The Basque National Orchestra Music Room: a way of countering inequality and exclusion

The Music Room educational cycle has a longstanding tradition in the Basque National Orchestra’s programme and was initially conceived with the aim of bringing music closer to the general and younger public. Over recent years, more than ever, the cycle has paid special attention to the most sensitive segment of society. With the aim of furthering inclusion and accessibility to culture for disadvantaged groups, numerous activities have been added to the Music Room cycle.

This is also the case in this new Season 25/26 presented today, where several of the in-house productions have been designed for the purpose of integrating this feature in an integral and transversal manner.

‘MUSIKA TANTAK’, THE ULTIMATE EXPONENT OF INCLUSION

Musika tantak, the production on show at Miramon these days, focuses especially on accessibility to culture and the visibility of vulnerable groups. It makes for an innovative, pioneering and risky proposal. In Musika tantak, musicians from our orchestra together with young musicians of different abilities share the stage to create a magical universe in which each talent finds its place to shine and prove that diversity enriches us all.

This production premiered last season at the Kursaal and now returns with the further ambition of being more inclusive. Musika tantak is presented as a Concert for Schoolchildren these days (from 23 to 30 October) and is the first time that such as inclusive activity has been incorporated into this branch of Music Room. 2,800 primary and secondary schoolchildren from all over Gipuzkoa will attend this production in what is a necessary exercise of social inclusion.

In addition, Musika tantak has a Family Concert scheduled for 25 October in Miramon, intended as a relaxed session, a format that debuted last season and is here to stay. These relaxed sessions are ideal for an inclusive experience in which all the families share the stalls, both those with and without members with disabilities. This is a way of helping people with disabilities to attend individually with whomever they wish, in addition to those activities organised by their associations, without concern that their behaviour may be judged by the rest of the audience.

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 to the concert hall will remain open throughout the session to allow our audience to come and go at any time during 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 the performers and staff will be well aware of the best practices with regard to access and inclusion.

The production Nire ama antzara will also have a relaxed session at the Family Concert on 14 February 2026 in Miramon.

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 new cycle has four productions of its own: Musika tantak, Logelan logale, Nire ama antzara and Arriaga bizi da. The first two were already presented last season and appeal to inclusion, diversity, accessibility to culture, participation; in short, to making the cultural rights of all people a reality. Nire ama antzara and Arriaga bizi da are two new productions that will combine the need for imagination, beauty and participation with artificial intelligence.   

These four productions are presented in San Sebastian and Vitoria in the format of Concerts for Schools and Family Concerts.

On the one hand, it is expected that over the course of the entire Season over 7.500 infant, primary and secondary school students will attend the Concerts for Schoolchildren of these productions. These are students from around 100 schools in towns such as Altzo, Errezil, Zegama, Legazpi, Oñati, Ataun, Mendaro and Berrobi, among others. 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.

And on the other, these productions will take place in the Family Concerts format, a cycle that has been running now for 29 years. The San Sebastian Family Concerts are sponsored by El Diario Vasco, and that scheduled for the Kursaal, Arriaga bizi da, has also been organised in conjunction with Kursaal Eszena. The concerts in the capital of Alava enjoy the collaboration of Municipal Theatre Network of Vitoria-Gasteiz. Tickets for these shows, priced between 3 and 8 euros, may be purchased via 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:

1) MUSIKA TANTAK

An inclusive and interactive show where music, Basque mythology and audience participation go hand in hand.

With the participation of: Marie Gaillard (violin); Gabriel Mesado (cello); Paloma Torrado (double bass); Sara Zufiaurre (clarinet); Xabier Peña (percussion); Nacho Soto (piano); Ibai Murillo, Alberto Pérez, Dánae Riaño (interpretation and singing); Iñaki Cepas, Simón Ezquiaga, Mikel Hernández, Jon Ander López, Beñat Mendizábal, Ibai Mendizábal, Álvaro Polo (guest artists); Eli Arabaolaza (awareness-raising workshop); Yamel Romero (script and composition); Mikel Cañada (idea and direction).

Programme: works by Y. Romero, E. Grieg, S. Ezquiaga, C. Saint-Saëns, V. Horton.

CONCERTS FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN (Primary and secondary education)
23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, October (9:45 /11:15), Miramon, (San Sebastián)

FAMILY CONCERT (Relaxed session)
25 October (12:30*), Miramon (San Sebastián)

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

2) NIRE AMA ANTZARA

Maurice Ravel wrote his work Ma mère l'oye for the children of friends. Subtitled Five Children's Pieces, this work is also inspired by tales by the writer Charles Perrault. Using these elements, our proposal will replace words with images in a shadow theatre featuring live music, leaving it up to each child to re-create the different stories in his or her imagination. A wind quintet formation will bring this beautiful work to life.

With the participation of: Oihana Kontxeso (flute); Óscar Diago (oboe); Luis Cámara (clarinet); François Proud (bassoon); Marianne Tauzin (horn); Mikel Cañada (idea); Marta Bocos (shadow theatre, script and didactic guide).

Programme: M. Ravel, Nire ama antzara.

CONCERTS FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN (Early Childhood education)
10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19 February (9:45 / 11:15), Miramon (San Sebastián)

FAMILY CONCERTS (3 < 6 years)
1 February (17:00/18:30), García Lorca (Vitoria)
14  February (11:00 / 12:30), Miramon (San Sebastián)

3) LOGELAN LOGALE

Accessibility and participation, the pillars on which Music Room's proposal is based, find their maximum expression in this cantata, in which the Basque National Orchestra shares the stage with 1,000 schoolchildren to perform the 10 songs that make up the work Logelan Logale, written by Leire Bilbao and set to music by Jagoba Astiazaran. This cantata represents a huge collective effort by music teachers, participating schools, orchestra musicians, staff and collaborators, to make it possible for schoolchildren to live a unique experience of symphonic-choral singing. The Basque National Orchestra premiered this production in May 2025 in San Sebastián and Vitoria and it will serve to lend structure to the Basque Country through song, with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra and the choirs of Bizkaia through the Confederation of Choirs of the Basque Country joining this project a year later.

With the participation of: Jagoba Astiazaran (original music); Leire Bilbao (libretto); Basque National Orchestra; Juanjo Ocón (conductor); Kepa Errasti (singer and actor); María Goiricelaya (stage manager)

Programme: Preludioa / Kask-kask! / Gauaren beltza / Oheko burkoa / Gaueko / Harri, orri, ar / Mamua ote da? / Nire itzala / Hitz jolasak / Ispiluaren aurrean / Logelan logale

CONCERTS FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN (Primary education)
21, 22 April (12:00), Kursaal (San Sebastián)
23 April (12:00), Jesús Guridi (Vitoria)

4) ARRIAGA BIZI DA

Emiliano Arriaga, while tidying up his attic, finds an old violin and, caressing its out-of-tune strings, plucks the keys of memory. He begins to recall his uncle, Juanito, a musician who died in Paris a few days before his 20th birthday… We know barely anything about his personality or his life, which was spent between the old quarter of Bilbao and Paris, the musical capital of the time, so in our concert we will play at guessing or imagining what Juanito was really like, always using his music, other musicians of his time and with the help of Artificial Intelligence, which perhaps will allow us to converse for a moment with this endearing and brilliant Bilbao native.

FAMILY CONCERTS (6 < 10 years)
9 May (18:00*), Kursaal, Chamber Hall (San Sebastian)
10 May (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).

Musikazaleak

The Basque National Orchestra has a long record of fostering inclusion in the Music Room, led by FEVAS Plena Inclusión Euskadi. Both entities began working on a joint initiative over 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, chief among which are the workshops in Bilbao, Vitoria and San Sebastian, together with 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 advancing disability inclusion by means of music. More recently, the Basque National Orchestra also received, together with the Orfeón Donostiarra and Musikene, the Aspalagun 2025 Recognition, for its awareness and visibility work, carried out within the framework of Music Room.

Last season, this shared project took a fresh and major step forward with the launch of Musikazaleak. 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 and perform a concert at the end of the course. The first experience bore extraordinary fruit and the second edition is already underway.

These workshops are led by Yamel Romero, composer, music therapist and sophrologist specialised in the accompaniment and development of teams and individuals through music. And they have the collaboration of the Conservatorio Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga de Bilbao and the Municipal Theatre Network of Vitoria-Gasteiz.  

Open rehearsals

Music Room continues with its Open Rehearsals, aimed at groups, schools, 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. Three Open Rehearsals will be offered this season, two in January and one in May.

PROJECTS THAT FLY FREE

It is noteworthy how the Basque National Orchestra's commitment to creating innovative and quality productions of its own makes it a reference for other cultural agents to seek. This season alone will see three productions staged at three different venues:

• Ilargiari Kantari, to be presented at the Durango Musical Fortnight on 2 November, at 18:00, at the Teatro San Agustín. This is the fifth consecutive year that Durango has incorporated the Basque National Orchestra’s productions into its programme.
• Pantomime will be offered as part of the Baluarte Txiki programme at the Baluarte Auditorium in Pamplona.
• And the cantata Logelan logale, commissioned and premiered by the Basque National Orchestra during the last Season and programmed again now, is taken up by the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, which will offer it as a Concert for Schoolchildren for the whole province of Bizkaia.

It is worth remembering that in previous seasons, other productions such as Living Room Music have also been toured in our territory and beyond.

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 Logelan Logale; Ilargiari kantari; 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 strengthen 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 San Sebastian City Council, the Municipal Theatre Network of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Kursaal Eszena and El Diario Vasco.

PROJECTS AND NETWORKS PROMOTING INCLUSION

The full Music Room cycle forms part of ARTIS+, art for social inclusion, a European cross-border cooperation project that seeks to improve the accessibility of cultural facilities for groups of those at risk of exclusion, whether for reasons of disability or for social reasons. This project will continue until 2027, shared 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 Room’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, by working with cultural programmers and social entities, it creates unique cultural spaces and experiences at very low prices, providing 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 which, after two decades of experience in Catalonia, is now a model inclusive network, with more than 190 cultural programmers, more than 1,800 social entities and over 54 municipalities.

Associations that participate in some of the Music Room proposals:
Apdema, Apnabi, Aspace, Atzegi, Futubide, Gaude, Gautena, Gertuan, Gorabide, Goyeneche, Uliazpi, Usoa, Erroak-Sartu Elkartea, Emaus, Elkargune, Bagara-Gureak, Garagune, Berio Gerontological Centre, Brain Injury Day Centre, Maldatxo Psychosocial Rehabilitation Centre.

ARTIS+

This cycle forms part of the ARTIS+ project, which is 65% co-funded by the European Union through the Interreg VI-A Spain-France-Andorra Programme (POCTEFA 2021 - 2027).

More information