Music Room presents its most inclusive and comprehensive Season to date

The Music Room educational cycle has a long tradition in the Basque National Orchestra’s programme and was initially created with the aim of bringing music closer to the general public, to the younger sector. This year, more than ever, the cycle aims particularly at the most sensitive sector of society.

With the aim of promoting inclusion and accessibility to culture for disadvantaged groups, the new Music Room cycle has added numerous events. On the one hand, several of its own productions presented this year were created with the intention of including this aspect in a full and transversal manner. On the other, this season sees the expansion of the inclusive musical workshops that the Basque National Orchestra has shared with FEVAS for over a decade to now become a more focussed, consolidated and extended initiative, under the name Musikazaleak. And lastly, Music Room is part of the European project ARTIS+ and the network of programmers Gertu Kultura, both initiatives that aim to facilitate vulnerable people’s access to culture.

Inclusion, the mainstay of this season's productions

Two of the four in-house productions to be presented in the Music Room focus particularly on vulnerable groups’ accessibility to culture and their visibility: Musika tantak and Misterioa.

On the one hand, Musika tantak will be a project stressing inclusion and variety. Its differently abled musicians will become the stars of the concert and share the stage with performers from the orchestra. The show will feature a surprising repertoire that will offer an exciting, innovative experience for new artists and our musicians.

On the other, Misterioa offers a new format for its Family Concert: a relaxed session, opening the door to an inclusive experience in which all the families share the stalls, both those with and without members with disabilities. This is a way of assisting people with disabilities to attend individually with whomever they wish, in addition to those activities organised by their associations, without fear that their behaviour may be judged by the rest of the audience.

In order to tailor to their needs, these relaxed sessions present a series of conditions that make them more open and less formal than the routines of a regular concert. The doors of the concert hall will remain open throughout the session to allow our audience to come and go throughout the event. The hall will be lit at all times and special care will be taken to avoid any bright lights, loud noises or sensory surprises. All members of the audience will maintain a relaxed attitude towards any noise and movement during the performance.

If it should be necessary to leave the hall, the entrance hall will be an alternative space for our audience to take a break and rejoin the event when ready. And performers and staff will be well aware of the best practices regarding access and inclusion.

Musikazaleak

The Basque National Orchestra has a long record of promoting inclusion in the Music Room, led by FEVAS Plena Inclusión Euskadi. Both entities began working on a joint initiative 15 years ago, with the aim of fostering inclusion and the right to culture for those with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Since then, some 1,500 people have taken part in numerous activities, including workshops in Bilbao, Vitoria and San Sebastian, as well as concerts at the orchestra's centre in Miramon. These activities have earned it the "Good Practice" prize awarded by the Spanish Confederation of Organisations for People with Intellectual Disabilities (FEAPS) and have sown the seed with examples such as Mosaic of sounds, an initiative that then spread to 14 Spanish orchestras as an innovative practice in which music becomes an instrument for personal development and social inclusion. This initiative received the CERMI 2018 national award for promoting disability inclusion by means of music.

This season, this shared project takes a major, new step forward with the presentation of the Musikazaleak initiative, which will involve students from Musikene's Master's degree in Music Mediation, Management and Dissemination. Also contributing to this initiative is Yamel Romero, composer, music therapist and sophrologist specialising in the accompaniment and development of teams and individuals through music. Musikazaleak consists of forming three fixed groups (one in Bilbao, one in San Sebastian and one in Vitoria) of some fifteen people with intellectual or developmental disabilities who will take part in eight musical workshops during the course. These workshops will culminate in a concert in June 2025 to showcase all the work done during the course. The Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga Conservatory of Bilbao and the Vitoria-Gasteiz Municipal Theatre Network all collaborate with these workshops.

Participation of Music Room in important projects and networks that promote inclusion

The full Music Room cycle is part of ARTIS+, art for social inclusion, a European cross-border cooperation project that seeks to improve the accessibility of cultural facilities for population groups at risk of exclusion, whether for reasons of disability or for social reasons. This project will be shared until 2027 with partners such as the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, L'Auditori and OBC Orchestra of Barcelona and the Orchestra of Pau, among others.

In the same vein, Music Toom’s programming now forms part of Gertu Kultura, a network of cultural programmers who join forces to facilitate access to culture for people in vulnerable situations. This non-profit initiative seeks to improve people's quality of life through culture. To this end, via collaboration with cultural programmers and social entities, it creates unique cultural spaces and experiences at very low prices, priority access and personalised treatment based on listening to and responding to the needs of different groups. Gertu Kultura comes from the Apropa Cultura network, set up by the Auditori de Barcelona and which, after two decades of experience in Catalonia, is now an inclusive network of reference, with more than 190 cultural programmers, more than 1800 social entities and over 54 municipalities.

PROGRAMME OF THE CYCLE

Four in-house productions

Year after year, the Basque National Orchestra has committed to producing its own productions with original scripts and shows created expressly to be premiered as part of its educational cycle. This season, a total of four of its own productions have been scheduled.

The first of these, Misterioa, premiered last spring at the Kursaal and is currently being presented at Miramon. On the one hand, as Concerts for Schoolchildren, from the 16^th to the 24^th of October, with the visit of more than 3,300 schoolchildren; and, on the other hand, as a Family Concert, on Saturday the 19th of October, at 12:00. The other in-house productions premiering this season will be Ilargiari kantari, Musika tantak and Logelan logale.

These productions are presented in the format of Concerts for Schoolchildren and Family Concerts, which form the centrepiece of the cycle.

On the one hand, it is expected that over the course of the entire season more than 8,000 infant, primary and secondary school students will attend the Concerts for Schoolchildren of these productions. These are students from nearly 100 schools in towns such as Altzo, Aizarnazabal, Andoain, Hernani, Hondarribia, Irun, Oiartzun, Orio, San Sebastián, Segura, Tolosa and Usurbil, among others. For the first time, with Logelan logale, there will be a Concert for Schoolchildren in Vitoria. The Concerts for Schoolchildren currently enjoy the collaboration of the General Council of Gipuzkoa, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, the Education Department of the City Council of San Sebastian, Kursaal Eszena and the City Council of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

On the other hand, these productions will take place in San Sebastian and Vitoria in the form of Family Concerts, the section with the longest and most established trajectory within the Music Room. This cultural leisure alternative for families, to enjoyed along with the youngest members of the family, has formed part of the orchestra's programme for 28 years. The San Sebastian Family Concerts are sponsored by El Diario Vasco, and that to be held in Kursaal, Musika tantak, has been organised in conjunction with Kursaal Eszena. The concerts in the capital of Alava receive the collaboration of Municipal Theatre Network of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Vitoria-Gasteiz Municipal Theatre Network).  Tickets for these shows, priced between 3 and 8 euros, may be purchased at the website euskadikoorkestra.eus, as the dates of each show approach. Tickets can also be purchased at the box offices of the relevant venues and on the Kursaal website (kursaal.eus).

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

1) MISTERIOA

This project puts forward simple melodies that have mysteriously gained great fame, such as Beethoven's Ode to Joy. Because music is a riddle! Our musicians will guide us through this mysterious universe.

With the participation of: Nathalie Dabadie (violin), Anne-Marie Harmat (violin), Justyna Janiak-Krymer (viola), Jon Larraz (cello), Hélène Billard-Alirol (flute), Garazi San Martin (actress), Jaione Urtasun (actress), Mikel Cañada (script).

Programme: works by Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Buys, Tchaikovsky.

SCHOOL CONCERTS  (Primary and secondary education)
16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24 October (9:45/11:15), Miramon

FAMILY CONCERT (Relaxed session)
19^th October (18:00*), Miramon

*Prior to the concert, at 10:45 a.m., a free, optional, complementary awareness-raising workshop will be offered. Registration: musikagela@euskadikoorkestra.eus

2) ILARGIARI KANTARI

Ilargiari kantari will take us through various Basque folk music melodies and famous songs from that incredible era when man first set foot on the moon.

With the participation of: Amaia Asurmendi (violin), Igor Arostegi (percussion), Amaia Zipitria (piano), Ainhoa López de Munain (voice), Ana Egiazabal (presenter), Mikel Cañada (script).

Programme: works by Guridi, Aita Donostia, Chaplin, Howard, Morricone, Puccini.

SCHOOL CONCERTS  (Early Childhood Education)
13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20 February (9:45/11:15), Miramon

FAMILY CONCERTS (3<6 years)
2^nd February (17:00/18:30), García Lorca (Vitoria)
15^th February (11:00/12:30), Miramon (San Sebastián)

3) MUSIKA TANTAK

Musika tantak is the project to highlight inclusion and variety, in which musicians with different abilities will offer a joint concert ranging from classical music to experimental music, including pop and jazz.

With the participation of: Basque National Orchestra Ensemble (piano, double bass, clarinet, trumpet, percussion), Simón Ezquiaga (voice and presentation), Yamel Romero (artistic coordination), Mikel Cañada (script).

Programme: surprise repertoire.

FAMILY CONCERTS (6<14 years)
29^th March (18:00*), Kursaal Chamber Hall (San Sebastián)
30^th March (18:00*), Félix Petite (Vitoria)

*Prior to the concerts, at 16:45 a.m., a free, optional, complementary awareness-raising workshop will be offered. Registration: 943003170 (San Sebastián) / 945161045 (Vitoria).

4) LOGELAN LOGALE

This is the title of the cantata to be premiered by the Basque National Orchestra in May 2025 in San Sebastian and Vitoria. It is one of the initiatives that form part of the European ARTIS+ project, through which we want to encourage choral singing in schools in our country. This cantata, brought to the stage with a large choir of girls and boys both on stage and in the stalls, will serve to structure the Basque Country through song, with the integration, one year later, of the orchestras of Bilbao and Navarre and the choirs of their respective provinces via the Confederation of Choirs of the Basque Country. This project began a year ago among those involved and now kicks off a new phase in 5th and 6th grade primary schools, culminating in its premiere in the form of Concerts for Schoolchildren. Logelan logale will be presented independently at a later date.

With the participation of: Juanjo Ocón (director), Kepa Errasti (singer and actor), Easo Gazte (choir), Arabatxo (choir), María Goiricelaya (stage manager), Jagoba Astiazaran (original music), Leire Bilbao (libretto).

SCHOOL CONCERTS  (Primary education)
13, 14 May (12:00), Kursaal
15^th May (12:00), Jesús Guridi

Other activities

Music Room continues with its Open Rehearsals, aimed at groups, educational centres, conservatories and universities, among others, which offer a chance to see first-hand how our orchestra works in the moments leading up to a concert. This season, three Open Rehearsals will be held in November, January and March.

The orchestra will revive one of the Music Room’s most successful recent productions, Pantomima, in this case, as part of the Durango Musical Fortnight on the 3^rd of November, at 18:00, in the Teatro San Agustín. This is a show aimed at children from 3 to 6 years old, with music taken from the baroque period by authors such as Vivaldi, Bach and Handel that leads us to a world of fantasy in which a “Commedia dell ‘Arte” style character interacts with the audience by means of theatrical improvisations.

MUSIC ROOM ON YOUTUBE

Music Room has its own section on the YouTube Channel of the Basque National Orchestra, where you can see complete performances of the cycle, such as Boléro, Pantomima, Polikinela, Living Room Music and Mozart, Nannerl eta Lagunak. In addition, videos of this season's concerts will be uploaded as they take place.

BROAD NETWORK OF COLLABORATORS

The Basque National Orchestra’s Music Room cycle continues to further its collaboration with various institutions in the surrounding area, such as the General Council of Gipuzkoa, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, the Education Department of the City Council of San Sebastian, the Municipal Theatre Network of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Kursaal Eszena and El Diario Vasco.

ARTIS+

This cycle is part of the ARTIS+ project, which is 65% co-financed by the European Union through the Interreg VI-A Spain-France-Andorra Program (POCTEFA 2021-2027). The aim of POCTEFA is to strengthen the economic and social integration of the Spain-France-Andorra border area.

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