The Orchestra's German visit starting Thursday 16th was announced at its Miramon headquarters. Iñigo Alberdi, General Manager of the OSE, Mikhail Becker, intendant at the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, presently attending the Subscribers' Season, and Eduardo Jiménez, Corporate Marketing Director of Ingeteam, the company sponsoring the tour, unveiled the details of the exchange currently at the centre of the Orchestra's activity.

Mikhail Becker, intendant at the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, the guest orchestra now bringing the Basque Orchestra Season to a close with concerts in its four regular capitals, said that the Basque Orchestra will be a powerful ambassador of Basque Culture in Germany on presenting the work of Arriaga, a composer unknown to German audiences, admitting that a similar exercise is more complicated for the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker since everyone knows Schumann and Brahms. Mikhail also praised the acoustics of the Kursaal auditorium following their yesterday's debut in the hall and underlined the importance for an orchestra of having the opportunity to play live to different audiences. He continued with the assurance that the cost of this, their first Spanish tour, will have clear-cut returns, and pointed out that it has been hailed as a major cultural event widely covered by the press. According to Becker, playing in Euskadi is hugely attractive for its very different culture, comparable with other countries enjoying equally important tradition, like Finland.

Eduardo Jiménez, Corporate Marketing Director of Ingeteam, sponsors of the German tour, said that it was a privilege to be able to back new projects by the Basque Orchestra and stated his satisfaction at sponsoring its new international tour, giving them the opportunity to act as a link between industry and culture, two areas so apparently different from one another. This is a way of putting Ingeteam in touch with society. The vocation of the Basque Orchestra to take culture abroad coincides with Ingeteam's international vocation.

Regarding the tour, the Basque Orchestra is already preparing the concerts to be given in Düsseldorf and Gütersloh from June 17th-20th under the direction of its Music Director, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, and with the cellist Gautier Capuçon as guest soloist. Prior to this, on the 15th, the Orchestra will present the programme at San Sebastián's Victoria Eugenia Theatre.

The Basque National Orchestra's Subscribers' Season remains pivotal in its overall activity as its most expressive musical space, the one to which it dedicates a large part of its energy, occupying 50% of its agenda each Season. That's why the Subscribers' Season has to be programmed with great care, logic and coherence. Here, the lines established by Andrés Orozco-Estrada, in his third season as Music Director, are essential for continuing coherent progress in his decided commitment to elevating the Orchestra to a superior level of quality, dynamism and flexibility. Three great virtues for an Orchestra similarly forging a path for itself on the international scene and which, together with its presence on some of the best-known stages (return to the Konzerthaus in Vienna), enjoys little examples of consolidation such as its progressive exchanges (previously, with Bordeaux and Milan, and now, in June, with Düsseldorf). Added to this is the new line of international commissions for works.

This said, in spheres other than the Suscribers' Season and its strategic international approach, the Basque National Orchestra also addresses a wide range of activities completing the fabric of its personality. Here we refer to the Orchestra of the Miramón Matinées, the Orchestra with a Music Room reaching children and families (live or on TV with Sinfokids) and creating activities for 2,500 schoolchildren; the Orchestra of opportunities for young students thanks to its "Music Laboratory", the Orchestra unafraid to leave the beaten track for more profane paths with KLASIKAT; the socially-focussed Orchestra that seeks to integrate disadvantaged groups through its music (including examples like the workshops with FEVAS - the Basque Federation of Associations Supporting the Intellectually Impaired - and the concerts given in the Arrasate and Zamudio psychiatric hospitals), and the Orchestra that records and passes on the legacy of Basque symphony creation. That's the Basque National Orchestra, the Orchestra closest to our society, the Orchestra that spreads its music like a concentric wave propagating its musical activity and finding its way onto enormously varying stages. That's the personality of the Basque Orchestra that will celebrate its 30th year in 2012.

In this context we announce that the Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada will extend his stay with us until the 2013/2014 Season, thereby confirming the successes achieved and our shared desire to continue working in the same direction.

From 4th to 8th June the Basque National Orchestra presents a new edition of KlasikAT, an initiative in which the Orchestra intends to expand its musical offer to other audiences through its presentation of repertoires that differ from classical music, unusual in the symphonic baggage of an orchestra. With this objective, the Orchestra joins its potential to that of prestigious artists who stand out in their musical field.

After the appearance last September of pianist Michel Camilo, on this occasion the Orchestra proposes a Night of Swing, an encounter with popular American music from the first half of the 20th century, the Piazzola Tango, pop music, jazz and Cuban son.. A perfect combination for a night which will serve as a prelude to the upcoming summer, loaded with rhythm and good vibrations.

Tickets on sale at a price of 15€.
The concerts will take place on Saturday 4th June at the Principal Theatre of Vitoria-Gasteiz, on the 6th at the Kursaal Auditorium of San Sebastián, on the 7th at the Arteria Campos Elíseos Theatre of Bilbao and the 8th at the Baluarte Auditorium of Pamplona. The tickets for the performances have a price of 15€. They can be purchased through the regular sales channels and the box offices of the theatres where the concerts will be held.

Night of swing... night of fusion
The Basque National Orchestra, which will count on the direction of Enrique Ugarte, will share the stage with the singer from Cordoba Susana Raya, Iñaki Salvador Trío and the collaboration of the Golden Apple Quartet. A fusion of styles, voices and visions of music which Cole Porter, Astor Piazzolla, Gershwin, Ruiz Quevedo and Chick Corea will surely sound with different accents..

KlasikAT Community on the net
KlasikAT not only sounds different, it communicates, transmits, is seen and lives in a different manner through the net. We have created klasikat.euskadikoorkestra.es, www.facebook.com/klasikat and www.twitter.com/klasik_at as a meeting point for followers of this other facet of the Basque national Orchestra. Join our community enjoy KlasikAT now.

KlasikAT: Night of Swing
4 June: Teatro Principal, Vitoria-Gasteiz. 8:00 pm.
6 June: Auditorio Kursaal, San Sebastián. 8:00 pm.
7 June: Arteria Campos Elíseos Antzokia, Bilbao. 8:00 pm.
8 June: Auditorio Baluarte, Pamplona. 8:00 pm.

Enrique Ugarte, director
Susana Raya, vocal
Iñaki Salvador Trío
Golden Apple Quartet

This week the Orchestra's Season Concerts programme welcomes an exceptional soloist, the world-renowned saxophonist Branford Marsalis. Conducted by BNO Principal Guest Conductor Andrey Boreyko, the interesting duo will perform Glazunov's Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra and Schulhoff's Jazz Concerto. Marsalis and Boreyko are in Euskadi after joining the New York Philharmonic this past February in a series of stellar concerts performed at the Lincoln Center in New York. Now they join the Basque National Orchestra to perform the same concert on Thursday and Friday, April 14 and 15, at the Kursaal Auditorium in San Sebastián, and on Saturday, April 16, at the Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao. This will be the fifth time Marsalis and Boreyko share the stage.

Branford Marsalis (New Orleans, 1960) was born into one of the southern city's most distinguished jazz families. Ellis Marsalis is patriarch of the musical dynasty, as well as pianist and educator. Brandford's siblings are Wynton, Ellis III, Delfeayo and Jason. The three-time Grammy winner has forged his career in wide range of musical directions. As saxophonist he has shared the stage with jazz giants including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Sonny Rollins. In addition to performing, in 2002 he founded the label Marsalis Music, which has allowed him to produce both his own projects and those of the jazz world's most promising new and established artists. He has put much energy into sharing his knowledge at a number of US universities. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, together with his friend Harry Connick, Jr., Marsalis conceived the Habitat Musicians' Village in New Orlean's historic Ninth Ward. Marsalis has visited Euskadi on a number of occasions. The first time was in 1980, when he played at the Jazzaldia festival in San Sebastián. He came back four times to perform at Jazzaldia. In 1999 and 2004 his Quartet joined him in concert at the Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival.

This will be the first time in Spain that Marsalis will be playing with a symphony orchestra. In recent years he has garnered great acclaim as classical music soloist with numerous chamber and symphony orchestras. Known for his innovative spirit and broad musical scope, Branford is equally at home on the stages of the world's greatest clubs and concert halls. He has played with orchestras from such cities as Chicago, Detroit and Düsseldorf and his repertory today includes music by Copland, Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem and Vaughan Williams.

Andrey Boreyko, Basque National Orchestra Principal Guest Conductor, will take up the baton for Marsalis's debut with the BNO. In an interview about the concerts at the Lincoln Center in New York, Branford Marsalis had this to say about Boreyko: "I think the audience can expect a very exciting performance; Andrey creates music and hears music in a very natural, very human way."

The concert programme includes Four Slavonic Dances by Antonín Dvorák, Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra by Alexander Glazunov and Jazz Concerto by Erwin Schulhoff. The concert will close with Ravel's La Valse.

Concerts
14 April: Kursaal Auditorium, Donostia-San Sebastián. 8:00 pm
15 April: Kursaal Auditoriim, Donostia-San Sebastián. 8:00 pm
16 April: Palacio Euskalduna, Bilbao. 8:00 pm

Programme:
Antonin Dvorák (1841-1904): Four Slavonic Dances
Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936): Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra
Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942): Jazz Concerto, Hot-Sonate for Saxophone and Chamber Ensemble
(Orchestrated by Richard Rodney Bennet)
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): La Valse [12']

Branford Marsalis, saxophone; Andrey Boreyko, conductor; Basque National Orchestra

Following its performances in Pamplona and Vitoria this week, the Basque National Orchestra will travel to Bordeaux and, for the first time, to Arcachon. This will generate a new exchange, on this occasion with the ONBA (Bordeaux-Aquitaine National Orchestra). On the 7th at the Palais des Sports in Bordeaux and the 8th at the Olympia Theatre in Arcachon, the Orchestra will take to the stage with the same programme offered as part of its subscribers' season days previously. Michal Nesterowicz is the guest conductor of this programme and Luis Esnaola the soloist.

Our last exchange with the ONBA took place three years ago. While the Basque National Orchestra performed at the Grand Théâtre on that visit, this time it will take to the regular stage of the ONBA at the Palais des Sports.

The Basque National Orchestra plans to make three outings this season. The first took place a few days ago in Extremadura. Now we are going to Bordeaux and Arcachon, and the third, in June, will take us to Germany. All three outings correspond to an exchange policy nurtured by a growing interest in international exchange programmes.

It's never too late to start liking music or to get to know the Basque National Orchestra, but from now on we could also say that it's never to early to do it either. This Saturday, 26 February, at the Basque Orchestra Headquarters in Miramon, the Family Concerts cycle brings a groundbreaking event, a meeting with music tailored specially for pregnant women and babies under nine months, entitled "From sound to the heart."

Departing from silence, the musicians and music therapists Carles Pérez Collado and Andreu Ubach propose a journey transporting mums and babies into a world of vibration, rhythm and sensations connecting them to the cycles of nature and the beating of their own hearts. Creation and improvisation set around the possibilities offered by Baschet instruments and active participation of the attendees will be key to development of the concert.

Baschet's educational instrumentarium comprises fourteen sound structures including percussion, string and crystal. The creation of this new family of instruments stemmed from the acoustic principle discovered in 1952 by brothers François and Bernard Baschet, one a sculptor and the other an engineer. The wealth and variety of the sounds extracted from the metal interior of the Baschet sound structures offer a highly unusual look at the phenomenon of sound and music serving to develop the imagination, curiosity and musical expression.

Apart from its value in the field of music education, the Baschet instrumentarium is enormously pleasing to the eye. Thus, these structures, not unlike musical sculptures, with colourful forms which could easily come from a Miró painting or a Calder mobile, have enjoyed exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Reina Sofía Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid.

Tickets for this first concert for pregnant women and babies under nine months organised by the Basque National Orchestra's Music Room sold out in days. This experience will be repeated at the Teatro Principal in Vitoria on March 27 as part of the Family Concerts given in the city in coproduction with Vitoria City Council.

Within this, its 9th Season Programme, the Basque National Orchestra joins the Malandain Ballet Biarritz to stage "Magifique. Tchaikovsky Suites." This is the first time the Orchestra's Season Programme has featured a project of this kind: on stage, the 18 dancers from the Malandain Ballet Biarritz perform Thierry Malandain's personal interpretation of Tchaikovsky's ballet suites, while, from its pit, the Basque National Orchestra, conducted by Eduardo Portal, accompanies the performance with selected passages from the Russian composer's scores.

A few short inserts are added to Tchaikovsky's magical music for dance by Nicolas Duperior and the director/choreographer of the Malandain Ballet Biarritz National Choreography Centre, Thierry Malandain. Their aim, to create a performance uniting memories, sentimental nuances, reminiscences of Tchaikovsky's ballets. Magifique is the word Malandain used to exclaim his astonishment as a child. "Magnificent with no n, that invented word, that short-circuit, is the perfect match for this creation, in Malandain's words: provoking magic or, rather, recycling the raw material of life to produce expressive, poetic forms." Backed by the acclaim of its presentation in December 2009, ‘Magifique' now comes to us adorned with the magnificence etched by the live music of a symphony orchestra upon the dancing, the stage design and its visuals.

The Orchestra conductor for the occasion is Eduardo Portal, from Burgos. This director, who takes to the Orchestra podium for the first time, has worked among others with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (more information at www.euskadikoorkestra.es).

Prior to the performance, an open rehearsal. A few hours before its Season Concert premiere and as part of the activities organised by the Orchestra's Music Room, over a thousand children from the third cycle of primary school and the first cycle of secondary school came together at the Kursaal to attend the open rehearsal of "Magifique," an endeavour undoubtedly set to become a very special first contact with the audience.

The Basque Composers Collection dedicates its volume number 13 to the composer from Bizkaia, Valentín de Zubiaurre (Garai, 1837-1914). Zubaiurre held the most outstanding musical positions of his time. In 1873, he was named Academician of San Fernando, in addition to being the first musician to receive a bursary of merit from the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. Moreover considered to be one of the principal promoters of creation of the Spanish opera, he was one of the few non-Italian composers to have two of his operas staged at the Teatro Real.

This CD includes the preludes for the operas Don Fernando el Emplazado (a lyrical tragedy in three acts), and Ledia (a lyrical drama in three acts), plus the Symphony in E and Ecos de Oiz (Melody for cello with orchestra accompaniment), Zubiaurre's only composition for soloist and orchestra. The libretto includes the notes to the works written by the musicologist Patricia Sojo, author of a doctoral thesis on Zubiaurre's work.

The maestro Juan José Ocón, a regular collaborator with the Orchestra, participates in this Collection for the first time. The same applies to the cellist Roman Jablonski, who features as a soloist on the recording of Ecos de Oiz.

Valentín de Zubiaurre is the latest name in a collection already featuring Beltrán Pagola, Luis de Pablo, Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, Aita Madina, Tomás Garbizu, Aita Donostia, Pablo Sorozábal, Francisco Escudero, Andrés Isasi, Jesús Arámbarri, José Mª Usandizaga and Jesús Guridi. The two coming monographic editions in the Collection will be dedicated to the work of Pedro Sanjuán and Carmelo Bernaola.

All of the CDs in this collection end with a statement of our gratitude to the Basque Government Department of Culture, principal promoter of this Basque music project, and to the MONDRAGON Group, firmly committed to extending the Orchestra's CD collection with this compilation which has now become a reference in the field of sound files.

The second edition of the Basque National Orchestra Music Laboratory is now underway. This year the project, an initiative launched and led by BNO Principal Conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada, will be aimed at young orchestra conductors from around the world. The application deadline for participating in the upcoming edition is December 22, 2010. Four conductors will then be selected from among the applicants to take part in the Laboratory. The names of the four successful candidates will be posted on the Orchestra website on February 1, 2011.

The Conductors Laboratory will take place from March 10 through 12, 2011. The programme will consist of several lab sessions with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Basque National Orchestra at the Orchestra's San Sebastián headquarters, and will culminate in a concert as part of the Miramón Matinées series.

Applications are invited for candidates from all over the world. Eligible candidates must be under the age of 35, and either hold a degree in orchestral conducting or be currently pursuing an upper-level degree in orchestral conducting.

The Basque National Orchestra has launched a new application, www.osetunes.es, where you can download melodies played by the Orchestra for your mobile phone ringtone. Ringtones are downloadable via the Internet or from your mobile phone. Download the melodies from the website to your PC and then transfer them to your phone using bluetooth or cable. From your mobile phone you can directly download the melodies and then set them up as your ringtones.

At www.osetunes.es you'll find 24 fragments of pieces played by the Basque National Orchestra. Among them are Beethoven's 5th Symphony, Agur Jaunak by J. Olaizola and Acuarelas vascas by Aita Donostia.

After jumping on the social network bandwagon and launching Euskor, the Orchestra's official online newsletter, the Basque National Orchestra has decided to further expand its Internet presence with OseTunes to bring its music to a wider audience.