FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN
20, 21 March
9:45 / 11:30
Kursaal
Primary education

4. ELKARREKIN SORTU

6 < 12 years old
55’

Have you ever wondered what a drawing or a sculpture would sound like? What sound would better express wind or rain? How would you describe a movement with music? A line, a drawing? A feeling? A gaze? In this concert, Basque National Orchestra musicians will face the challenge of answering these questions, playing with music based on the proposals of our young audience and on a cutting-edge repertoire. With a screen, a computer and the most advanced music technology, performers and audience will play at discovering the secrets of musical composition.

FAMILY CONCERT
Donostia / San Sebastian
6 May
18:00*
Kursaal. Chamber Hall

Vitoria-Gasteiz
7 May
18:00*
Principal Theatre

*Before each concert, at 16:45, a complementary, optional and free-of-charge awareness-raising workshop is offered.
REGISTRATION:
Donostia / San Sebastián
943 00 31 70
Vitoria / Gasteiz
945 16 10 45

Three Open Rehearsals and other activities

This wide offering of concerts will be enriched with other activities. Music room continues with its Open Rehearsals, aimed at groups, schools, music schools and universities among others, offering the chance to see up close how our orchestra works in the moments prior to a concert. This Season three Open Rehearsals will be offered:

3 February (11:00), Kursaal:
L.V. Beethoven: Symphony No.5
Dinis Sousa, conductor

10 March (11:00), Kursaal:
J. Adams: Doctor Atomic Symphony
Roderick Cox, conductor

4 May (11:00), Kursaal:
S. Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet
Karel Mark Chichon, director

In addition, the orchestra will bring back one of the most successful recent productions of Music Room, Euskadiko Orkestra Cirkus, in this case to offer it within the framework of the Musical Fortnight of Durango, on 12 November, at 17:30, in the San Agustín Theatre. It is a performance aimed at children aged 3 to 6 that combines juggling, clown, tightrope walkers and music between the surreal and the popular.

The Workshops for schoolteachers will also continue to be carried out, used as prior preparation for the School Concerts.

Music Room on YouTube

Music Room has its own section on the YouTube channel of the Basque National Orchestra, where it is possible to see the full performances of the series, such as Euskadiko Orkestra Cirkus, Living Room Music, Mozart, Nannerl eta Lagunak, Ekomusik and Isiltasunaren haitzuloa. In addition, the videos of the concerts from this Season will be uploaded as they are held.

Wide network of collaborators

The Music Room series by the Basque National Orchestra continues to promote collaboration with a variety of local institutions, such as the General Assembly of Gipuzkoa, Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, the Education Department of San Sebastian City Council, the Municipal Network of Theatres of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Kursaal Eszena and El Diario Vasco.

More information