The Basque National Orchestra proposes a new Season of concerts with the focus on front-line soloists and superb conductors
Our lives march along with time. And that's where our #momentum comes to the surface, an instant when time seems to stop, a space to be still. A moment for emotion through music in a vertiginous society constantly on the move.
The Basque National Orchestra proposes a new Season of concerts with the focus on front-line soloists including Pinchas Zukerman, Katia & Marielle Labèque, Julian Rachlin, Enrico Dindo and Vadim Gluzman, and superb conductors such as Jun Märkl, Ari Rasilainen and Hans Graf.
The Basque Orchestra continues on its way to becoming the Country's major cultural-musical asset. It is a meeting point, through the different venues and cities in which it is increasingly present, and it is from this condition that it proposes and offers itself as a space for culture, reflection and emotion. Reflection associated to a variety running from October to June, to emotion with profound effect on the individual, connecting them to the Basque Orchestra project and making them grow as a person.
The Basque Orchestra, as this meeting point and place for reflection and emotion therefore invites the members of its audience, its subscribers and non-subscribers, and at the end of the day, all society to which it owes its existence, to discover and rediscover. To discover the new repertoire, new aesthetics and new works presented for the first time by the Orchestra, such as Elgar (concerto for violin), Hosokawa and Walton. And to rediscover others that the Orchestra has decided to revisit, like Tchaikovsky (4th), Schumann (2nd), Debussy's "Images" and also Escudero, with a new reading of his "Gernika" in the expert take on the work by José Ramón Encinar.
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.
International Classical Music Awards Gala Concert
The ICMA Awards are the International Classical Music Awards, equivalent to the "Academy Awards" of the classical music world; this year will see their first-time presentation in Spain, thereby turning San Sebastián and, by extension, the Basque Country, into the focal point of classical music in Europe. All in conjunction with and on the occasion of San Sebastian, European Capital of Culture 2016, and framed within its "Conversations" initiative, created to establish alliances with the local cultural agents and to support initiatives related to the values of the Capital event.
Every year special awards go to musicians from all over the world with acknowledgements such as the Lifelong Achievement Award, going to Dame Felicity Lott; Artist of the Year for Christian Lindberg, Young Artist of the Year for Pablo Ferrández, and the "Discovery" Award, presented for the first time to musicians between the ages of 12 and 18 and going on this occasion to the flautist Nikolai Song. Another 15 awards also go to the best CD and DVD productions (Baroque, choir, symphony music, among others).
1st April, awards ceremony + Gala Concert. On Friday, April 1st, the ICMA jury, award-winners and numerous guests will gather for a restricted awards ceremony. This will be followed by a Gala Concert, open to the public. All winners of awards at this year's ICMA will participate in the concert together with the Basque National Orchestra and under the baton of Jun Märkl, its Chief Conductor. Thus, the concert will unite the different kinds of music falling under the heading of what we know as "classical", brought to us by some of its leading exponents. A unique opportunity. The Gala Concert will take place in the Kursaal Auditorium at 8 pm. Tickets are now on sale through the usual channels (€22 and €10).
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ICMA Awards 2016. Press release (Spanish)ICMA 2016: The winners
The Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) announced today the Awards for 2016. Soprano Dame Felicity Lott is honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Composer, trombonist and conductor Christian Lindberg is Artist of the Year, cellist Pablo Ferrandez Young Artist of the Year. For the first time the new Discovery Award for musicians from 12 to 18 is awarded to flutist Nikolai Song, born in 2002, of Korean-Russian parentage.
Harmonia Mundi is Label of the Year. Special Awards are going to Palazetto Bru Zane and to the label Genuin for the Dinorah Varsi Edition. In the Audio and Video categories, 15 productions from 15 different labels are awarded a prize.
Among the artists performing on the winning audio and video releases are Ensemble Leones, Michala Petri and Mahan Esfahani, Ann Hallenberg, Joyce DiDonato, Philippe Herreweghe, Dmitrij Kitajenko, Andras Schiff, Isabelle Faust, Yevgeny Sudbin, Sir Simon Rattle, Krysztof Penderecki, Jordi Savall and Riccardo Chailly.
ICMA President Remy Franck says: "Only an international jury like ours can get, at the end, such an impressive international result with productions from 15 labels and nine different countries. According to our criteria only really outstanding recordings are allowed to win a prize, and to get there, we will certainly never be misled by any chart rankings or the whatsoever popularity of artists. At ICMA, also less known musicians and smaller independent labels have a chance. It's all about musical quality and integrity!"
The Award Ceremony and Gala Concert will take place on April 1, at the Kursaal in San Sebastian, hosted by the Orquesta de Euskadi (Basque National Orchestra) and San Sebastian European Capital of Culture 2016.
The CD containing the recording of the re-release of Usandizaga’s “La Llama” is now on sale
The Basque National Symphony Orchestra presents the CD containing a live recording of the re-release in concert version of José María Usandizaga's opera, "La Llama". This double CD, published by Deutsche Grammophon, brings an end to the Basque National Orchestra's contribution to the Usandizaga Year, commemorating the hundred years since the death of this composer from San Sebastián.
This recording represents the result of an ambitious project, including a great deal of work to edit the score and subsequently re-release the opera in concert version. Conducted by Juan José Ocón, an important number of people and institutions were involved in the endeavour: recovery of the score was carried out by Juan José Ocón himself, with the collaboration of Ana Huarte, and the libretto was revised by the musical critic Manuel Cabrera; Eresbil, the Basque Music Archive also helped with the process. The re-release had a cast including Sabina Puértolas (soprano), Mikeldi Atxalandabaso (tenor), Damián del Castillo (baritone), Miren Urbieta Vega (narrator), Elena Barbé (soprano), Fernando Latorre (bass-baritone), Maite Maruri (mezzosoprano) and Xabier Anduaga (tenor); the choir parts were provided by the Coral Andra Mari.
One indispensable part of the complete endeavour was collaboration of the San Sebastián City Council and the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa.
Re-release of the opera "La Llama", ran from 16-24 March 2015, in four cycles making up the Basque National Symphony Orchestra's Subscribers' Season (Bilbao, San Sebastián, Vitoria and Pamplona). This CD contains the recording of the concerts on March 20th and 21st at San Sebastian's Kursaal Auditorium The CD comes with a finely composed libretto of 60 pages in Basque and Spanish with texts by Juan José Ocón and Manuel Cabrera, synopses, texts in song, etc. It also contains historical photographs of the re-release.
The double CD is now on sale and can be purchased from branches of El Corte Inglés, Fnac and Elkar, from Parsifal (San Sebastián), and from Amazon; the digital edition is available on iTunes and Google Play; and it can also be listened to in streaming mode on Spotify and Deezer. Price: €21 (approx.).
This latest record production promoted by the Basque Orchestra once again confirms the Orchestra's interest and work to make Basque creation known and guarantee its survival. One clear example of this determination is to be found in the Basque Composers Collection, not to be missed, also including in its second issue brought out in 1998 the symphony work of José María Usandizaga.
“Beauty and the Beast” comes to the Opera Royal at the Versailles Palace
Last night's arrival of "Beauty and the Beast" to the Royal Opera of Versailles, with the Basque National Symphony Orchestra and the Malandain Ballet Biarritz, with the support of San Sebastian, European Capital of Culture 2016, had caused great expectation. The public waited for the doors to open in a queue running parallel to the Opera entrance.
Among those attending the event were Ana Oregi, Basque Government Minister for the Environment and Regional Policy, and Joxean Muñoz, Deputy Minister of Culture, both representatives of the Basque Government who travelled to Versailles to support the Basque Orchestra on its return to the Opera Royal.
The excellent acoustics and high pit led to the show developing in a completely different fashion to the performances in Biarritz. The musicians, conducted by maestro Ainars Rubikis, felt it immediately the first notes were drawn from their instruments. The clock read 20:05. The show was on. Among the many impressive moments of the performance, the movements of the Beast, marked, fast-moving and with a spectacular ending, where the entire ballet corps is covered by an enormous golden cloak, from which the dancers exit one at a time. Perfect finishing touch when the beast removes the mask in a faint light, as if he doesn't want to reveal his identity, even with his face uncovered.
As happened at the end of "Cinderella" the performance presented by the Basque National Orchestra and the Malandain Ballet Biarritz two years ago, long and heartfelt applause brought a perfect first performance to a close. On stage, Thierry Malandain, Ainars Rubikis and the entire Ballet corps, with the Orchestra from the pit, bowed time and again to an absolutely delighted audience with its clapping and cries of ‘bravo'. In addition to this warm reception, the importance of the musical event was endorsed by the numerous members of the press present, largely French, but also international. Also worthy of note is the attendance of the performance by three North American programmers who came to Versailles for a live experience of this new expression of "Beauty and the Beast", created by Thierry Malandain around fragments of several works by Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky.
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The Basque National Orchestra and Malandain Ballet Biarritz to feature in Château de Versailles Spectacles
The Basque National Orchestra and Malandain Ballet Biarritz, directed by Thierry Malandain, will stage La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast) with support from San Sebastián European Capital of Culture 2016. This production is the third collaboration between these two entities, and the BNO's return to the Opéra Royal del Château of Versalles, two years after its successful debut performance. Before travelling to Paris, Beauty and the Beast will be performed at Gare du Midi in Biarritz, headquarters of the Malandain Ballet Biarritz, on December 5th and 8th. It will then travel to the Opéra Royal for performances on 11, 12 and 13 December. On 28 January and 4 February 2016, Beauty and the Beast will be staged in Bilbao (Palacio Euskalduna), Pamplona (Baluarte Auditorium) and San Sebastián (Kursaal Auditorium), as part of the Basque National Orchestra's Season Concert programme.
Once again a pas de deux featuring the BNO and Malandain Ballet Biarritz. Beauty and the Beast comes on the heels of Cendrillon in 2013 and Magifique in 2011, two highly successful performances featuring choreographer Thierry Malandain and the music of P.I. Tchaikovsky and S. Prokofiev, respectively, performed by the Basque National Orchestra. The BNO and Malandain Ballet Biarritz join forces this time as part of 'Conversations San Sebastián 2016', a DSS2016EU initiative aimed at forging alliances with cultural stakeholders in the area and contributing to specific projects linked to the values of the European Capital of Culture.
The close ties between the Basque National Orchestra and Malandain Ballet Biarritz, one of the 19 national choreography centres in France, are a valuable alliance on the artistic level. San Sebastián 2016 immediately got involved in this alliance, knowing how important it is to create synergies between cultural entities whose activities complement one another. Working together in this fashion gives rise to the collaborative creations at the highest level, performed on the most important stages. Such events become the best representation of our culture, and by extension, of our society as a whole.
The Château de Versailles Spectacles music season, which features some 70 performances from September to June at the Opéra Royal and in some of the most characteristic spaces at the Palace of Versailles, is one of the most demanding programmes in the European circuit. The season features symphony concerts, operas, ballets, recitals, and more. This year, together with Malandain Ballet Biarritz and the BNO, top billings include Sir John Elliot Gardiner, Les Arts Florissants and William Christie, Hesperion XXI, Jordi Savall, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lang Lang, Mark Minkowski, Munich Radio Orchestra, Joyce DiDonato, Cecilia Bartoli, Gabrieli Consort and Players and Paul McCreesh, and Alexandre Theraud, among others.
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LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE. Dossier (ES)The programme for the Basque National Orchestra's Music Room is set
The founding principles of the Orchestra's education and dissemination strategy is to offer home-made productions for the enjoyment of the entire family and to make symphony music more engaging at all levels of education. To this end, the BNO Education Department work in collaboration with cultural and social institutions. The Music Room, the project that gets this offer out to the public, presents over thirty activities for the coming months.
FAMILY CONCERTS. The Family Concert series held in Vitoria and San Sebastián will feature three very different proposals for different ages, emotions and sensations, but always with the same goal: to attract audiences of all ages to quality live music.
SCHOOL ACTIVITIES. The Concerts for Schools series, organised in collaboration with the Gipuzkoa General Asssembly and the San Sebastián Town Hall, will offer three productions this season, on for each school level. The series will comprise a total of 18 concerts and bring 5,200 school children to the Orchestra's Miramón headquarters. This Open Rehearsals will also take on special relevance this season: secondary, baccalaureate and university students, as well as students from music conservatories and dance schools will be invited to a BNO rehearsal prior to a Season Concert programme. Five Open Rehearsals have been scheduled (one at the Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao and four at the Kursaal in San Sebastián).
OTHER INITIATIVES. In support of full inclusion, every year the BNO joins forces with FEVAS (Basque Federation of Associations in Favour of People with Intellectual Disabilities) to create exciting projects for people with different disabilities; in this context, in the coming months, four workshops will be held in Bilbao and San Sebastián. In addition, the Basque National Orchestra has embarked on the project "Mosaic of Sounds", together with the Spanish Association of Symphony Orchestras (AEOS), Plena Inclusión and Fundación BBVA. This ambitious initiative, in which music becomes an instrument for personal development and social integration, will take place throughout 2016.
And as part of the Orchestra's collaboration with DSS2016EU (Donostia-San Sebastian 2016 European Capital of Culture), the BNO, conducted by Jun Märkl, will take part in the European Music School Festival (EMUSIK 2016) to be held at the Anoeta stadium in May 2016.
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MUSIC ROOM 15/16. ProgrammeBasque National Orchestra to requiere "Pensieri, rhapsody for flute and orchestra" by Luis de Pablo
The Basque National Orchestra's new programme of Season Concerts will take place from 30 October to 5 November. The highlight this season is the world premiere of composer Luis de Pablo's Pensieri, Rhapsody for Flute and Orchestra. This first-time performance is a tribute to the Bilbao composer who turned 85 in January. The Orchestra is also proud to present two extraordinary names in music: José Ramón Encinar, conductor and expert in contemporary repertoire whose baton led the BNO in its 2014 debut performance at the Venice Biennial; and flutist Roberto Fabbriciani, collaborator and close friend of Luis de Pablo, for whom the composer wrote this piece.
The third Concert Season programme will open in San Sebastián at the Kursaal on Friday, October 30th; in Vitoria at Teatro Principal on November 2nd; in Pamplona at the Baluarte on the 3rd; in Bilbao at the Euskalduna on the 4th, and will close in San Sebastián at the Kursaal on Thursday, November 5th.
After the final dress rehearsal, Luis de Pablo will meet with a group of students at the Kursaal on October 30th as part of "Topaketak", a programme designed in collaboration with Jakiunde, the Basque Academy of Science, Art and Letters.
Pensieri, Rhapsody for Flute and Orchestra was composed between 2013 and 2014. In the words of Luis de Pablo: "This work is the product of the friendship and admiration I have for the extraordinary flutist Roberto Fabbriciani, and his wife Luisella [Botteon], who had the patience to follow the composition step by step. Pensieri is a rhapsody, that is, a piece of freeform music which highlights virtuosity; it is important to highlight the technical and artistic skills of the instrumentalist to whom the piece is dedicated. The work is made up of four "Reflections": Secret, Solitary, Fleeting and Enigmatic." These titles might suggest a sense of melancholy. But, as Luis de Pablo explains: "I composed the piece as a celebration, not without a touch of humour and mystery - of which Roberto is a master." As for the title, he adds that "It is the soloist who ‘thinks' about a multicolour dialogue with the orchestra, who comments, in a thousand ways, about the vicissitudes of the ‘thinker'". Written for a large orchestra, the presence of different types of flutes is a constant (the soloist plays four: transverse flute, piccolo, alto flute and contrabass flute).
Since 1983, when the Basque National Orchestra first played a piece by Luis de Pablo, the two have crossed paths on several occasions. The current premiere follows Imromptus (1991) and Danzas secretas (2008), both of which were works specially commissioned by the Orchestra. The BNO has also performed De Pablo's work in other concerts, both as part of the Season Concert programme and at other venues (including the National Auditorium in Madrid and the Venice Biennial). In an effort to preserve the musical production of this international figure of avant-garde music, the Orchestra also dedicated one of the volumes in the Basque Composers Series (Claves, 2008) to De Pablo.
The Overture to Mozart's The Magic Flute and Manuel de Falla's Three Cornered Hat will round out the concert programme. The first is probably one of the best-known pieces in opera repertoire. The second is a ballet composed by Manuel de Falla for Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. On this occasion, the BNO is proud to introduce soprano Lola Casariego. Casariego will be taking the place of Raquel Lojendio, who for reasons beyond the Orchestra's control will not be performing in this concert series. This will be the first time the soprano from Oviedo to perform with the Basque National Orchestra in a Season Concert.
The new Miramon Matinées Season Kicks off
The Miramon Matinées are, in essence, the space where the Basque National Orchestra researches, experiments with and designs programmes for addressing repertoires other than symphony music. In the continuous search for alternative proposals, great importance is also placed on working in collaboration with other artistic bodies in order to extend the cycle to other disciplines, such as choir music, with the KUP Taldea, or productions combining dance and live music, with the Dantzaz Konpainia. The 2015/2016 Miramon Matinées season consists of 16 concerts taking place at 11:00 on Saturday mornings at the Basque Orchestra Headquarters in Miramón.
Season tickets now on sale. The 16-concert season ticket costs 83.50 euros. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Basque Orchestra offices (943 01 32 32) or by completing the form in the Subscribers section of www.euskadikoorkestra.eus. Tickets for individual Matinées will go on sale on September 10 at a single price of 7 euros and can be purchased on www.kutxabank.es, at the Kursaal Auditorium ticket office and, in the event of remaining tickets, at the ticket desk of the Orchestra Headquarters in Miramón on the day of the concert.
On September 26, extraordinary choir music to open the season: an approach to J.S. Bach's sacred cantatas, four of which will be performed by the KUP Taldea and the Kaabestri chamber ensemble. The KUP Taldea vocal group, created in 2003 under the direction of Gabriel Baltès, tackles this demanding repertoire together with the solo voices of the soprano Miren Urbieta, the mezzo-soprano Marta Infante, the tenor Xabier Anduaga and the bass Mikel Zabala. Kaabestri, an ensemble of musicians from the Basque Orchestra, will provide the instrumental part of this project opening a new season of the Miramón Matinées.
The Miramón Matinées are sponsored by Kutxa Fundazioa.