Stability, Quality and Future Prospects: These are the three maxims on which Oriol Roch has based his official presentation as the new General Manager of the Basque National Orchestra.

Today, at the Orchestra's Miramón venue, Oriol Roch was officially presented as the new General Manager of the Basque National Orchestra. Joxean Muñoz, the Basque Government Deputy Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, was entrusted with the presentation.

The new General Manager was firstly presented before the Orchestra, from whom he received a very warm welcome, and then he gave a press conference before an extensive array of representatives from the media, among which the new appointment has created much expectation. He said that he was very excited about the project, that leading the Orchestra was a wonderful opportunity, and that he hoped he would meet everybody's expectations. He talked about the Orchestra being a consolidated, serious project with immense possibilities. To this effect, although he praised the Orchestra's excellent position within the Basque Country and in Spain, he also emphasised his interest in bringing greater international scope to the Basque National Orchestra. As regards the repertoire, he confirmed his commitment to contemporary Basque music and stressed the importance of protecting the Basque heritage.

Joxean Muñoz based the selection of Oriol Roch as General Manager of the Basque National Orchestra on his commitment to the project for both the Orchestra and the country, as well as on his professional and formal nature. Roch will start work with the Orchestra on 25 August.

Oriol Roch Izard

He was the Technical Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia (RFG) from 2004 to the present. This ensemble is dependent on the Consortium of Santiago de Compostela, which in turn comes under the State, the Regional Government of Galicia and Santiago City Council. As part of his technical responsibility, he relaunched the RFG, strengthening its presence and acceptance in Galicia, as well as consolidating the same in the rest of Spain and abroad; he managed a season with top artists of international renown at a time of considerable budgetary cuts; along with his team, he consolidated a model of educational complicity in the RFG as a training centre for young musicians with the School of Higher Musical Studies.

Between 1990 and 2002 he was the Manager of the Teatre Lliure Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Josep Pons. His management of this Orchestra led it to achieve considerable national and international reach beyond its Barcelona concert season. He managed its transition to more important and prestigious projects, connecting different disciplines to give the project more prominence. He arranged an agreement with the publishing company Harmonia Mundi (France) for the release of two commercial records per year, which are still internationally successful.

He has previously worked on the Organising Committee of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games and at the Barcelona Trade Fair, carrying out cultural promotion work and being in charge (on three occasions) of the symphony orchestra course organised by the Lerida choral society.

As far as training is concerned, apart from his post-graduate studies in Business Management (Ramon Llull University, Barcelona) and his command of languages (English and French), he also has a degree in Contemporary History from the University of Barcelona.

The Basque Orchestra prepares at its Miramón headquarters the concerts that will bring its 2013/2014 Season Concerts to an end. Under the baton of its guest principal conductor, Andrey Boreyko, the Orchestra will perform the Concerto for piano and orchestra no. 1 by Frédéric Chopin, accompanied for the occasion by a young performer who is currently enjoying great acclaim in the international scene: Britain's Benjamin Grosvenor. The concerts will take place on May 29 and 30 at the Kursaal in San Sebastián, on June 2 at the Teatro Principal in Vitoria, on the 3rd at the Euskalduna in Bilbao and, finally, on June 4 at the Baluarte in Pamplona.

Benjamin Grosvenor, 21 years old and an unstoppable career. The British daily The Times said of him a few months ago that he is a "romantic pianist, almost from another age... He jumps inside the music's soul" and he himself refers to his ability to convey emotions to people. There is certainly no doubt that his personal sound and solid technique make him one of the most promising pianists of the moment. At the age of 19 he opened the famous BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, returning to the festival in 2012, with the London Philharmonic and Charles Dutoit. But he was only 11 years old when he won the Keyboard Final of the BBC Young Musician Competition in 2004, thereby coming to prominence in the international scene. Since then, he has performed at the Royal Albert Hall and Barbican Center in London, Singapore's Victoria Hall and New York's Carnegie Hall with esteemed conductors such as V. Askenazy, S. Bychkov and V. Jurowsky, among others. In 2011 he signed to Decca Classics. Having performed with the London and New York Philharmonics, RAI Torino and the Tokyo Symphony, Grosvenor now makes his symphony debut in Spain.

Grosvenor, also at the last Miramón Matinée of the season. In addition to performing as guest soloist at the Season Concerts, Benjamin Grosvenor will give a piano recital at the last event in the Miramón Matinées season on Saturday, May 31 at 11 a.m. at the Orchestra headquarters. On the programme, works by F. Mendelssohn, R. Schumann, N. K. Medtner, M. Ravel and F. Liszt will showcase the talent of a young artist who, despite his brief career to date, already holds prestigious Gramophone, Classical Brit Award and Diapason d'Or awards.

On April 12th, during the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) 2014 in Warsaw, it was revealed that the 2016 European Classical Music Awards Gala would be held in San Sebastián. Their application was driven by the Basque National Orchestra, supported by the San Sebastián 2016 Foundation.

This Awards Gala, the classical music equivalent of the "Grammys", will be held for the first time in Spain and will make San Sebastián, and consequently the Basque Country, the focus of classical music in Europe.

The jury is made up of musical critics from 13 different countries representing 17 top printed and digital media in the sector: Andante (Turkey), Classic Radio and Rondo Classic (Finland), Crescendo (Belgium), Fono Forum (Germany), Gramofon (Hungary), IMZ (Austria), Kultura (Russia), MDR-Figaro (Germany), Musica (Italy), Musik&Theater (Switzerland), Orpheus Radio (Russia), Opera (United Kingdom), Pizzicato and Radio 100.7 (Luxemburg), ResMusica (France) and Scherzo (Spain).

Fifteen awards are given every year for the best CD and DVD productions (Baroque Music, Coral Works, Symphonic Works, etc.) Plus Special Awards such as the Lifetime Achievement Award, Artist of the Year, Outstanding Young Artist or Label of the Year.

The first awards ceremony took place in Tampere (Finland) in 2011, and was organised by the Tampere Philharmonic. It was followed by Nantes in 2012, with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire. In 2013, the honour fell to Milan, with the Orchestra Sinfonia de Milano Giuseppe Verdi. In 2014, this event took place in Warsaw, within the framework of the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival and in 2015, it will be held in the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra Auditorium in Ankara. It was in Warsaw that it was revealed that the 2016 Award Ceremony and subsequent gala concert would take place in San Sebastián, hosted by the Basque National Orchestra, within the framework of the San Sebastián, European Capital of Culture 2016.

The Basque National Orchestra has recorded the soundtrack for "Ocho apellidos vascos", a feature film by director Emilio Martínez-Lázaro. The soundtrack was composed and conducted by Fernando Velázquez. The film is slated for release on March 14th.

New collaboration between Fernando Velázquez and the Basque National Orchestra. This recording is another in the list of collaborative projects between Fernando Velázquez and the Basque National Orchestra. Last December saw the completion of a project - part of the Klasikat series - in which the BNO, Ken Zazpi and Fernando Velázquez joined forces to record a CD and perform five concerts. Before that, Velázquez conducted the Orchestra for the recording of the soundtrack for El mal ajeno (2009), and for the Jorge Drexler song Madera de deriva, as part of the Uruguayan singer and songwriter's project entitled "n" (2012); Velázquez also conducted a concert featuring his soundtracks for the 2012 San Sebastián Film Festival.

Fernando Velázquez (Getxo, 1976) is the author soundtracks for a number of successful films, including El Orfanato (2007) and Lo Imposible (2012), both directed by José Antonio Bayona, El mal ajeno (2009) and Zipi y Zape (2013), directed by Oskar Santos, and Mamá (2013), by Andrés Muschietti. Most noteworthy, his awards are the "Premio Ojo Crítico" for classical music (2012) and the "Biznaga" award at the Málaga Spanish Film Festival (2013).

"Ocho apellidos vascos", starring Clara Lago, Dani Rovira, Carmen Machi and Karra Elejalde, is the latest comedy by filmmaker Emilio Martínez-Lázaro (Madrid, 1945). Other films by the director Amo mi cama rica (1970), Las palabras de Max (1977) - which won him the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival - Amo tu cama rica (1991), Los peores años de nuestra vida (1994), Carreteras secundarias (1997), El otro lado de la cama (2002), Las trece rosas (2007) and La montaña rusa (2012).

"Ocho apellidos vascos" is a production of Telecinco Cinema, Lazona and Kowalski Films.

From January 24th to 31st the Orchestra will once again light up the four Season Concert stages with a programme featuring the Spanish symphonic debut of Miloš, a young Montenegro-born guitarist who has taken the international music scene by storm. Miloš will join the Basque National Orchestra, conducted for the first time by Michael Francis, in a performance of one of the most popular works in the classical guitar repertoire, Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez. The programme will also include Masques et bergamasques by Gabriel Fauré and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 "Pathétique". The concerts will be held in San Sebastián on Friday, January 24th and Monday, January 27th at the Kursaal; in Pamplona on Tuesday, January 28th at the Baluarte; in Bilbao on Wednesday, January 29th at the Euskalduna; and in Vitoria on January 31st at the Teatro Principal.

Miloš Karadaglić (Montenegro, 1983) rose to international fame in 2011 with his debut album The Guitar (Mediterráneo), which in the space of just a few months, topped classical charts around the world. His second album, Latino (Pasión), released in 2012, received both the Classic Brit and the Echo Klassik award, in the UK and Germany, respectively. Miloš' passion for the guitar is matched with an intuitive sense of how to bring the instrument across to his public - whether it be for an audience of 3000 in a major concert hall or an intimate chamber music performance for 100 people. This highly talented soloist enjoys performing in world-class venues such as London's Royal Albert Hall, where he debuted last season, and in non-traditional venues such as New York's Le Poisson Rouge, London's Camden Roundhouse (iTunes Festival) and Deutsche Grammophon's Yellow Lounge club nights in Madrid, Berlin, New York and Seoul. In February, Deutsche Grammophon, for which the guitarist is an exclusive recording artist, will release Miloš's Concierto de Aranjuez by composer Joaquín Rodrigo.

The Orchestra and Miloš will perform under the baton of Michael Francis, who debuts this season as BNO guest conductor. Appointed Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor to Sweden's Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Michael Francis has worked closely with a number of well-respected musicians, including violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Saturday January 25th, Miloš will offer a solo concert as part of the Matinees at Miramon series. The Montenegro-born musician will play music byJ.S. Bach, J. Rodrigo, M. de Falla and C. Domeniconi at the Orchestra's headquarters. On occasions like this, the BNO chamber music series offers a unique opportunity to enjoy internationally acclaimed soloists like Miloš in a more intimate atmosphere. The Basque National Orchestra chamber music series is dedicated to bringing audiences high-quality performances in a small-scale format.

Miloš to teach a master class to students of Musikene. As part of the preferential cooperation agreement, Aula Jordá Gela, signed by the Basque National Orchestra and Musikene, three 3rd and 4th year guitar students from the Higher School of Music of the Basque Country will have the opportunity to attend a master class on January 30th given by Miloš at the Orchestra's headquarters in Miramón. The Orchestra and Musikene joined forces in 2011/2012 to offer activities of this type to develop the careers of future professional musicians. This programme allows students to interact with consecrated musicians or play with the Orchestra at its concerts. On previous occasions Musikene students have had the chance to attend master classes by clarinet player Martin Fröst, conductors Andrés Orozco-Estrada and José Miguel Pérez Sierra, and Wolfram Christ, conductor and solo violist for the Berlin Philharmonic.

The Basque National Orchestra, Euskal Irrati Telebista (EITB - Basque radio and television) and the Basque Department of Education, Language Policy and Culture embarked on a pioneering project: to create a high quality, innovative, audiovisual music space that would enable us to reach a wide audience and, in this way, contribute to the cultural and educational development of our country. This was the start of Sinfokids, an educational music program pioneer in Spain developed in television and audiovisual format. Designed with great care, the program is entertaining, featuring content and visual language centred on the world of music and adapted to young audiences. Created by the Basque National Orchestra, produced and broadcast by EITB and distributed by the Basque Department of Education, the program is presented in Basque, Spanish and English.

Thanks to the Basque Department of Education, the programme is available at every primary school in the Basque Autonomous Community, and aired on TV by EITB. Sinfokids was designed to provide instructional material to the education community in our area; therefore, Sinfokids 2 is now being distributed in DVD format with extra resource material, such as questionnaires, etc., in primary schools, music schools, conservatories and berritzegunes throughout Bizkaia, Araba and Gipuzkoa. This widespread distribution has been made possible with support from the Basque Department of Education. Featuring fun and engaging material and ETB's innovative audiovisuals, Sinfokids is of interest to the entire family, a program which combines education and entertainment in equal measure. The program is slated to be shown on ETB1 and ETB3 at the end of December; later it will be available online through ETB à la carte at www.eitb.com.

Sinfokids 2, from teamwork to musical creativity. The characteristics of sound and timber, exploring the symphony orchestra through its sound and families of instruments, written music as a means of the universal communication - these were some of the main topics in the first instalment of Sinfokids. This second edition, aimed at primary school students, uses teamwork, the role of the orchestra conductor, nature as a source of inspiration, rhythm and creativity through music as the focal points for the five episodes or teaching units comprising the series. Sinfo (once again played by actor and musician Iñaki Tellería), the students from Zubiaur Musika Eskola in Amorebieta-Etxano (Bizkaia), the Basque National Orchestra in a concert conducted by Diego Martín Etxebarria, and drawings by illustrator Pernan Goñi are all featured in these five main themes.

Sinfokids is a strategic commitment by the Basque National Orchestra, which through its Education Department and MUSIC ROOM, offers a growing number of activities aimed at bringing music, especially symphonic music, to young audiences. 

The Basque National Orchestra Headquarters in Miramón is the setting in which a singular project is materializing: Ken Zazpi for the first time in symphonic version. The most recognized repertoire and unedited works by the group led by Eñaut Elorrieta performed alongside the Basque Orchestra. On the music stands are the arrangements created by composer Fernando Velázquez, who directs the project. A new initiative by the Orchestra to bring its work closer to society, now the youngest audience, at the hand of one of the most renowned groups within the current Basque pop-rock scene.

After the first phase of the project, focused on the selection and adaptation of the symphonic language to the music of Ken Zazpi, the songs in which the Orchestra and the group from Guernica will work on together from August 21st to 28th will be recorded on a CD which, edited by the Elkar recording company, will be released on November 8th. They will later offer five concerts in December within the KlasikAT cycle. The Kursaal Auditorium in San Sebastián (December 3rd), the Baluarte Auditorium in Pamplona (December 4th), the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao (December 5th), the Principal Theatre in Vitoria (December 12th) and the Jai-Alai in San Juan de Luz (December 13th). These are some of the stages in which audiences will be able to enjoy the Orchestra's new incursion into repertoires that differ from classical music. Information on the sale of tickets for the concerts will be provided later on.

In addition to its work of disseminating and supporting creation in the field of classic and contemporary music, the Basque Orchestra firmly supports musical production in all its dimensions. Mike Oldfield, Jorge Drexler, Michel Camilo, Joan Manuel Serrat, Emilio Aragón, Mikel Laboa, Benito Lertxundi, Kepa Junkera and Fernando Velázquez himself are some of the artists which the orchestra has collaborated with along this line. Over the last few years the efforts have concentrated on the start-up and consolidation of KlasikAT, a crossover cycle by the Basque Orchestra which now reaches its fourth edition.

Fernando Velázquez directs the project. The composer from Getxo, Fernando Velázquez, author of soundtracks from cinematographic successes like The Orphanage and The Impossible, is in charge of the arrangements for symphonic orchestra and is also responsible for the musical direction of the symphonic pop-rock proposal. Previously, Fernando Velázquez directed the Basque Orchestra in the recording of the soundtrack for the film For the Good of Others (2009) and the song Madera de deriva (Driftwood) by Jorge Drexler, within the n project by the Uruguayan singer-songwriter (2012). In addition, he directed an opening concert for the past edition of Zinemaldia focused on its soundtracks and, in the past month of June, he performed the opening concert for the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) 2013 held at the Kursaal Auditorium in San Sebastián.