Over 50 activities during the 23-24 Season of the Music Room series

The Basque National Orchestra's Music Room gets off to a strong start with over 50 activities in the new season. 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, accessible, and are aimed at different age groups.

Four of its own productions

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.

The first of this season's productions, Elkarrekin sortu, is an innovative concert in which the audience will be a key component of the music played. Among the wide repertoire for chamber ensemble proposed in this production, the participation of the Bilbao composer Helga Arias, resident in Switzerland, is a particular highlight with her work Egunsentia-Ilunabarra (for ensemble and video). This work proposes nine nature scenes represented both by images (by means of a video projection) and sounds, creating a 13-minute soundtrack. These sounds are created collaboratively between the musicians and the pupils/audience. On the one hand, the 50 schools participating in this first production have created the music that accompanies this series of images, using everyday objects and their voices as a basis. The children therefore become composers of contemporary music, which is a unique experience for them. On the other hand, the ensemble of musicians who will be on stage will accompany and complete the previously recorded composition live with the sounds made by the pupils.

The other three own productions are as follows: Pantomima a fun story of music and theatre told through a repertoire ranging from the Baroque to Romanticism; Polikinela, a symphonic party that will make the vocal cords and the bodies of our audience vibrate; and Misterioa, with a plot based on mysteries and riddles, typical of the characters of the commedia dell'arte.

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

Concerts for Schoolchildren

On the one hand, it is expected that over the course of the entire season over 11,000 pre-school, primary, and secondary education pupils will attend the Concerts for Schoolchildren of these four productions. Pupils from around 100 schools in Altzo, Aizarnazabal, Andoain, Hernani, Hondarribia, Irun, Oiartzun, Orio, San Sebastián, Segura, Tolosa, and Usurbil, among others.

The Concerts for Schoolchildren currently receive the support of the General Assembly of Gipuzkoa, Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, the Education Department of San Sebastian City Council, and Kursaal Eszena.

Family Concerts

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 27 years.

The Family Concerts in San Sebastian are sponsored by El Diario Vasco, and the one that will be performed at Kursaal, Misterioa, has been organised in collaboration with Kursaal Eszena. The concerts in Alava’s capital city, on the other hand, are supported by the Municipal Theatre Network of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Tickets can be purchased for all the events, with prices ranging between three and eight euros, 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.

More information