ICMA Awards 2016: The Basque National Orchestra hosts a unique event

On April 1st San Sebastian and, by extension, the Basque Country, turned into the European Capital of Classical Music. The ICMA Awards 2016, brought to us by the Basque National Orchestra and San Sebastian 2016, gathered at the Kursaal a selection of international artists representing the today and tomorrow of classical music. The event began with the awards ceremony, continuing afterwards, and above all, on stage with the Basque Orchestra.

The awards. As reported the following day by one of the media referring to the awards and the concert starring the award-winners alongside the Orchestra, "The ICMAs are the ratification of uncontrived classical music". The President of the International Classical Music Awards, Remy Franck stressed that these awards are "committed to backing those who truly deserve it". Thus, enveloped in the emotion, the appreciation and the excitement at the subsequent concert, their awards were collected by the soprano Dame Felicity Lott, the trombonist Christian Lindberg, the cellist Pablo Ferrández and the extremely young flautist Nikolai Song, in addition to Jordi Savall and Javier Perianes, who represented Alia Vox and Harmonia Mundi, respectively.

The concert. The awards ceremony was followed by the highlight of the evening: the concert given by the award-winners and the Basque National Orchestra, conducted by Jun Märkl. Added to the relevance of the awards themselves, was the importance of the musical happening. Playing to an audience delighted at having the opportunity to enjoy what would undoubtedly go on to become a unique occurrence, the sound of the Basque Orchestra merged with the voice of Dame Felicity Lott, with the singular Stradivarius of Pablo Ferrández, the uncommon talent of a 12 year old flautist by the name of Nikolai Song and the piano of David Violi and Javier Perianes.

The ICMA Awards 2016, a musical event placing the Basque Orchestra at the vanguard of European music, have now gone down in the annals of the institution.