The Basque National Orchestra kicks off the 23/24 Season with its participation at the Musical Fortnight presenting Mahler’s ‘Symphony of a Thousand’
San Sebastian’s classical music festival will grace the Kursaal Auditorium stage on 18 August (20:00) under the direction of Robert Trevino, bringing together the Basque National Orchestra and the Navarre Symphony Orchestra for the instrumental portion, and the Orfeón Donostiarra, Orfeón Pamplonés, Easo Eskolania, and Easo Gazte for the choral passages, in addition to an extensive line-up of soloist voices.
23/24 season: Art in the first person
In this new Season, the Basque National Orchestra wishes to focus its attention on the human being who creates and transforms, through art as an inspirational ally. With Mahler and his Symphony No. 3 we will see concepts such as eternity and love; with Bruckner and his Seventh the most spiritual experience; with Dutilleux and Strauss the most mundane life; and with Prokofiev and his Alexander Nevsky the hero's exhilaration.
To this end this Season will feature great conductors such as Juraj Valcuha, Juanjo Mena, Marie Jacquot and Riccardo Frizza, as well as international artists of the stature of Alban Gerhardt, Sergey Khachatryan, Olesya Petrova and Justina Gringyte. Numerous performers and choirs from our region are part of the solid cast: Elena Sancho Pereg, Clara Mouriz, Alfonso Gómez, the Bilbao Choral Society, the Orfeón Donostiarra and Vocalia Taldea.
Basque creation will be of great importance, especially with the world première of Chillida – Elogios by Antonio Lauzurika, a work commissioned by the orchestra to commemorate the centenary of the sculptor's birth. Oihartzun gorriak by Itziar Viloria and a revision of At the Aegean Shores by Saskia Venegas will also première, and Mugarri by Ramon Lazkano will be performed. In this section of Basque creation, and outside the Season concerts, the recording of works by Gabriel Erkoreka that the orchestra will undertake under the baton of Juanjo Mena is also a standout feature.
For the first time in the Season Concerts, an opera will be performed that, programmed by the Arriaga Theatre and under the stage direction of Calixto Bieito, will be presented in Bilbao: Die Ersten Menschen (The First Humans) by Rudi Stephan.
After its successful tour of Poland, Austria will be the Basque National Orchestra's next international destination in February 2024, with three concerts in Salzburg and one in Linz.
The Basque National Orchestra seals its relationship with the prestigious Beethoven Festival in Poland
It is the result of a high-paced and artistically demanding tour that the Basque orchestra has managed with great solidity and high standards of quality.
"We have sealed the possibility of returning in the future", says Oriol Roch, general director of the Basque National Orchestra.
The Basque National Orchestra is making its debut in Poland with a great tour made up of four concerts
Invited to lead off the programming of the Beethoven Festival, one of the most important classical music festivals in Poland, the Basque National Orchestra is visiting Warsaw, Wrocław, Krakow, and Katowice –respectively– from March 28 to 31.
This is the first international tour since before the pandemic for the orchestra and it represents a historic presence in one of the cradles of European classical music.
The Basque National Orchestra and Robert Trevino launch to the international market their new album, ‘Ravel 2’
The Ondine record label signs this album that includes the world's first recording of the orchestration by Pierre Boulez for the work ‘Frontispice’, as well as a complete recording of the ballet score ‘Ma mére l’Oye’.
It has already received the recognition of "excellent album" in the prestigious Gramophone Magazine. The album is available on all the main digital platforms.
More than 40 activities during the 22-23 Season of the Music Room series
The Basque National Orchestra presents and premières four productions in this new Season of its educational series: ‘Ondinaren magia’, a music, magic and fantasy show that will be launched these days; ‘Living Room Music’, a production cancelled last Season but is now restored; ‘Boléro’, with the great work by Ravel as the centrepiece; and ‘Elkarrekin sortu’, an audience-musicians collaborative technological-musical show.
The wide offering of Concerts for Schoolchildren and Family Concerts in San Sebastian and Vitoria-Gasteiz, which together form the main core of the series, will be completed with three open rehearsals and other activities.