Presentation of the 21-22 Season of the Music Room series

After a transition period 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. 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. This Season it will première its own production called Euskadiko Orkestra Cirkus, a concert-spectacle aimed at a younger audience. It will be an explosion of joy and fantasy through fun music and the magic of the circus. In January we will have Living Room Music, another production of its own that was hugely successful last season and which will continue in this one. Here, four percussionists and an actress take us to an apartment in any city of the world, to give lockdown a touch of humour and prove that any object can be used to create music. We will close the Season with Perrault’s Puss in Boots, a universal literary classic that will immerse us in the atmosphere of the court of Louis XIV, with a visual and poetic spectacle. It is a production by the puppet group Per Poc, adapted for the first time to the Basque language to be presented at Music Room.

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

On the one hand, it is expected that in total more than 9,000 pre-school, primary and secondary education pupils will go to the Concerts for Schoolchildren of these three productions. These are pupils from close to 100 schools in towns such as Astigarraga, Azpeitia, Berrobi, Ezkio-Itsaso, Gasteiz, Lizartza, Olaberria, Orio, San Sebastian, Urretxu, Zestoa and Zumaia, among others. The School Concerts currently receive the collaboration of the General Assembly of Gipuzkoa, 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 25 years. The Family Concerts in San Sebastian are sponsored by El Diario Vasco, and the one that will be carried out in Kursaal, Euskadiko Orkestra Cirkus, 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 these shows, with a price ranging from 3 to 7 euros, can be done on the website euskadikoorkestra.eus Tickets can also be purchased at the ticket booths at on the websites (kursaal.eus, principalantzokia.org) of the corresponding concert halls. Tickets for the concerts in San Sebastian will be on sale from 14 December and for those in Vitoria-Gasteiz in late January.

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

1. EUSKADIKO ORKESTRA CIRKUS

3 < 6 years old
40’
Itziar Prieto*, violin
Didier Bousquet*, trumpet
Amaia Zipitria, piano
‘Pituxa’ Itziar Saenz de Ojer, clown
Irati Gonzalez Jaimerena, acrobatics
Koldo Arakistain, acrobatics
Mikel Cañada, script

*Members of the Basque National Orchestra

An explosion of joy and fantasy through music from the late 19th and early 20th century, mixing styles such as jazz, popular and ballroom music, and art music. Small fun pieces, very representative of their style, full of colour and sometimes of melodic and timbral exoticism. With this concert we seek to convey to our young listeners the magic of music linked to the magic of the circus; juggling, magic tricks, clown, tightrope walkers and music from the surreal to the popular, performed by an instrumental ensemble of musicians from our orchestra with the collaboration of different artists from the performing arts.

SCHOOL CONCERTS
18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25 November
9:45 / 11:15
Miramon. Orchestra HQ
Pre-school education

FAMILY CONCERTS
Donostia / San Sebastián
29 January
18:00
Kursaal. Chamber Hall

Vitoria-Gasteiz
30 January
17:00 / 18:30
García Lorca Theatre

2. LIVING ROOM MUSIC

6 < 10 years old
50’
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

For 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
19, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27 January
09:45 / 11:15
Miramon. Orchestra HQ
Primary and secondary education.

FAMILY CONCERT
Donostia / San Sebastián
22 January
11:00 / 12:30
Miramon. Orchestra HQ

3. BOTADUN KATUA

6 < 10 years old
55’
Instrumental Group of the Basque National Orchestra
Per Poc, puppet group
Aarón Zapico, artistic director
Rakel Ezpeleta, narrator

A baroque instrumental group from the Basque National Orchestra and the Per Poc puppet group proposed this show based on the universal literary classic Puss in Boots, which immerses us in the atmosphere of the court of Louis XIV and the music from that period. A visual and poetic concert with a large format Victorian theatre and baroque music, so that small children and young people can discover the musical wealth of a culturally magnificent period. It will be the first time that this production by Per Poc will be offered in the Basque language.

SCHOOL CONCERTS
30, 31 March
09:45 / 11:30
Kursaal
Primary education

FAMILY CONCERT
Vitoria-Gasteiz
10 April
18:00
Principal Theatre

An Open Rehearsal and other activities

This wide offering of concerts will be enriched with other activities. Music room is taking up its Open General Rehearsals again, 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's Open Rehearsal will take place on 10 March at 11:00 in the Kursaal Auditorium, where the orchestra will perform Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz, under the baton of Pinchas Steinberg.

In addition, the orchestra will bring back one of the most successful recent productions of Music Room, Mozart, Nannerl eta Lagunak, in this case to offer it within the framework of the Musical Fortnight of Durango, on 27 November, at 19:00, in the San Agustín Theatre. This is a show for children aged 3 to 6, where the protagonists are the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his sister Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed 'Nannerl'.

The Workshops for school teachers 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 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, the Education Department of San Sebastian City Council, the Municipal Network of Theatres of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Kursaal Eszena and El Diario Vasco.

More information