From 1 September tickets are on sale for the 23-24 Season concerts by the Basque National Orchestra, which will be held in the usual four Basque capital cities starting from 29 September in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Tickets on sale starting at 10 euros

Tickets for all the concerts in Bilbao, San Sebastian, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Pamplona can be purchased on euskadikoorkestra.eus, as well as on the websites of the venues themselves (euskalduna.eus, kursaal.eus, principalantzokia.org and baluarte.com) and at the ticket booths and usual sales channels.

Requests for Season tickets can still be made here (starting at 80 euros).

Special prices and discounts

Basque National Orchestra season ticket holders, students, under-30s, over-65s, unemployed people and other groups (Artium, Kursaal Eszena…) can enjoy special prices when purchasing tickets. In addition, thanks to Última Hora Joven, people under the age of 30 can purchase tickets for all seat locations for 10 euros, 30 minutes before the start of the concert at the ticket booth of the corresponding concert venue.

23-24 Season: Art in the first person

In this new Season of Concerts by the Basque National Orchestra we want to draw attention to the human being who creates and transforms. We will focus on the active and responsible person who moves the world through their life experiences, sometimes spiritual and sometimes mundane.

With Mahler and his Symphony No. 3 we will see concepts such as eternity and love, and others such as the religious experience will be signed by Bruckner with his Symphony No. 7. In contrast to this more spiritual side, there are authors who, from disparate universes, give the widest possible palette of colours to private life and the mundane, such as Dutilleux, in his Correspondances, and Richard Strauss, in Aus Italien and in his Symphonia Domestica. Rachmaninoff allows himself to show in his Symphony No. 3 and his Piano Concerto No. 2 how heavily his nostalgia for his homeland weighs. Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky represents the hero's exaltation, which could connect us with Dvorak in his Symphony No. 7 and the vindication of his people's struggle and longing. The concept of identity will find its ultimate expression in Rudi Stephan's opera Die ersten Menschen, which shatters us with a Freudian dissection of human nature after Adam and Eve's expulsion from Paradise.

All these very human concepts use art as an inspirational ally. Their maximum expression will be reached with a work commissioned to Antonio Lauzurika to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Eduardo Chillida. Another important commemoration will be the 75th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights and the first recitation in Basque of the texts that accompany Aaron Copland's work, which has become the anthem of the United Nations.

In this Season –and perhaps always in the Basque National Orchestra– the human being and art are in continuous reflection.

Robert Trevino will continue as the chief conductor of the Basque National Orchestra.

Expanded information about the 23-24 Season can be found here

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Tremendous, titanic, immense, grandiose, gigantic, colossal, monumental, immeasurable, formidable, enormous... These are some of the adjectives that can be attributed to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No.8, which will bring together more than four hundred performers on the Kursaal stage this 18 August (20:00). Tickets for this concert are sold out.

Although one of the most emblematic and ambitious pieces of one of the leading post-romanticism artists, it is rarely included in auditorium or festival programmes given its enormous magnitude. In fact, this is the second time that this symphony, also known as “Symphony of a Thousand” due to the necessary organic dimension, is being performed at the Musical Fortnight. The symphony is comprised of two parts with no resolved transition. The first part includes a religious hymn sung in Latin and, in the second part, the final scenes of Goethe’s “Faust” are sung in German. For its interpretation, the Fortnight has brought together the Basque National Orchestra and the Navarre Symphony Orchestra for the instrumental portion, and the Orfeón Donostiarra, Orfeón Pamplonés, Easo Eskolania, and Easo Gazte Abesbatza for the choral passages. The line-up of soloist voices includes sopranos Sarah Wegener, Mojca Erdmann, and San Sebastian-native Miren Urbieta-Vega; mezzo-soprano Justina Gringyte, contralto Claudia Huckle, tenor Aj Glueckert, baritone José Antonio López, and bass Mikhail Petrenko.

The week began with rehearsals of this grand production at the Basque National Orchestra’s home in Miramon, with the first meeting between the two orchestras under the command of Robert Trevino and the choirs joining in on these rehearsals soon.

A Season full of major dates for the Basque National Orchestra

As such, the Basque National Orchestra is kicking off a new Season full of musical events of great importance. The Season Concerts will begin on 29 September with Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, another grand one. Before this, between August and September, a series of recordings will be made, the Orchestra will participate in the second edition of the Arantzazu Festival organised by the Columbus Foundation with a double concert, and the traditional Concert & Screening will be held at the San Sebastian Velodrome within the framework of the San Sebastian International Film Festival. All information on the Basque National Orchestra’s upcoming dates can be found here.

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Season Concert Programming

In this new Season of Concerts by the Basque National Orchestra we want to draw attention to the human being who creates and transforms. We will focus on the active and responsible person who moves the world through their life experiences, sometimes spiritual and sometimes mundane.

With Mahler and his Symphony No. 3 we will see concepts such as eternity and love, and others such as the religious experience will be signed by Bruckner with his Symphony No. 7. In contrast to this more spiritual side, there are authors who, from disparate universes, give the widest possible palette of colours to private life and the mundane, such as Dutilleux, in his Correspondances, and Richard Strauss, in Aus Italien and in his Symphonia Domestica. Rachmaninoff allows himself to show in his Symphony No. 3 and his Piano Concerto No. 2 how heavily his nostalgia for his homeland weighs. Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky represents the hero's exaltation, which could connect us with Dvorak in his Symphony No. 7 and the vindication of his people's struggle and longing. The concept of identity will find its ultimate expression in Rudi Stephan's opera Die ersten Menschen, which shatters us with a Freudian dissection of human nature after Adam and Eve's expulsion from Paradise.

All these very human concepts use art as an inspirational ally. Their maximum expression will be reached with a work commissioned to Antonio Lauzurika to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Eduardo Chillida. Another important commemoration will be the 75th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights and the first recitation in Basque of the texts that accompany Aaron Copland's work, which has become the anthem of the United Nations.

In this Season –and perhaps always in the Basque National Orchestra– the human being and art are in continuous reflection.

The Basque National Orchestra’s 2023/2024 Season Concerts will begin on 29 September 2023 in Vitoria-Gasteiz, and will wrap up on 7 June 2024 in Donostia/San Sebastian. It will be a total of 12 season programmes which, distributed between Vitoria-Gasteiz (10), Bilbao (10), Donostia/San Sebastian (10x2) and Pamplona (10), add up to a total of 50 Season Concerts.

Great conductors, soloists and choirs

The orchestra will once again welcome a fair number of artists for its programme: eight conductors, nine instrumental and vocal soloists and three choirs.  Vocals will have an important presence in this Season through solo singers and the three choirs.

CONDUCTORS.  Robert Trevino will open and close the concert season and will direct a total of four programmes (see detail further below). For the rest of the programmes, the podium will be divided between Stanislav Kochanovsky, Riccardo Frizza, Marie Jacquot, Lina González-Granados and Baldur Brönnimann, who are making their début in the orchestra's Season, and Juanjo Mena, Juraj Valcuha and Pablo González, who are repeating.

SOLOISTS: In this section we will welcome for the first time Federico Colli and Markus Schirmer (piano), Sergey Khachatryan (violin) and Olesya Petrova (mezzo-soprano). Greats such as Alban Gerhardt (cello) and Justina Gringyte (mezzo-soprano) will be repeating. And we will give a special welcome to the Basque performers Alfonso Gómez (piano), Elena Sancho Pereg (soprano) and Clara Mouriz (mezzo-soprano).

CHOIRS: Vocals will play a special role this new Season and we will incorporate three Basque choirs: The Bilbao Choral Society, which will open the Season (Mahler's Third), the Orfeón Donostiarra (Prokofiev's Aleksander Nevsky) and Vocalia Taldea from Vitoria-Gasteiz (Debussy's Nocturnes).

Robert Trevino's seventh season as chief conductor

The orchestra's chief conductor will conduct four of the new Season's programmes. He will open it with one of the most symbolic works of the new Season, Mahler's Third, where he will introduce the women and children of the Bilbao Choral Society and mezzo-soprano Justina Gringyte. In February he will take on Rachmaninoff's Third and the première of Antonio Lauzurika's Chillida-Elogios. In April Trevino will conduct the Basque National Orchestra for the first time in an opera, entitled Die ersten Menschen, by Rudi Stephan. And he will close the Season with two works by Dutilleux (Correspondances) and Richard Strauss (Symphonia Domestica) that appeal to the most everyday and familiar version of earthly life.

Commitment to Basque creation

One of the key missions of the Basque National Orchestra is to promote and disseminate Basque creation through programming and recording. Contemporary works with a Basque signature will have a big presence in the programme of the 23/24 Season, with premières by authors such as Lauzurika, Viloria and Venegas as the main new proposals.

On the one hand, the Basque National Orchestra has commissioned Antonio Lauzurika to create a work to commemorate the centenary of Eduardo Chillida's birth, which he has entitled Chillida - Elogios. The Basque National Orchestra will be actively involved in this national celebration.

Another commissioned work to be premièred as part of our Concert Season will be Oihartzun gorriak by Itziar Viloria from Bizkaia. It is a joint commission with the Royal Philharmonic of Galicia, whose newly appointed chief conductor, Baldur Brönnimann, will be in charge of the première in spring 2024. The Basque National Orchestra thus repeats the shared commissioning formula it used last season with Gary Carpenter's Mamu kantak (Ghost Songs) ‒ on that occasion with several British orchestras.

Basque/Belgian composer Saskia Venegas closes the chapter of new Basque works with a revision of the work At the Aegean Shores, which talks about refugees in the Aegean Sea. This humanist argument is related to the concept of Human Rights, which in this season of the Basque National Orchestra has special significance. The piece was premièred at the last edition of Musikaste in Errenteria, but Venegas has rewritten it for the occasion.

Ramon Lazkano, a composer with whom Robert Trevino has established a strong connection since he arrived in the Basque Country in 2016, will also be present in our programme, as has been the case in recent seasons. So much so that he has taken his music to the music stands of other orchestras with which he works, such as the Orchestra Nazionale della RAI, which premièred Mugarri in March with Trevino. This time the Swiss conductor resident in Madrid, Baldur Brönnimann, will conduct this piece in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

In addition to the notable presence of contemporary Basque composers, worth mentioning is the Basque essence that permeates the third concert programme of the Season. Conducted by Juanjo Mena from Vitoria-Gasteiz, Ramuntcho by Gabriel Pierné, a work based on the book of the same name by Pierre Loti, which exalts the customs and regional typicality of the French Basque Country, and the Concerto in G Major by Maurice Ravel, our orchestra's flagship composer, will be performed.

In the section on recordings of Basque music, it is worth mentioning the recording of works by Gabriel Erkoreka that the orchestra will make under the Ondine label this season (see more information in the recordings section below).

First opera in our Season Concerts

Die ersten Menschen is an opera that premièred in Frankfurt in 1920. In 2021 it was performed at the Stopera in Amsterdam with stage direction by Calixto Bieito. And now it is coming to Bilbao thanks to the Arriaga Theatre. The work tears us apart with a Freudian dissection of human nature after Adam and Eve's expulsion from Paradise, according to the Genesis creation narrative. The scene is a spring landscape and the libretto can be described as psychological poetry. With Stephan we are looking for the identity of the human being.

Calixto Bieito is the stage director and Robert Trevino is the musical director.

Other orchestral activities

Austrian tour: Salzburg and Linz

The four-concert tour in the Polish cities of Warsaw, Wroclaw, Krakow and Katowice, held at the end of last March, was a turning point in the long international career of the Basque National Orchestra.

It now has a new international trip to Salzburg ahead of it, which it had to cancel last year due to the unexpected confinement of the entire Austrian country. Those concerts were postponed to February 2024. A total of three musical events will be held in Mozart's birthplace, and now there will also be another concert in Linz, where the orchestra last performed in 2018. 

Recordings: Gabriel Erkoreka and Americascapes 2

Another important pillar of the orchestra's activity is its album recordings, a collection that will reach 80 volumes this Season, mainly centred on Basque creation. The next recording dedicated to Gabriel Erkoreka will be a musical event with an entirely Basque flavour and which, together with the Basque National Orchestra, will bring together Asier Polo (cello), Alfonso Gómez (piano) and Carlos Mena (countertenor), three performers conducted by Juanjo Mena, all of them Basque artists of international renown.

This album will be recorded by the Ondine label. In the last two years it has sealed its relationship with the Finnish factory through the recordings of the two Ravel albums and Americascapes. Ondine has an important worldwide distribution network, which has allowed the Basque National Orchestra to position itself in a market that is an international reference with reviews in the most prestigious specialised media (Gramophone, France Musique, BBC Music Magazine, Diapason, The New Yorker…). In addition to the monograph dedicated to Gabriel Erkoreka, the orchestra will tackle Americascapes 2 and hopes to follow in the footsteps of previous recordings.

Shared projects

The orchestra will maintain its commitment with the ABAO Bilbao Opera Season, Musika-Música in Bilbao, the Gala of the Frontiers of Knowledge Awards by the BBVA Foundation, the Musical Fortnight in Donostia/San Sebastian, Zinemaldia, Musikaste, the Columbus Foundation Festival by Viralgen, and other events.

The Orchestra’s Miramon Matinées and Musika Gela seasons will be presented in the future.

Season tickets and tickets

Booking of season tickets from 5 June onwards

After the renewal period for current season ticket holders, the sale of new season tickets will open. Bookings can be made from 5 June via euskadikoorkestra.eus, by calling 943 01 32 32 or by sending an email to abonatuak@euskadikoorkestra.eus.  Season tickets will be formalised in order of receipt and subject to availability. The price of season tickets for 10 concerts ranges from €80 to €235.

Sale of single tickets from 1 September onwards

All tickets will be on sale starting from 1 September on euskadikoorkestra.eus and on the websites of the auditoriums and ticket booths.

Patronage

Patronage makes it possible for people who wish to help towards the development of this national cultural project to do so with their contributions. It is presented as a necessary long-term tool that complements the grants provided by the public administrations, and is being implemented as a way to contribute towards and develop culture and society. Contributions to the orchestra in any of the forms available will be eligible for tax deductions. More information on euskadikoorkestra.eus

Special thanks

Finally, the orchestra would like to express its gratitude for the significant collaboration and support received from all the entities that participate in the fulfilment of its different activities: its season ticket holders and the public in general, sponsoring and collaborating entities, cultural agents, communication media, etc., that make the Basque National Orchestra's activity possible.

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The Basque National Orchestra has had an international calling in its DNA since it was launched 41 years ago. During this time, it has travelled to many European countries and also to South American lands, but this new European departure, which makes it number 22, has been a turning point in its international career. Poland is an example of musical tradition with capital letters, a cradle of great artists, composers and centenary orchestras, and the Beethoven Festival, to which the orchestra has been invited as a result of its relationship with chief conductor Robert Trevino, has become, thanks to its founder Krzysztof Penderecki, one of the most important in Poland. The expectation to welcome the Basque National Orchestra was high and Warsaw, Wroclaw, Krakow and Katowice were already waiting with 5,400 tickets sold. With this background, the Basque National Orchestra not only could not fail, but also had to turn up with a demanding, high-level programme, and also pull it off with solvency.

A demanding programme

The programme designed for this presentation in Poland has been the same for all four concerts. As an opening, the popular and universal Boléro, signed by a composer, Ravel, that we claim as Basque and that the Basque National Orchestra has the power to show with an air and gaze of its own. And it is here that the orchestra has begun its conquest with the public, responding to Ravel's whims and knowing how to incorporate the different instrumental families in crescendo mode, as the score demands, always with great success and displaying the most Basque side of the composer. From the very first bars, with Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte as an overture, the Basque National Orchestra marked its territory and won over an expectant audience before whom it presented what was undoubtedly the main part of the concert, Mahler's complex Symphony No. 5. 70 minutes of score provide space to get to know the whole sonic universe of a composer, but also to test an orchestra's capacity. The challenge was great, but the Basque National Orchestra has met it with great solidity, confidence in its work, concentration and high standards of quality. The response of the audience with long standing ovations has had a big impact on the orchestra, which has responded with two and even three encores, completing almost three hours of concert in each city. Jesús Guridi's Amorosa, the Intermedio from Las Bodas de Luis Alonso by Gerónimo Giménez and Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5 were the scores that the orchestra kept on the lectern to close each evening and used to leave the audience with a historic memory.

In the words of Robert Trevino, "the musicians have huge doses of passion, power and enthusiasm. They have played this symphony four times in front of many people and have worked hard to achieve the best sound and depth in the performance. All this makes me very proud to be the chief conductor of the Basque National Orchestra. The orchestra has shown itself to be at a very high level".

After the Basque National Orchestra's visit to the cities of Warsaw, Wroclaw, Krakow and Katowice, "we can say that we have established an important relationship with the Beethoven Festival and that we have already sealed the possibility of returning in the future", says Oriol Roch, general director of the Basque National Orchestra.

Concert halls that combine tradition and modernity

The halls we have visited have been a combination of tradition and modernity. Warsaw and Krakow are historic places, the former rebuilt after World War II, the latter with centuries-old walls, and both steeped in the history of great composers and performers, legends who have woven the musical history of Poland and who enable us to live their tradition today with absolute respect and admiration. The auditoriums in Wroclaw and Katowice are also very important places built later, in avant-garde architecture, with the best acoustics and made into the best concert halls, it is said, in the whole world. The Basque National Orchestra has passed through these halls, marking a new international milestone and honouring its status as a Basque cultural ambassador.

Institutional representation, family and friends

Over the last few days, many people and institutional representatives have accompanied the Basque National Orchestra on its presentation in Poland. The Warsaw concert was attended by the president of the Beethoven Festival, Elzbieta Penderecka. The Basque Government's Minister of Health, Gotzone Sagardui, opened the Basque institutional representation in Warsaw together with Javier García Cogorro, CEO of Viralgen, the company sponsoring the concert in the Polish capital, where they carry out important work in the field of genetic research. The Krakow concert was attended by the Mayor of Krakow's Plenipotentiary for Culture, Robert Piaskowski; the Polish Consul in Burgos, Enrique de Villamor y Soraluce; the Director of the Cervantes Institute, Beatriz Hernanz; and Polish conductor Antoni Wit, for several years the chief conductor of the Navarre Symphony Orchestra and today honorary conductor of the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. Along with this representation, the Basque National Orchestra was also accompanied by countless relatives of its Polish musicians, numerous friends of members of the orchestra, as well as 'Basques around the world' and young people on Erasmus courses attracted by the presence of the Basque National Orchestra in their adopted Polish cities. 

Katowice, end of the tour

The Basque National Orchestra ends its tour today in Katowice, an industrial city with a mining tradition that is home to one of the most important auditoriums with the best acoustics in Europe. It is there that the orchestra will seal this grand tour of four concerts in Poland, which will have an important place in its international history.

Photos from the tour

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The Beethoven Festival was founded in 1997 by composer Krzysztof Penderecki (who passed away three years ago) along with his wife Elzbieta Penderecka, who is now the president of the institution. Her long-standing relationship with main conductor Robert Trevino was key for the Basque National Orchestra to be invited to play at the Beethoven Easter Festival – an invitation that will take the orchestra to four of the most important musical cities in Poland: Warsaw, on March 28th; Wrocław, on the 29th; Krakow, on the 30th; and Katowice, on the 31st.

The Basque National Orchestra is the headliner for one of the most important classical music festivals of Poland. If you add up the capacity of the four auditoriums, the orchestra will perform before approximately 5,400 people, and tickets are practically sold out in all of the venues – a sign of the great expectation that the Basque National Orchestra has stirred since their visit was announced.

Robert Trevino at the helm of this new international challenge

Robert Trevino will lead this new international challenge for the Basque National Orchestra:

A very ambitious programme

The orchestra has prepared a very ambitious musical program (the same for all the cities) in which it will combine the Basque music of Ravel with Mahler.

Maurice Ravel is the orchestra's flagship composer as an example of Basque culture. The Basque National Orchestra has recently recorded two Ravel monographic albums with the prestigious Finnish label Ondine and under the direction of Robert Trevino. These albums include eleven of this composer from Ziburu's most important orchestral pieces. One of these pieces, Pavane pour une infante défunte, will open the concerts in Poland, to later move on to the interpretation of the famous Boléro, a world-renowned piece that the Basque National Orchestra has presented in recent times with a new angle – that of Ravel's purely Basque side.

The second part of the concerts features Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler. This is a piece of great dimension and technical difficulty that the Basque National Orchestra has carefully prepared, as it was featured in their season concerts just a few weeks ago. Mahler holds a special place in Robert Trevino's heart and he is the composer with whom said conductor made his debut in 2018 with the Basque National Orchestra – also in Linz, Munich, and Bregenz (on that occasion with Symphony No. 4).

With this ambitious and complex programme, the Basque National Orchestra is aiming to act as a cultural ambassador for the Basque Country abroad, also wishing to showcase all its potential and strength so as to measure up against other great orchestras on the European circuit.

Travel plans and concerts

Before the orchestra goes on tour on Monday, March 27 (the eve of the opening concert in Warsaw), today, Friday, March 24, the last rehearsal is taking place. Juanjo Ocón has taken the baton these previous days of rehearsal, but it will be the main conductor Robert Trevino who will take command once in Poland.

Below are the dates, cities, and auditoriums where the Basque National Orchestra will offer concerts next week:

1. Tuesday, March 28 (7:30 p.m.), Warsaw, National Philharmonic (1,072 tickets available).

Warsaw is the hometown of Frederic Chopin, one of the most important composers in history. The composer's prestigious International Piano Competition is held here. It is also the headquarters of the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, a century-old institution whose current main conductor is Andrey Boreyko, the Basque National Orchestra's main guest conductor between 2009 and 2017. The tour gets its start at the legendary Warsaw National Philharmonic Hall – a place steeped in history.

2. Wednesday, March 29 (19:00), Wrocław, Narodowe Forum Muzyki (1,800 tickets available).

Narodowe Forum Muzyki (the National Forum of Music), one of the largest and most modern venues in the country, hosts concerts by world-renowned orchestras and famed soloists and conductors. Wrocław has a recent history that features common ties with us, as it shared the title of 2016 European Capital of Culture with San Sebastián and, since then, both cities have been very close, especially on the artistic/cultural level.

3. Thursday, March 30 (7:00 p.m.), Krakow, Philharmonic Concert Hall (720 tickets available).

The third stop of the tour will take place in one of the largest, oldest, and most important cities in Poland. The auditorium, with its long-standing tradition, is the headquarters of the hundred-year-old Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra.

4. Friday, March 31 (7:30 p.m.), Katowice, NOSPR (1,800 tickets available).

The orchestra ends its tour with this fourth concert in Poland, in a city with marked mining activity. It is home to one of the largest and most modern auditoriums in Poland, the headquarters of the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR).

International presence of the Basque National Orchestra

The Basque National Orchestra is an organisation that is always true to its vocation to be an ambassador of Basque culture. For this reason, and throughout its 41-year history, the orchestra has been present on international stages in different ways and with different objectives.

It has done so in Festival and Seasons like the Biennale di Venezia and L'Opéra Royal du Château of Versalles. It has also participated in exchanges with other orchestras, such as the exchanges with the Düsseldorf Symphony and the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Milan, as well as the classical exchange with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine (ONBA).

Having said that, the orchestra's best-known format is that of concert tours, with this tour being its 22nd international tour. Since 1984, the Orchestra has toured Central European countries immersed in history such as Austria, Germany, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom, and it has crossed the pond and landed at the Colón Theatre of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Santiago de Chile (Chile), and Sao Paulo (Brazil), among others. Now, the musical formation is focused on what may be one of its biggest milestones of the many international tours that it has been on in the past.

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Ravel 2 arrives after the huge success achieved with the first album dedicated to the composer from Ziburu. The first recording, focused on his more Basque production, included his most well-known works and has received the highest praise and glowing reviews in specialised media across the world. Ravel 2 focuses on the French side of this composer's work. The album, like the previous one recorded with the Ondine record label, includes the world's first recording of the orchestration for Frontispice by French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, as well as a complete recording of the ballet score Ma mère l'Oye. Valses nobles et sentimentales, Menuet Antique and Shéhérezade (Ouverture de féerie) complete this new recording launched on 4 November to the international market. This recording, with a duration of 70 minutes, was made in December 2021 at the Basque National Orchestra's headquarters in Miramon.

As described by the chief conductor of the Basque National Orchestra, Robert Trevino, in the booklet of the new album: “The first Ravel album I recorded with the Basque National Orchestra concentrated on the works that show the composer's Spanish-Basque facet. In this volume, the music material is not so explicitly Basque, in terms of the tempos or having been written in Basque towns or cities. However, it is the continuation of our exploration of the work by a great Basque composer, with whose music the Basque National Orchestra has had a long relationship. This time, the repertoire shows Ravel’s French side to a larger extent” (see Robert Trevino’s complete notes below).

Since he began his role as chief conductor Robert Trevino has sought to explore in depth Ravel’s Basque identity, and share with the world what the Basque National Orchestra knows and understands about this composer’s language. And he has been doing this throughout his five years at the helm of the orchestra. To mention a few milestones linked to Ravel during his tenure as chief conductor, Trevino and the Basque National Orchestra have presented Ravel's music in several Season programmes, as well as at the prestigious Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, where the orchestra made its first performance in early 2020. Now, these two recent recordings with Ondine are also joined by a tour in Poland planned for March 2023, where the chief conductor and orchestra will travel to with Ravel's Boléro.

International success of the recordings with Ondine

This is the third recording that the Basque National Orchestra and Robert Trevino make together with the prestigious Finnish Ondine label, which belongs to the Naxos group. The prestigious classical music magazine Gramophone has already published the first review received by this new record and has described it as an “excellent album”.

The first album, Ravel, received praise and acknowledgements such as ‘Recording of the Month’ from the main media in places such as Japan, Australia, France and the USA; as well as five-star reviews in reputable publications such as Classica and Classics Today. Later, the orchestra made another recording with Ondine entitled Americascapes and focused on little-known American composers. This recording has also received similar recognition, including a nomination for the Gramophone for ‘Best Orchestral Recording', ‘Recording of the Year 2021’ from Presto Music (United Kingdom), ‘Recording of the Month’ from PhonoForum, ‘Recording of the Month’ from Limelight and five stars from Classics Today and Classica. Alex Ross, from The New Yorker, praised both albums as "surprisingly excellent” and “superb”.

Where to get the album ‘Ravel 2’

The album can be obtained in physical format upon request at retailers and is available on the main digital platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, etc.

Complete notes by Robert Trevino on ‘Ravel 2’ 

In my first Ravel album with the Basque National Orchestra, we focused on works that display the Spanish-Basque side of the French-Basque composer (Ravel was born in Ciboure, in the French side of the Basque Country, and many of his works incorporate aspects of Basque culture). In this volume, the musical material is not so explicitly Basque – In terms of specific Basque rhythms, or having been written in the Basque towns or cities. But it is a continuation of our exploration of an oeuvre by a great Basque composer, with whose music the Basque National Orchestra has a long relationship. The repertoire this time around represents much more of the French side of Ravel’s French-Basqueness; from Ma mère l ´Oye being expanded into a ballet, and Shéhérazade being composed in an ornate, French impressionist style.

Frontispice is a particularly interesting inclusion in this respect, because it’s a very unusual three-minute piece, originally for two pianos, which is really conceptual, modernist French music, in many ways much closer to the music of Messiaen than to Debussy. And this arrangement that we’ve recorded was orchestrated by that preeminent Ravel champion and great French conductor, Pierre Boulez.

So whereas our first album was a statement of Ravel’s Basqueness, this one respects the fact that he is also French. The Valses nobles et sentimentales is another good instance – In contrast to the savagery of La Valse, which was included in volume one, Valses nobles et sentimentales is a rambunctious but extremely elegant set of waltzes, of the kind that one might have heard in Paris, with influences pouring in from Vienna. When I listen to this work I always feel that I am somewhere around Montmartre!

Incidentally, this complex mesh of French and Basque influences in Ravel is echoed in the Basque Country itself – where we feel a great kinship with the French (if you boat down the canal in San Sebastian you could easily find yourself reminiscing about the Seine, with its grey rooftops to your side) – and in our orchestra, many of whose musicians were trained in Paris. So naturally the French tradition from the Paris Conservatoire is felt in the orchestra, and in Basque composers such as Ramon Lazkano or José Maria Usandizaga. Many of our musicians also live across the border in France and commute across this very dynamic frontier between France and Spain. Ravel operated in that same space, feeling the same gravitational pulls of the Iberian Peninsula and France. And even at his most French, Ravel’s music often still has a directness, a concision and a solidity that I find rather Basque in nature.

More information

After two seasons in which the schedule of activities was reduced due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, the Basque National Orchestra's educational series, Music Room, is back in full swing with more than 40 activities. It is a series with a long tradition in the orchestra's programming, created with the aim of bringing music to the public in general and in particular to society’s younger members. The concerts it offers are educational, pedagogical and approachable, and are aimed at different age groups. This Season it will cover a spectrum ranging from ages 3 to 12.

Year by year, the Basque National Orchestra is committed to creating its own productions with original scripts and shows created expressly to be launched within its educational series. A total of four productions of its own are scheduled for this Season. First of all, for our younger audience, we have designed a concert entitled Ondinaren Magia which combines music and magic through an original adventure story featuring fairies and undines (water nymphs in Greek mythology). Living Room Music, a percussion concert without percussion instruments that takes us to the lockdown to highlight the value of human creativity in times of crisis, through humour. It will be followed by Boléro, a symphony concert where our audience of schoolchildren can enjoy the most famous crescendo in history and participate in a joint choreography specially created for this concert. And finally, Elkarrekin sortu, an innovative concert for all ages, in which the audience will be a fundamental part of the music we will listen to.

These four productions are presented in two formats, Concerts for Schoolchildren and Family Concerts.

On the one hand, it is expected that in total more than 11,000 pre-school, primary and secondary education pupils will go to the Concerts for Schoolchildren of these four productions. These are pupils from close to 100 schools in towns such as Alkiza, Azpeitia, Berrobi, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Lizartza, Mendaro, Olaberria, Orio, San Sebastian, Urretxu, Zerain, Zestoa and Zumaia, among others. The School Concerts currently receive the collaboration of the General Assembly of Gipuzkoa, Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, the Education Department of San Sebastian City Council and Kursaal Eszena.

On the other hand, the productions will be carried out in San Sebastian and Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Family Concert format, the longest-running and most established within Music Room. This cultural leisure alternative to enjoy as a family with young children has been a constant feature of the orchestra’s programming for 26 years. The Family Concerts in San Sebastian are sponsored by El Diario Vasco, and the one that will be carried out in Kursaal, Elkarrekin sortu, has been done in collaboration with Kursaal Eszena. The concerts in Alava’s capital city, on the other hand, receive the collaboration of the Municipal Theatre Network of Vitoria-Gasteiz. The purchase of tickets for all the events, whose prices range between 3 and 8 euros, can be done on the website euskadikoorkestra.eus as the date for each show approaches. Tickets can also be purchased at the ticket booths and on the websites (kursaal.eus, principalantzokia.org) of the corresponding venues.

Below is more detailed information on the productions and the dates of the Concerts for Schoolchildren and Family Concerts:

1. ONDINAREN MAGIA

3 < 6 years old
40’
Maite Abasolo*, viola
Ander Erburu*, flute
Iván Bragado*, harp
Txan Magoa
Ana Eguiazabal, presenter
Mikel Cañada, script

* Member of the Basque National Orchestra

It is the first time that the Family Concerts in this series include magic as the main feature of a show, which means that Ondinaren Magia will offer a totally new experience. Undines are mysterious beings in popular legends. In Greek mythology, 'undines' were aquatic nymphs that lived in the Mediterranean. And precisely, this spectacle tells the story of an undine, a girl who every evening turns into a fish on the beach and who, among other adventures, meets a wizard. Playing with the elements of nature, four magic performances will be offered within the framework of the show. The music will also be very special, and will be performed by three instruments: a harp, representing the waves and marine depths; a flute, talking about the wind’s mysteries; and a viola, which tells of the earth and its mysteries. Through a story expressly created for this concert, and with music by authors such as Duboit, Jolivet, Ravel or Debussy, we will play with our senses for the pure pleasure of enjoying the arts.

CONCERTS FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN
13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20 October
9:45 / 11:15
Miramon
Pre-school education

FAMILY CONCERT
Donostia / San Sebastian
15 October
11:00 / 12:30
Miramon

Vitoria-Gasteiz
26 February
17:00 / 18:30
García Lorca

2. LIVING ROOM MUSIC

6 < 12 years old
55’
Anthony Lafargue*, percussion
Héctor Marqués*, percussion
Igor Arostegi*, percussion
Gorka Catediano, percussion
Ana Hernández Sanchiz, actress
Mikel Cañada, script

*Members of the Basque National Orchestra

Four musicians are forced into lockdown in an apartment, which they cannot leave, in a faraway city. Far from their relatives, confined through obligation and quite bewildered and nervous, they explore all the elements in the home with which music can be created: tables, spoons, fans, water, lamps, flowerpots, stairs, dustbins, their hands, their voices… Their only contact with the outside world is a fairly indiscreet neighbour, in the same situation, who starts becoming annoyed by the terrible "noises" of her neighbours, and is constantly pestering them…

CONCERTS FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN
18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26 January
9:45 / 11:15
Miramon. Orchestra HQ
Primary and secondary education

FAMILY CONCERT
Donostia / San Sebastian
21 January
11:00
Miramon. Orchestra HQ

3. BOLERO

6 < 12 years old
50’
Basque National Orchestra
Nelly Guilhemsans, choreography
Kilika, puppet company
Ana Eguiazabal, presenter
Mikel Cañada, script

History tells us that the famous melody of the ballet Boléro came to Maurice Ravel while he was still in his pyjamas and moments before going to swim on the beach of Ciboure, the town where he was born. Little did the composer imagine that the melody, which he played several times on the piano with a single finger on that summer morning of 1928, would be the seed of a monumental work that today, almost 100 years later, is still one of the most performed pieces in concert halls around the world. The Basque National Orchestra will perform this work for our younger audience, along with another ballet also composed by Ravel, Ma mère l’oye, with a staging that seeks to get the entire audience moving.

CONCERTS FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN
20, 21 March
9:45 / 11:30
Kursaal
Primary education

4. ELKARREKIN SORTU

6 < 12 years old
55’

Have you ever wondered what a drawing or a sculpture would sound like? What sound would better express wind or rain? How would you describe a movement with music? A line, a drawing? A feeling? A gaze? In this concert, Basque National Orchestra musicians will face the challenge of answering these questions, playing with music based on the proposals of our young audience and on a cutting-edge repertoire. With a screen, a computer and the most advanced music technology, performers and audience will play at discovering the secrets of musical composition.

FAMILY CONCERT
Donostia / San Sebastian
6 May
18:00*
Kursaal. Chamber Hall

Vitoria-Gasteiz
7 May
18:00*
Principal Theatre

*Before each concert, at 16:45, a complementary, optional and free-of-charge awareness-raising workshop is offered.
REGISTRATION:
Donostia / San Sebastián
943 00 31 70
Vitoria / Gasteiz
945 16 10 45

Three Open Rehearsals and other activities

This wide offering of concerts will be enriched with other activities. Music room continues with its Open Rehearsals, aimed at groups, schools, music schools and universities among others, offering the chance to see up close how our orchestra works in the moments prior to a concert. This Season three Open Rehearsals will be offered:

3 February (11:00), Kursaal:
L.V. Beethoven: Symphony No.5
Dinis Sousa, conductor

10 March (11:00), Kursaal:
J. Adams: Doctor Atomic Symphony
Roderick Cox, conductor

4 May (11:00), Kursaal:
S. Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet
Karel Mark Chichon, director

In addition, the orchestra will bring back one of the most successful recent productions of Music Room, Euskadiko Orkestra Cirkus, in this case to offer it within the framework of the Musical Fortnight of Durango, on 12 November, at 17:30, in the San Agustín Theatre. It is a performance aimed at children aged 3 to 6 that combines juggling, clown, tightrope walkers and music between the surreal and the popular.

The Workshops for schoolteachers will also continue to be carried out, used as prior preparation for the School Concerts.

Music Room on YouTube

Music Room has its own section on the YouTube channel of the Basque National Orchestra, where it is possible to see the full performances of the series, such as Euskadiko Orkestra Cirkus, Living Room Music, Mozart, Nannerl eta Lagunak, Ekomusik and Isiltasunaren haitzuloa. In addition, the videos of the concerts from this Season will be uploaded as they are held.

Wide network of collaborators

The Music Room series by the Basque National Orchestra continues to promote collaboration with a variety of local institutions, such as the General Assembly of Gipuzkoa, Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, the Education Department of San Sebastian City Council, the Municipal Network of Theatres of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Kursaal Eszena and El Diario Vasco.

More information

The 2022-2023 Miramon Matinée Season will begin on Saturday 8 October at the headquarters of the Basque National Orchestra. The matinées have been running for more than three decades as part of the Basque National Orchestra's schedule, offering a quality musical alternative. The season, which since its creation has been supported by Kutxa Fundazioa, will extend until 3 June and includes a total of sixteen events.

Chamber ensembles in the Basque National Orchestra usually occupy a large part of the season’s schedule, and this Season will be no exception. Several different string and wind instrument ensembles will continue to offer classical repertoires and other more hidden treasures of chamber music: Sexteto Apasionado, Hemiola Quartet, Belle Époque Quartet, Haize, Arima Quartet or Cuivres en Pays Basque, a curious ensemble of almost thirty brass wind instrumentalists from orchestras in the French Basque Country and the Basque National Orchestra.

However, there will also be room for proposals that differ from this format. For example, the Basque National Orchestra's percussion section will resume the percussion performance with domestic elements, Living Room Music, which was so successfully launched in the Music Room educational activity but could not be carried out during the last season in the Matinées due to the pandemic. Also worth highlighting is the presence of two choir ensembles from the territory offering a concert each: Akelarre Abesbatza and Vocalia Taldea. All of these proposals make up an attractive menu where everyone can find their own particular treasure.

This is the complete schedule of this season's Matinées:

• 8 October: Ensemble Oiasso
• 22 October: Le Monde Quartet
• 5 November: Sexteto Apasionado
• 26 November: Belharra
• 3 December: Minerva Quartet
• 17 December: Izai
• 14 January: Haize
• 28 January: Basque National Orchestra Percussion Section
• 11 February: Queentettas
• 4 March: Akelarre Abesbatza
• 11 March: Hemiola Quartet
• 1 April: Vocalia Taldea
• 22 April: Groupe Damasienne
• 6 May: Arima Quintet
• 13 May: Cuivres en Pays Basque
• 3 June: Belle Époque Quartet

Ensemble Oiasso opens the Matinées Season next Saturday

Next Saturday 8 October at 11:00 the ensemble of seven musicians from the Oiasso Ensemble will start the new season of the Miramon Matinées, with a concert titled ‘Sounds on the Danube: from Budapest to Vienna’. The line-up includes Laura Balboa (violin), Delphine Dupuy (viola), Gabriel Mesado (cello), Paloma Torrado (double bass), Luis Cámara (clarinet), François Proud (bassoon) and Cristian Palau (French horn).

Ensemble Oiasso will play two pieces at this Matinée: the Intermezzo for String Trio by Zoltan Kodaly and the Septet by Ludwig Van Beethoven.

Kodaly is considered one of the most important Hungarian composers of the 20th century. His Intermezzo for String Trio, which will be heard at the start of this first Matinée of the Season, dates back to around 1905. It was during this period when the composer started his travels visiting remote villages to compile Hungarian folk songs. As a result of all this fieldwork, folk melodies play an important role in Kodaly's music. In the Intermezzo there are abundant sounds from real Hungarian folk melodies, instead of the image of gypsy music made popular by Austrian and German composers such as Brahms. This piece, with just one movement, has the character of a relaxed serenade.

The central piece of this concert will be Beethoven's Septet, which was launched with great success in April 1800, within the same program that included the presentation of his Symphony No. 1. In spirit and in form, the Septet follows the model of 18th-century divertimenti, a lighter entertainment in a series of short movements. However, it opens with an almost symphonic movement, with a slow introduction followed by an adagio which offers lyrical opportunities for the soloists. The Minuet is based on a theme of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 2, which had been composed in 1796. The German composer uses all the instrumental variety he has available in the theme and variations that follow. The French horn introduces the rustic scherzo, and the contrasting section of the trio presents a beautiful melody for cello. A solemn march introduces the final part, a luminous and elegant presto

Season tickets and tickets

The season ticket for the 16 concerts has a general price of €96 and €75.20 for beneficiaries of the special price (over-65's, under-30s, holders of season tickets for other seasons of the orchestra, for Kursaal Eszena, holders of K26 and K26+ cards from Kutxabank, friends of Eureka! Zientzia Museoa and Musikene). Already available for purchase by calling the Basque National Orchestra's offices (943 01 32 32) or via the website euskadikoorkestra.eus.

Tickets for single concerts cost €11 and are available for purchase on euskadikoorkestra.eus, at the ticket booth of the Kursaal Auditorium and on the same day of the concert, if seats are available, at the ticket booth of the orchestra's headquarters in Miramon.

Free bus service

The concerts will be held at 11:00 am, at Basque National Orchestra's headquarters in Miramon. In order to attend them, the orchestras will continue to provide a free public bus service. It leaves at 10:25 from Gipuzkoa Plaza 4 and stops at Sancho El Sabio 18 and Avda. de Madrid 34.

More information

The film music concert is a classic event in the San Sebastian Festival and is a staple among the offerings of the Velodrome, undoubtedly the Festival’s most popular stage, with a capacity for an audience of 3000. The director from San Sebastian Juan José Ocón will be in charge of directing the orchestra at this multitudinous event with films and film scores.

This year's Concert & Screening features the adaptations of music composed for seven films. The composers chosen for this occasion have been: Alejandro Amenábar in Mientras dure la guerra; Eva Gancedo in La buena estrella; Carles Cases in El portero; Carmelo Bernaola in Nueve cartas a Berta; Arturo Cardelús in Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas; Aitor Amezaga in La sombra de nadie; and Manel Gil-Inglada in Cher ami.

For this new concert the Basque National Orchestra has invited Andra Mari Abesbatza, which will perform in Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas and La sombra de nadie.

As in previous years, the concert will have an additional visual element: the music is linked to the screening, on a 400m² screen, of a medley of scenes from the films and which has been specifically created for this concert by Carlos Rodríguez, from Morgancrea. In addition, several composers will attend the concert and will be on the Velodrome’s stage to present their work.

Admission is free of charge and it will be necessary to collect the corresponding invitation from 10 to 16 September at the information point of the San Sebastian Festival in the Kursaal, from 9:00 to 20:00, or at the Donostia Tourism office, from Monday to Saturday from 9:00 to 20:00 and on Sunday from 10:00 to 19:00.The last tickets can be collected at the ticket booth of the Velodrome on the day of the concert starting at 10 AM.

CONCERT & SCREENING
Saturday 17 September, 12:00
San Sebastian Velodrome

Programme
Alejandro Amenábar: Mientras dure la guerra (Director: Alejandro Amenábar)
Eva Gancedo: La buena estrella (Director: Ricardo Franco)
Carles Cases: El portero (Director: Gonzalo Suárez)
Carmelo Bernaola: Nueve cartas a Berta (Director: Basilio Martin Patino)
Arturo Cardelús: Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas* (Director: Salvador Simó)
Aitor Amezaga: La sombra de nadie* (Director: Pablo Malo)
Manel Gil-Inglada: Cher ami (Director: Miquel Pujol)

Juan José Ocón, director
Andra Mari Abesbatza, choir*
Basque National Orchestra

Approximate duration of the concert: 1h15

Over the years, the Basque National Orchestra has been present at the San Sebastian Festival in a variety of ways. One of its most notable participations was at the 2012 edition, when the orchestra performed at the live première of the film score for the world-famous film Lo Imposible, by Juan Antonio Bayona, a score signed by Fernando Velázquez. Starting the following year, 2013, the orchestra began to offer on a continuous basis a live film music concert, first at its headquarters in Miramon, and from 2015 in the Velodrome, the big stage it has stayed on until this year. During this decade of film music concerts, the orchestra has performed the film scores of feature-length films such as Handia, Errementari, Arrugas, Pájaros de Papel, You’re the One, Los crímenes de Oxford, Frío sol de invierno, Alatriste, Tadeo Jones 2… It should also be highlighted that the orchestra recorded the theme music for the Festival for the 1991 and 1992 editions. This year new theme music has been recorded for the Festival, with the collaboration of the tuba soloist of the Basque National Orchestra, Óscar Abella.

In addition to its consolidated collaboration with the San Sebastian Festival, the Basque National Orchestra has explored film music on many occasions. Worth mentioning are the recent recordings of the film scores of Patria and Maixabel, as well as some previous recordings such as Un monstruo viene a verme —for which Fernando Velázquez received the Goya for the Best Original Song 2017—, Ocho Apellidos Vascos, Contratiempo, Submergence, etc.

The SGAE Foundation closely collaborates with and supports the San Sebastian Festival. Over the decades, the foundation of the Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers has focused its participation on both initiatives of the festival and on the development of events and calls of its own, which the San Sebastian Festival has always generously accommodated.

Among the prominent activities of the entity during these 25 years we could highlight: collaboration with the organisation of the non-competition section Made In Spain, an international showcase for our most recent audiovisual production. In addition, at the Sala Berlanga in Madrid, which belongs to the entity, on dates close to the festival we organise a screening of films that will compete in this section. Likewise, it has promoted professional gatherings, presentations, and in particular, awards dedicated to the screenwriter’s collective such as the SGAE’s Julio Alejandro Screenwriting Award for feature-length fiction films, the Prize for the Best Basque Script by the Basque Professional Screenwriters’ Association, and recently, to address gender equality in this medium, the Dunia Ayaso Award, which this year will be given on 22 September. Lastly, we should not forget an unmissable part of the festival with the film scores thanks to the celebration of Concert & Screening, where the Anoeta Velodrome will host a concert with a selection of film scores performed by the Basque National Orchestra, accompanied by the screening of fragments of the films referenced. Learn about all the activities of the SGAE Foundation at the 70th San Sebastian Festival on the website of the SGAE Foundation.

Alejandro Amenábar – Mientras dure la guerra

Director, screenwriter, producer and music composer, a facet that is highlighted in this programme, his career started in the early 1990s when he made a number of short films, though his first success as a director came in 1996 with Tesis. Mientras dure la guerra is in fact his latest film, for which he is the screenwriter, director and score composer: 17 nominations and 5 Goya Awards in 2020, among them Best Production Supervision. All in all he is behind another five films and several television series, the latest La Fortuna, an international production based on a comic by Paco Roca and Guillermo Corral. This creative based in Madrid stands out for being the screenwriter and composer of the music scores for his feature-length films, as well as others done by commission. He won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Mar Adentro, a film featuring Javier Bardem, and received some twenty awards at the main film festivals around the world: Among them Venice or Tokyo. With The Sea Inside he received a Goya for Best Original Score, also in 2005. In total, for his work he has received 9 Goyas, the awards given by the Spanish Film Academy.

Eva Gancedo – La buena estrella

She studied music at the Higher Music Conservatory of Madrid and at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. As a film music composer she has worked with directors such as Rafael Gordon, Manuel Palacios or Ricardo Franco, for whom she became a regular composer. She also has created works for stage performances with directors such as José Monleón (theatre) or Carmen Senra (dance). Her works have been performed, among others, by the Orchestra of Radio Televisión Española or the Prague Symphony Orchestra. She received a Goya from the Spanish Film Academy for Best Original Score for the music in The Lucky Star, for which she also won the Award from the Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos (Cinema Writers Circle). She currently combines her activity as a composer with that of an educator. She teaches at the Master's Degree in Composition for Audiovisual Media and at the Music Education Degree in the Katarina Gurska Higher Education Centre, as well as at the Higher Conservatory of Madrid.

Carles Cases – El Portero

Carles Cases has dedicated 25 years to composing and creating scores for films, both European and American. A regular composer for films by directors such as Gonzalo Suárez, Ventura Pons, Jaume Balagueró, Eduardo Rossoff, Jaime Chávarri or Stuart Gordon, Carles Cases has an extensive musical legacy with 70 film scores, some 50 albums published and around three thousand concerts given. He is currently immersed in the composition and recording of his own productions, combining it with offering concerts of his works, in solo piano, duet, trio or orchestra formats. In 2021 he published Minimal, his first minimalist work. In the 1980s he was exclusively dedicated to the musical direction of singer-songwriter Lluís Llach, both the recording of albums and live performances, offering 800 concerts. The Charles Cross Academy (Paris) gave him the Best Album award for T’estimo by Lluís Llach.

Carmelo Alonso Bernaola – Nueve cartas a Berta

Considered one of the great composers of the second half of the 20th century in Spain, he studied harmony and clarinet in Burgos and at the Madrid Conservatory. Greatly influenced by the music of Bartók, Stravinski and Hindemith, he composed Cuarteto para cuerda (String Quartet), which would earn him the National Music Award (1962). He continued his studies at the Chigiana de Siena Academy, which enabled him to modernise his musical language and become a powerful innovator -not without controversy- in his first premières for full orchestra.  To his credit: more than 100 film scores, around 50 theatre productions, eight television series plus programmes and theme music. A work acknowledged in this field with the National Film Music Award (1969 and 1973), the Goya Award for Best Original Score (1989) and the Gold Medal from the Spanish Film Academy (2002). The following acknowledgements can be added to these awards and his work as a teacher and educator at universities and conservatories: Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts (1987), National Music Award (1992), membership of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (1993), Medal for Artistic Merit from Madrid City Council (1993) and Honorary Doctorate from the Complutense University of Madrid (1997), among many others.

Arturo Cardelús – Buñuel en el laberinto de las aceitunas
Arturo Cardelús is a composer from Madrid based in Los Angeles. His work for Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas was hailed as the “soundtrack of the year” by The Wrap, nominated for the Goya and awarded the Biznaga for Best Music at the Málaga Festival and Best Music award at the Annecy Festival. Other works by Cardelús are the viral phenomenon In a Heartbeat, Black Beach, the immersive Frida Kahlo exhibition, the Netflix Original mini-series Call me Francis, Descendants, The People's Fighters by Frank Marshall and Altamira, el origen del Arte by José Luis López Linares. The contributions by Cardelús to the world of concert music were acknowledged when he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2016. He studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, the Higher Music Conservatory of Salamanca and the Professional Conservatory of Guadalajara. In 2008 Cardelús changed direction, studying composition and film at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and received the highest award from the composition department.

Aitor Amezaga – La sombra de nadie
Born in Bilbao and trained in a Conservatory, he completed his education at L’aula de música moderna y Jazz with Arthur Berstein and received the Recital Certificate of Keyboards from the prestigious Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. Since 1973 he has collaborated as an arranger and recording musician for over 80 albums; there are six albums on the market with his work and he has made music for television, radio and different media in Spain, Argentina, France, Germany, Israel or Switzerland, among others. In the field of soundtracks for feature-length films he has carried out four projects: Ione, sube al cielo by Joseba Salegi, Frío sol de invierno by Pablo Malo, Skizo by Jesús Ponce and La sombra de nadie by Pablo Malo. He currently combines his creative activity with education by teaching at the Music School of San Sebastian, and by collaborating with the Conservatory of Irun and Udako Euskal Unibertsitatea. In addition, as an author he has published three sheet music books for piano.

Manel Gil-Inglada – Cher ami

Manel Gil-Inglada a renowned and multiple award-winning composer of soundtracks with more than 45 international recognitions between nominations and awards during the last ten years only. With more than 30 years of experience in the audiovisual sector aside from as many as a performer, he studied at the Aula de Música Moderna y Jazz in Barcelona, specialising in Film Scoring at a number of seminars and courses with José Nieto, Armando Trovaioli and Ennio Morricone. He is the author of many television theme tunes and music scores for films (feature-length and short films), and teaches in several master's degrees related to animation film scoring. He is currently single-handedly immersed in composing for film, orchestra and video games, such as the recent Endling - Extinction is Forever, whose soundtrack includes the participation of the great Tina Guo and Rusanda Panfili, both regular collaborators of Hans Zimmer. A soundtrack that is receiving many excellent reviews.

More information

From 1 September tickets are on sale for the 22-23 Season concerts by the Basque National Orchestra, which will be held in the usual four Basque capital cities starting from 23 September in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Tickets on sale starting at 10 euros

Tickets for all the concerts in Bilbao, Pamplona, San Sebastian and Vitoria-Gasteiz can be purchased on euskadikoorkestra.eus, as well as on the websites of the venues themselves (euskalduna.eus, baluarte.com, kursaal.eus and principalantzokia.org) and at the ticket booths and usual sales channels.

Requests for Season tickets can still be made here (starting at 80 euros).

Special prices and discounts

Basque National Orchestra season ticket holders, students, under-30s, over-65s, unemployed people and other groups (Artium, Kursaal Eszena…) can enjoy special prices when purchasing tickets. In addition, thanks to Última Hora Joven, people under the age of 30 can purchase tickets for all seat locations for 10 euros, 30 minutes before the start of the concert at the ticket booth of the corresponding concert venue.

22-23 Season: from Tragedy to the Spirit of Achievement

The Basque National Orchestra's new Season takes us from tragedy to the spirit of achievement through music and its great examples: from the rawness of Shostakovich to the ghosts of Tchaikovsky, Bruckner’s greatest symphony and the most famous work by Carl Orff.

The orchestra will recover projects that were abandoned during the pandemic, such as the première of ‘Mamu kantak’ by Carpenter, a piece commissioned jointly with three British orchestras.

Basque creations will also be prominent with the première of ‘Mare Marginis’, commissioned to Ramon Lazkano, and with the closure of the project ‘Elkano: Mundubira musika bidelagun’ which will be brought by Zuriñe F. Gerenabarrena and her work ‘Lorratz’, after completing a round-the-world trip through the imagination of our composers.

Likewise, the Basque National Orchestra will foster the discovery of rarely-performed works that deserved to be listened to, such as 'Doctor Atomic Symphony' by Adams and other works by little-known authors in the Basque Country such as Veprik and Dzenitis.

In order to fulfil this goal, we will have artists of the stature of Alexei Volodin, Alena Baeva, Yulianna Avdeeva, Dinis Sousa, Roderick Cox or Frank Peter Zimmermann. And we will receive great artists from our land such as the Orfeón Donostiarra on its 125th anniversary, Easo Gazte and Easo Eskolania, Carlos Mena and soprano Jone Martínez.

Robert Trevino will continue as the chief conductor of the Basque National Orchestra.

Expanded information about the 22-23 Season can be found here

More information