Robert Trevino, one of today's most in-demand American conductors of the younger generation, has signed with Ondine for a major, ongoing recording relationship. Trevino is chief conductor of the Basque National Orchestra and of the Malmo Symphony Orchestra, both of which will feature in the first releases - a complete Beethoven symphonies cycle drawn from this season's Beethoven Festival in Malmo and, with the Basques, a survey of American repertoire to include neglected works by Howard Hanson - as well as digital releases of core repertoire works.

Ondine, part of the Naxos group, is one of the most prestigious independent recording labels in the world and has regularly recorded other important conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Hannu Lintu. "Ondine chooses the artists with whom it works very carefully," says the label's founding director Reijo Kiilunen, "We try to find the special few; great artists who perform visionary and imaginative interpretations of standard repertoire and who also have an adventurous mind in presenting the public with fascinating lesser-known musical discoveries. Robert Trevino is a perfect match for these qualities. He is, already, a conductor of real musical power with a highly original, probing mind. I am thrilled to welcome him to the Ondine family."

Trevino, a self-confessed avid lover of recordings and the recording process, confesses that, "I have had my heart set on Ondine for a long time. Their Sibelius recordings under Leif Segerstam have long been absolute favourites of mine, paragons of how the production- and interpretive-sides can come together to make something to treasure. I knew that I wanted to be part of that tradition. Meeting Reijo only increased my delight at becoming an Ondine artist. I very much look forward to doing great work with Ondine and with my orchestras; with partners such as these it becomes a joy." 

The complete Beethoven symphonies recordings with the Malmo Symphony Orchestra arise out of the Beethoven Festival that Trevino is leading in Malmo this season. This makes them, says Kiilunen, a natural place to start. The soloists for the Ninth Symphony are as follows: Kate Royal (soprano), Christine Rice (mezzo), Tuomas Katajala (tenor) and Derek Welton (bass). The choir will be the MSO Festival Chorus. The Beethoven recordings will all be made at the MSO's new, much-vaunted Malmo Live Concert Hall.

The Basque National Orchestra releases, meanwhile - starting with the Howard Hanson project - will be recorded at their home in the city of Donostia-San Sebastián. The producer for all of these recordings will be Ingo Petry.​

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The idea of a journey into the unknown – with the emotions, fears, dreams and situations that this entails – will be the central theme of the season, and will be present in many programmes, being most strikingly expressed at the beginning of the season with a hidden programme. We will know nothing about it apart from the premiere of the work by Mikel Chamizo, within the Elkano project, and its interpreters, the Bilbao Choral Society, Mojca Erdmann and Treviño himself. The beginning will be a unique experience, a mystery that will only be resolved at the end of the concert.

The Elkano project will be launched. It is a result of the orchestra’s desire to join the commemoration of the fifth centenary of the first round-the-world voyage with the commissioning and subsequent premiering of five allegorical works linked to this journey. It will be carried out over three seasons, mirroring the three years that the journey lasted. The first premiere will take place at the start of the season courtesy of Mikel Chamizo, whose creation will simulate the beginning of that voyage. The second of this season will be by Mikel Urquiza.

Each of these trips will have its own image, and the graphic compositions created for the occasion are closely linked to the theme or main work of each programme. They will become a boarding pass to the unknown. 

The 2019/2020 Season of the Basque National Orchestra will begin on 27 September in Vitoria and will end on 4 June 2020 in the same city. The orchestra will offer 10 concerts in each of its venues in Bilbao, San Sebastian (double session), Vitoria and Pamplona, which will make a total of 50 concerts in the season.

In addition to the subscription concerts, the main focus of each season, the activity of the Basque National Orchestra is completed with a very diverse catalogue of concerts, both as part of its own production cycles and in connection with important festivals and other cultural events and institutions. Adding the performances from the subscription concert season (50 concerts) to this important section will once again give a total of more than one hundred activities by the orchestra over the entire season. This ability to adapt to each of the musical formats included in its programming allows the orchestra to connect with audiences of different types, interests and ages, with the result that it is able to reach 150,000 spectators each season.

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It is well known that the Basque had a very prominent presence and role on the first trip round the world. On that first expedition, Juan Sebastián Elkano played an essential role and became the first sailor to achieve such a feat. The 500th anniversary of that expedition is being commemorated from the beginning of this year, 2019, until 2022, and it is within this context that the Basque National Orchestra, constantly aiming to be a cultural beacon in the region, has decided that it should contribute to the study, research, and exploration of the figure of Elkano from a musical standpoint.

Throughout this process, the work carried out for months by the titular conductor, Robert Treviño, has been very important, as he has continued to delve deeper into contemporary Basque musical creation. Additionally, Treviño has immersed himself, in his own way, into Eresbil (The Basque National Music Archives) and has shared his artistic vision in order to help our version of Elkano—and his circumnavigation—to take shape and materialise musically.

As a result of this entire process of reflection and engagement with our history, the Basque National Orchestra has embarked upon a new musical adventure and, in memory of the journey undertaken by the sailor from Getaria, the Orchestra has asked five Basque composers to create as many compositions with the only rule that they must focus on different sections of the journey. The joining of all of these compositions will complete our trip round the world from a completely innovative musical perspective.

The Basque National Orchestra will debut the five commissioned pieces throughout the 2019/2020, 2020/2021, and 2021/2022 Seasons. Each of them will be presented in a different programme; at the end, they will be recorded and released together on a CD. The entire journey that is this project and its results will become the legacy and the great contribution of the Basque National Orchestra to the discovery of Elkano himself and his first trip round the world. 

This will be the Orchestra's way of joining the Mundubira 500 Foundation: Elkano Fundazioa was created with the aim of coordinating projects that promote knowledge about Elkano and to continue researching a part of history that is still unknown in many ways.

The five composers, in the order in which their works were commissioned and will be debuted, include: Mikel Chamizo, Mikel Urquiza, Joël Mérah, Teresa Catalán, and Zuriñe F. Gerenabarrena. They all come from different Basque territories and their pieces bring us back to the five stretches that were part of the expedition:

Mikel Chamizo (Tolosa, 1980):
“Start of the Expedition, 1519” (debut in the autumn of 2019)

Mikel Urquiza (Bilbao, 1988):
“South America” (debut in the spring of 2020)

Joël Mérah (Clichy, 1969):
“Pacific Ocean, Asia” (debut in the autumn of 2020)

Teresa Catalán (Pamplona, 1951):
“India, Africa” (debut in the spring of 2021)

Zuriñe F. Gerenabarrena (Vitoria, 1965):
“Return, 1522” (debut in the spring of 2022)

Left to right: Mikel Chamizo, Teresa Catalán, Oriol Roch, Bingen Zupiria, Robert Treviño, Zuriñe F Gerenabarrena, Joël Mérah, Mikel Urquiza

Providing Continuity for TESELA

The Orchestra's new musical undertaking follows in the footsteps of the TESELA Project, carried out to mark the 30th anniversary of the Orchestra.

At that time, eight works were commissioned to as many composers of different nationalities and international prestige: the “teselas,” or tiles, that would make up a mosaic of contemporary music with a single common theme—Basque culture. It was a look in the opposite direction of our current project; back then, the international composers looked towards the Basque Country and now, with this look from the Basque Country towards Elkano, these new pieces help us to travel—through music—back in time to that first trip round the world. Both cases serve as a vindication of the fact that the Basque National Orchestra is a promoter of creation, and they both likewise leave behind a musical legacy of great cultural importance.

Five composers, one trip round the world

Below are the initial ideas and reflections that have been provided to us by the five composers who will act as the protagonists of this musical journey round the world, as well as their biographies.

Mikel Chamizo (Tolosa, 1980): Navigare necesse est

The first to set Elkano's journey to music will be Mikel Chamizo, who has been asked to include choral voices into his score, with singing by the Bilbao Choral Society. Chamizo will be responsible for the “Start of the Expedition, 1519” and his work will make its debut at the start of the 2019/2020 Season, next autumn.

Below are Mikel Chamizo's thoughts on the piece he will create:

«Navigare necesse est, vivere non necesse (“We have to sail, we do not have to live”) is a phrase that is in Parallel Lives by Plutarch and is attributed to Pompey, who used it to rally his sailors to convince them when they didn't want to set sail for fear of a storm that would probably end up killing them. But it is also a phrase that documents two realities: the strategic importance of sailing from the very beginning of human society, and the terrible personal risk that those involved in such an activity assumed.

The expedition by Magellan and Elkano round the world, which Stefan Zweig called the “Second Odyssey,” is a paradigmatic example of a way of approaching life that can no longer exist. The search for an alternate route between America and Asia, penetrating an area of the world that had not been mapped in order to accomplish said search, was something driven by the Magellan's faith that, very probably, would end in fatality. How did Elkano and his men prepare for such an exploit? What mental outlook did they have towards facing their fear of the unknown?

Navigare necesse est focuses on the start of the Magellan-ElkanoCircumnavigation and is divided into three sections: a religious rite, as was customary before setting sail for long periods of time, featuring the choir; an imaginary recreation of the soundscape at the Port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, from where Magellan's ships plunged into the Atlantic Ocean; and the first few minutes of sailing on the sea, embarking upon one of the most impressive adventures of the history of mankind.»

Mikel Chamizo studied composition at Musikene under Ramon Lazkano, Gabriel Erkoreka, and Stefano Scarani. His music has been played in countries like France, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Sweden, and Chile, as well as at festivals and in music cycles like La Biennale di Venezia, the San Sebastián Musical Fortnight, and Musikaste. Among his more recent projects are Bertso berriyak jartzera nua, a musical exploration of bertsolarism alongside Maialen Lujanbio which made its debut during the Miramon Matinées Music Cycle of the Basque National Orchestra; Espirals, written for the Cadaqués Orchestra Ensemble; as well as his participation in the contemporary music teaching project entitled Soinua iratzarri, which was selected by San Sebastián 2016 as one of the most noteworthy initiatives in its European Capital of Culture project.   

Mikel Urquiza (Bilbao, 1988)

Mikel Urquiza will pick up Chamizo's baton, focusing on “South America” in the spring of 2020 with his piece's debut.

In the words of Mikel Urquiza himself:

«The Basque National Orchestra has asked me to participate in this ambitious project that aims to illustrate the journey made by Elkano round the world. More specifically, they've asked me to focus on the South American part of the expedition which, still under the leadership of Magellan, made a stopover in what is today Brazil and Argentina.

Elkano's journey round South America immediately awakens in my mind's eye the memory of later migrations: those that have been made in a similar fashion, forming part of a global “Basque Diaspora” movement, and the more recent ones, in the other direction, that have been made by many South Americans who live among us today.

In order to sail an ocean that has not been mapped—much like moving to an unknown and often hostile country—one needs intelligence, determination, and courage. I still don't know how to articulate those ideas musically, but I know that I will celebrate the man and not the hero, paying tribute, through this deed, to many others that exist and are invisible all around us.»

Urquiza studied composition under Gabriel Erkoreka and Ramon Lazkano, and subsequently continued his studies in Paris. There, he composed with and worked for numerous French musicians and groups, such as pianist Wilhem Latchoumia, Quatuor Diotima, l'Instant Donné, and Ensemble InterContemporain. Likewise, he worked in Germany with soprano Sarah Maria Sun, Ensemble Mosaik, Ensemble Ascolta, and Trio Catch in festivals such as ECLAT and during the Philharmonic of Cologne's season. He works with the most important Basque music institutions, such as the Basque National Orchestra, the BBVA Foundation, the San Sebastián Musical Fortnight, and Musikagileak.

Joël Mérah (Clichy, 1969)

Joël Mérah, a composer from the French Basque Country, will guide us through the water of the “Pacific and Asia.” This will be in the autumn of 2020 and will include soprano singing.

He describes his work as follows:

«The piece has two possible titles: …un certain parfum de sagesse II or …Jakinduriaren usaina.

In two movements: 1/ Han - Hor - eta - Hemen; 2/ Zure inguruan.

The orchestra piece that I want to compose for the project to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the trip round the world by Juan Sebastián Elkano, commissioned by the Basque National Orchestra, will be guided by a feeling of peace brought on by large open spaces and travelling. That idea of peace makes reference to the feeling that flooded the spirit of Elkano and the men who accompanied him on their odyssey in the Pacific; an ocean that owes its name to Magellan, who referred to it as “Pacific” due to the favourable weather conditions they experienced during their voyage. Above all, I aim to evoke an inner world (the one of Juan Sebastián Elkano, probably) rather than an outer, epic one.

To highlight all of that, I'm considering the possibility of my composition showcasing a sample of words from the hand of Joxean Artze. That would be accomplished through the choice of a poem that brings on the feeling of travel and interiority—a certain air of wisdom—and that could possibly be sung by a voice that would be part of the orchestra itself.»

Mérah started his studies in Bayonne and continued them in Paris. He works with numerous ensembles and orchestras in Paris, Bordeaux, Bayonne, Irun, and Tokyo, and he cultivates all musical genres (chamber music, solo, orchestral music, opera, ballet, film, etc.). He has received several awards for his composition, noteworthy amongst which is first place in the Toru Takemitsu Composition Competition of Tokyo. He is a member of l'Ensemble 0 and teacher at the Maurice Ravel Conservatory of Bayonne.

Teresa Catalán (Pamplona, 1951)

Teresa Catalán is the senior member of this group of Elkano composers. She will help to start the journey home through “India and Africa” in the spring of 2021. Catalán has received several awards for her performances, composition, and in recognition of her musical career, such as the 2017 National Music Award (composition). She is a member elect of JAKIUNDE, the Government of Navarre's Council of Culture, and Emeritus Professor of Composition and Instrumentation at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid. Her compositions have been performed at the most important festivals and in different countries. She has been commissioned by numerous performers and institutions—both national and international in scope—and regularly teaches courses and gives lectures at music festivals and in institutions, universities, and conservatories in different countries.

Zuriñe F Gerenabarrena (Vitoria, 1965)

The composer from Álava, Zuriñe F. Gerenabarrena, will round off the three-year journey with the “Return, 1522.” Her debut, as well as the close of this voyage, will come in the spring of 2022.

Gerenabarrena has partly revealed to us what the piece she is preparing for the occasion will be like:

The composition will last for around 8 to 10 minutes. Within the overall idea of creating a glimpse into the Basque sailor's journey round the world (including the start, the different obstacles and places where the expedition went, and the return journey), and doing so by means of each piece individually and collectively, as if the compositions were tiles in a mosaic, the section that I will tackle will be the final stage, the return.

The Magellan-Elkano Circumnavigation, which expanded on the notion of the world that was held at the time (just like space travel, advances in science and technology, and natural phenomena), casts doubt on our certainties and forces us to rethink ideas that we once believed were set in stone. These are things that broaden our mind and help us to reinvent ourselves and expand our imagination. This piece is meant to be a metaphor for travel in terms of resisting and moving forward through adversity with energy to reach the destination.

While writing the piece, I intend to get my start based on prior experience gleaned with electroacoustic works, as I wish to combine elements of sound that come from the electronic school of thought in terms of instrumentation.

It is not my intention to make a programmatic or descriptive piece, but I do have a certain desire to work on exploration from the perspective of sounds linked to darkness and difficulties, alternating with brighter textures through a predominant use of percussion and metal—sometimes as a whole, and other times as a way to add colour.

Gerenabarrena studied under Carmelo Bernaola and Franco Donatoni in Milan. A versatile composer, she has pieces ranging from commissioned works for soloists, symphony orchestra pieces, pieces for theatre, dance, film, electroacoustic music, and multidisciplinary projects.  She is present as a composer and creator in several international forums in Europe and America. Her music has been performed by various orchestras, ensembles, and instrumentalists, and she is commissioned by and receives aid from Basque and European institutions, as well as Japan. She also undertakes work at Musikene.

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After their appearance in Munich’s Herkulessaal, the Basque National Orchestra returned to Austria for a performance on the shores of Lake Constance, in Bregenz. The orchestra gave its third and final concert of its tour programme on Saturday in the Festspielhaus, a hub of cultural activity with a 1,600-seat concert hall which was barely big enough for the Basque orchestra’s performance. The venue is particularly famous for the summer classical music festival held on the largest floating stage in Europe, with a spectacular seating stand for almost 7,000 people.

In its bid to conquer Bregenz, the orchestra played its trump card in the form of the prestigious violinist Vadim Gluzman, who joined us for the performance of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.2. The orchestra's debut in the city featured a strong concert programme (Sorozábal, Prokofiev and Mahler) and two heavyweight soloists: Mojca Erdmann, with us throughout the tour, and the recently mentioned Vadim Gluzman. The entire programme was led by the orchestra's lead conductor, Robert Treviño.

The concert opened once again with a Basque composer, Pablo Sorozábal. The public were taken aback by the selection of three songs from his Siete Lieder sung by the soprano Erdmann, which proved a highly appropriate way of taking to the stage on this tour. Not in vain, Sorozábal wrote this work in Leipzig in the 1920s and was a great lover of German and Central European culture. As we have said over the last few days, the presence of Sorozábal in the programme highlights the Basque National Orchestra's calling to the role of ambassador of Basque culture. It exercised this role once more by introducing the work of German poet Heinrich Heine, translated into Basque and accompanied by Sorozábal's music imbued with Basque rhythms and melodies. 

Vadim Gluzman brought in to tackle Prokofiev

The Israeli violinist is world renowned for his performances which are always given under the baton of noteworthy conductors and he has been accompanied by several first-rate orchestras throughout his career. It is therefore important to highlight that Gluzman, not long after starting the Saturday morning rehearsal with our orchestra, told maestro Treviño that he had “a really good orchestra”. Not only that, “it was the best in Spain and among the best in Europe”. Gluzman attacked Prokofiev’s tricky score with a mastery, elegance and virtue that only he can bring to the concerto which premiered in Madrid in 1935. In a recent interview, Gluzman said that for him “the most important aspect of being a musician is the ability to transmit our emotions, thoughts and experiences through sound.” Gluzman reached great heights and touched hearts in the concert hall judging by the audience's response, but he held back and didn’t give an encore.

As with the rest of the tour, the second half of the programme was all about Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Treviño gave it everything and led the orchestra in a great performance which received long rounds of applause from the public. Then came the now-familiar encores, with R. Strauss performed by Mojca Erdmann and the Intermezzo from La Boda de Luis Alonso by the Sevillian composer G. Giménez. The musicians performed for two and a half hours.

The end of an important tour through Central Europe

Two concerts in Austria (Linz and Bregenz) and one in the emblematic Herkulessaal in Munich, all in venues with a long musical tradition. Throughout, the orchestra has combined Basque music (Aita Donostia and Sorozábal) with a more universal repertoire (Elgar, Prokofiev and Mahler), all of them difficult and risky pieces. Following the tour and all the work involved beforehand, both the Managing Director, Oriol Roch, and the Lead Conductor, Robert Treviño, addressed the full ensemble during morning rehearsal. “Congratulations to the entire orchestra for all of your work. We’re very proud of the orchestra’s standard. We’ve given high quality performances which show that we’re in a very important place artistically.”  Oriol Roch announced that he is already working on forthcoming tours.

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About Munich

A city which is home to three world-class large symphony orchestras, three chamber orchestras and four concert halls with a capacity of almost 6,000 needs no introduction as the powerhouse of Central-European classical music. Having managed to secure a place in the city’s concert programme constitutes a milestone in itself for the Baskisches Nationalorchester. What’s more, the hang-up free programme combining its Basque roots—thanks to Sorozábal—with performances of such great universal composers as Elgar and Mahler sparked the curiosity of the public and the media. Yesterday, in Munich’s Herkulessaal, the Basque National Orchestra gave a stunning performance and reached the highest heights.

Sorozábal...

The Basque National Orchestra is a natural ambassador of Basque culture and on this occasion gave free reign to its roots, opening the concert in Munich with a selection of the Siete lieder written by Sorozábal on German soil, in Leipzig, in 1929. The Basque composer likely never imagined that his music, inspired by the poetry of Heinrich Heine, laden with Basque rhythms and modulations and dedicated to different figures from Basque culture, would be performed in one of the temples of classical music. Listening to the German soprano Mojca Erdmann sing the lieder “Amesetan”, “Lotoren lorak” and “Ez dot sinisten” in Basque was an emotional experience for many of those gathered in the concert hall, and one which confirmed the Basque National Orchestra's role as an instrument for exporting Basque music and culture to the most acclaimed venues. This sentiment was echoed by the Basque Government’s Minister for Culture and Political Policy and President of the orchestra, Bingen Zupiria. Present for the performance, he was “moved by the number of people who attended the concert” and by the fact that the conductor was summoned back to the stage seven times by the rounds of applause. Zupiria added that “if we want to join the world as a country, as well as our industry and economy we have to export culture. The Basque National Orchestra has demonstrated this, and it is a significant example.” Zupiria was also delighted by the high standard of the performance.

...followed by Elgar and Mahler

After opening its performance with Sorozábal, the orchestra began its journey through a universal repertoire much more familiar in these lands. First were Elgar’s Enigma Variations, already performed in Linz and well-rehearsed by the musicians. Yesterday's review of our concert in Linz in the Austrian paper Nachrichten remarked that “In the most famous variation, Nimrod, the orchestra cultivated a fascinating piano culture”, concluding that it was a “coherent concert, with a more than impressive performance of Mahler’s Fourth.”

On that basis, the orchestra’s performance was confident and compelling. Mahler’s Fourth is one of the German composer's most popular symphonies. In fact, the piece has thrice featured in concert programmes in Munich over the past 15 days and will be performed again mid-month by the Munich Philharmonic conducted by Valery Gergiev. On another note, Robert Treviño’s international career is continuing apace. He conducted the Munich Philharmonic in this very concert hall (still ringing with the memory of Mahler's Fifth Symphony) and is becoming a renowned conductor for his performances of Mahler.  Robert Treviño has known from the outset that he wanted to take to the stage in Munich with his orchestra, with a big programme, and with Mahler on the music stands, enabling them to show off their strengths and summoning all of their abilities, confidence, conviction and energy. The entire performance was true to his vision. Well-coordinated and in permanent connection with Treviño, the orchestra's rendition of Mahler's Fourth was lauded with a lengthy applause from the public which brought the conductor back to the stage seven times. Mojca Erdmann, now completely recovered after taking ill in Linz, concluded her part with an elegant and refined description of the heavenly pleasures alluded to by the composer in the final movement of the symphony. The orchestra couldn’t leave before giving two encores: the first, Morgen, from the Four Last Songs by R. Strauss, with the soloist Erdmann; and the second, the Intermezzo from La boda de Luis Alonso by Giménez, performed by the orchestra alone.

Maestro Treviño was more than pleased at the end of the concert and wanted to highlight his excitement at everything that took place over the course of the evening. “The audience was incredible, the orchestra was happy, the performance was outstanding, and I think people couldn't believe how extraordinary this orchestra is. I’m very proud of them”, he said.

In addition to the Minister for Culture and President of the orchestra, Bingen Zupiria, also among the audience was the Spanish consul in Munich, Francisco Pascual de la Parte, as well as representatives from the Instituto Cervantes, the Director of the SPRI office in Munich, María Sarricolea, and members of the Basque community resident in the city. All were delighted and taken aback by the quality of the orchestra, including Helmut Pauli, the local programmer in charge of including the orchestra in the Herkulessaal calendar and who is accustomed to the city's intense and celebrated musical life: “The orchestra is comparable to the great ensembles—it has the same level, an extraordinary sound, and has brought out facets of Mahler that we didn’t expect.”  “It has been an enormous pleasure to bring them to Munich.”

Our tour continues

This Saturday we return to Austrian territory for a debut appearance in Bregenz. In store is a sold-out concert in the Festspielhaus, a 1,600-seat venue on the shores of Lake Constance. The concert will again feature Sorozábal and Mahler, and we’ll welcome the prestigious violinist Vadim Gluzman for the performance of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.2. This is another very strong programme featuring two experienced soloists and, once again, a mix of Basque and universal music. Saturday, December 8th at 19:30 will mark the last of the three concerts in our tour.

Bira ez da amaitu

Larunbatean berriz itzuliko gara Austriara, oraingoan Bregenzera, Orkestrarentzat lehendabizikoz. Festspielhausen izango dugu entzunareto, Konstantza lakuaren ertzean dagoen 1.600 eserlekuko aretoa, zeinerako sarrera guztiak agortu egin diren dagoeneko. Sorozabal eta Mahlerrekin jarraituko dugu han, eta Vadim Gluzman biolinjole prestigiodunari sarrera emango diogu, Prokofieven 2. Biolinerako kontzertuaren interpretazioarekin. Programa hau ere indartsua izango da, ibilbide luzeko bi solistarekin eta, berriz ere, musika euskalduna eta unibertsala uztartuko ditugu. Larunbatean, abenduak 8, 19:30ean, izango da kontzertua, bira honetarako programatu ditugu hiruetako azkenekoa.

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With the permission of Anton Bruckner—the Linz native to whom the Brucknerhaus concert hall owes its name—our orchestra opened yesterday’s concert in the Upper Austrian capital with Meditación by Aita Donostia. Hearing and performing the work of this Basque composer on the banks of the Danube is immensely exciting for the orchestra. Even more so for someone baptised by him, as Elena Martínez de Murguía, violist in the orchestra, who listened attentively to the work written for organ by her great uncle in 1908 which, subsequently orchestrated, was the first piece played by the orchestra in Linz. This was also the first time that the orchestra performed this short, delicate work which invites the listener to withdraw.

Elgar gate-crashed in Linz

The concert programme suffered a mishap. The soprano Mojca Erdmann—on tour with us, and who gave a solo performance of Mozart in the first part of the programme—took ill at midday and was not fit to tackle the entire programme, instead saving her strength for Mahler’s Fourth Symphony during the second part. Elgar's Enigma Variations had been kept back for the first part of the Munich concert but, making a virtue out of necessity, were summoned early to the music stands in Linz to follow Aita Donostia in the first part of this concert. The orchestra had rehearsed this work well, having performed it all last week as part of their concert season. The musicians therefore adapted confidently to this change and let loose these fourteen variations which evoke the British composer’s friends and helped him achieve fame. The organist Bernhard Prammer, ready to perform Mozart, also swapped his sheet music for the Enigma Variations and gave a voice to the concert hall’s organ. With almost 4000 pipes, it adds great character to the space.

Mahler and more for the second half

The excellent acoustics of the Brucknerhaus in Linz helped the orchestra give a stellar performance of Mahler’s Fourth under the leadership of our lead conductor, Robert Treviño. Mojca Erdmann joined us during the fourth movement of the symphony for the home straight in which Mahler uses the soprano voice to allude to the enjoyment of heavenly life. The public responded, applauded and dubbed the sound of the Basque orchestra—which has been invited to take part in the Internationale Orchester concert series—as “brilliant”. After a two-hour performance, true to form, the orchestra rounded off the evening with a zarzuela encore, performing the Intermezzo from Giménez's La boda de Luis Alonso.

With the concert hall now empty, the dressing rooms of the Brucknerhaus filled with excitement and joy, multiple congratulations between the musicians and the concert organisers, and the immense satisfaction of the lead conductor. This is Robert Treviño’s first international tour as lead conductor of an orchestra—one which “flows through his veins”—and in Linz at least he has been hailed as “brilliant”.

Now it's time to enjoy this Austrian city and start thinking ahead to Munich, where the Herkulessaal concert and a challenging test await on Thursday, December 6th at 8 pm.

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The final rehearsal before the Basque National Orchestra’s tour of Austria and Germany—with three concerts in Linz, Bregenz and Munich—takes place today, Friday November 30th.

The tour is the most significant international artistic challenge of the season for the orchestra and its first tour with its principal conductor, Robert Treviño.

Treviño and the Baskisches Nationalorchester (as it is being presented) will be joined by the German soprano Mojca Erdmann and the Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman, the two great soloists invited to join this concert tour.

Programmes and concerts

The orchestra will hit the road on Monday, December 3rd and will give three concerts in noteworthy Central European cities and concert halls with a long musical tradition and demanding audiences: December 4th in the Brucknerhaus, Linz, December 6th in Herkulessaal, Munich, and December 8th in the Festspielhaus, Bregenz.

All three concerts will open with Basque music: Meditación by Aita Donostia in Linz, and Siete Lieder (selection) by Pablo Sorozábal in Munich and Bregenz, with the voice of Erdmann heard for the first time in Basque. Sorozábal, a great admirer of German culture, wrote this work in Leipzig in 1929. His music is infused with Basque rhythms and modulations and each lied is dedicated to one of his friends, each of them personalities from Basque culture. His Siete Lieder are part of the Basque Music Collection recorded by the Basque National Orchestra for the Claves label. The collection has become an undisputed benchmark of Basque symphonic music.

The second part of all three concerts will include Mahler's Fourth Symphony, one of the German composer’s most popular pieces. The German soprano Mojca Erdmann will again take up the solo sections. Each city will set a different tone in the first part of their respective concerts.

After Aita Donostia in Linz, the orchestra and the soprano Erdmann will perform a selection of arias for soprano and church sonatas by Mozart.

Following a selection of Sorozábal's Siete Lieder in Munich, the orchestra’s music stands will carry Elgar’s Enigma Variations in the first part of the programme, in contrast to Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Under the baton of Robert Treviño, this hugely demanding programme will showcase the strengths of the Basque National Orchestra.

Lastly, in Bregenz, the first part of the programme will feature Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 with Vadim Gluzman as soloist, in addition to the work by Sorozábal

Before setting off on tour, the orchestra will offer an open general rehearsal tomorrow, December 1st at 11:00 as part of the Miramon Matinees programme. This is a rare and first-class feature in the programme of small-scale chamber concerts usually offered in this cycle. The orchestra will be joined by the soprano Mojca Erdmann for a concert comprising part of the orchestra's tour programme: Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, and a selection of arias for soprano and church sonatas by Mozart. There are no tickets left for the matinee concert.

Treviño and his intense international career

The North American conductor is developing an intense international career. In Europe alone he has conducted, and with immense success, orchestras including the Stuttgart Symphony, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Rotterdam, the Viena Tonküstler, and the Munich Philharmonic, precisely at the Herkulessaal and where his Fifth Symphony by Mahler is still remembered. Robert Treviño is earning fame as a conductor for his performances of Mahler’s work and his recent versions of the German composer as frontman of the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic and the Zurich Tonhalle received public and critical acclaim. Now he wants to return to this legendary hall with Mahler on the music stands and with his Orchestra, which also gives a repeat performance after its first time round in 2003.

International presence of the Orchestra

The Basque National Orchestra is an institution which never fails to fulfil its vocation as ambassador of the Basque culture. That’s why, over its 36 years, it has taken to international stages in different ways and with a variety of objectives. 

It has performed in several Festivals and Seasons, such as the Biennale di Venezia and the Opéra Royal Château de Versailles (which it regularly attends with the Malandain Ballet Biarritz, an experience it will repeat in March 2019 with the premiere of “Marie Antoinette”).

Also in the orchestra exchange format, such as its exchanges with the Düsseldorf and Milan’s Giuseppe Verdi orchestras or the classic exchange with the ONBA from Bordeaux.

But its best known format is that of its concert tours, of which this one represents international tour number 18. Since 1984, the Orchestra has toured Argentina, Chile, England and Italy. But above all it has given numerous performances in different Central European cities in Germany (Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Passau, Bayreuth, Augsburg, Hamburg, Bremen, Düsseldorf and Munich), Austria (Vienna, Salzburg and Linz) and Switzerland (Lucerne, Gstaad and Zurich). It will now repeat its performance in Munich (for the third time) and Linz (for the fourth time) and will appear for the first time in Bregenz.   

We should highlight, as a new example of relations between the Basque Country, Bavaria and the Austrian region of Vorarlberg, that our visit to Bregenz has been preceded by a collective exhibition “Bilbao – Bregenz” at the Kunsthaus Bregenz, an exhibition commemorating the work of the 40 artists who have participated in exchanges between the Kunsthaus Bregenz and BilbaoArte over the last 10 years (2006-2016).

Tour programme

4th December 2018: Brucknerhaus, Linz (Austria)

AITA DONOSTIA: Meditación
W.A. MOZART: Selection of soprano arias and church sonatas:

• Church sonata no. 14, k.278
• Ergo interest… Quaere superna, Recit and Aria in G major, K.143 (73a)
• Vesperae solennes de confessore, K.339. “Lauate Dominum” in F major,
• Church sonata no. 16, in C major, K.329 (317a)
• Coronation Mass, K.317. “Agnus Dei” in F major

G. MAHLER: Symphony no. 4

Robert Treviño, conductor
Mojca Erdmann, soprano

6th December 2018: Herkulessaal, Munich (Germany)

P. SOROZABAL: Siete Lieder (selection)
E. ELGAR: Enigma Variations, Op.36
G. MAHLER: Symphony no. 4

Robert Treviño, conductor
Mojca Erdmann, soprano

8th December 2018: Festspielhaus, Bregenz (Austria)

P. SOROZABAL: Siete Lieder (selection)
S. PROKOFIEV: Concerto for violin and orchestra no. 2
G. MAHLER: Symphony no. 4

Robert Treviño, conductor
Mojca Erdmann, soprano
Vadim Gluzman, violin

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This year, once again, the first Saturday of the Festival, the Velodrome will open at noon for music lovers, film buffs and the general public, with a performance blending a symphonic interpretation of soundtracks and a medley of scenes from the films they belong to. An hour and a half of audio-visual delight, Saturday 22 September at twelve noon. Entry is free of cost.

The Basque National Orchestra's film music concert is now a classic at the San Sebastian Festival, one of the must-see shows at the Velodrome, undeniably the most popular stage at the Festival with seating for almost 2,700 spectators. Biscay native composer and orchestra conductor Fernando Velázquez, who promoted the Orchestra's return to the San Sebastian Festival's agenda in 2012 with the world live premier of the soundtrack for The Impossible (J.A. Bayona), will be in charge of conducting the orchestra at this massive convergence of film and soundtracks.

The Concert & Screening this year, entitled "Paseo por el cine (A Walk through Film)," is a collection of music composed for a dozen films. Half of the musical numbers to be performed were composed by Velázquez himself: this includes soundtracks for the films Zip & Zap and the Captain's Island (by Oskar Santos), Gernika (by Koldo Serra) (Marrowbone (by Sergio G. Sánchez), Setback (by Oriol Paulo) —composed with singer-songwriter Zahara— and A Monster Calls (by Juan Antonio Bayona). Indeed, it was the Basque National Orchestra that was commissioned to record the soundtrack for A Monster Calls, whose European premier was at the 2016 San Sebastian Festival. Thanks to its score, Velázquez won the Goya for best original soundtrack.  Regarding the upcoming event, in the words of Velázquez (in Spanish):

The repertoire is rounded off with adaptations of the music composed for another five films: Madness for Love (by Juan de Orduña), Tad the Lost Explorer and the Secret of King Midas (by Enrique Gato and David Alonso), The Chosen (by Antonio Chavarrías), All Men are the Same (by Manuel Gómez Pereira) and Go!azen (by Jabier Elortegi and Aitor Aranguren). Juan Quintero, Zacarías M. de la Riva, Arnau Bataller, Bernardo Bonezzi and Álvaro Carmona, respectively, were the composers of these soundtracks.

For this new concert, the Basque National Orchestra invited the Kup Taldea choir, who will participate in “Zip and Zap”, “Gernika,” “Setback," and more. Singer-songwriter Zahara will also be participated in "Setback," and three singers (Iholdi Beristain, Ainhoa Larrañaga and Aritz Mendiola) from the film Go!Azen.  

Just like in years past, the concert will have an extra visual element: the music is enhanced by the projection of a montage of scenes from the film on a 400 m2 screen, specifically created for this concert by Carlos Rodríguez, from Morgancrea. What's more, some of the composers will be attending the concert, taking to the Velodrome stage to introduce their work.

Entry is free, and the invitation must be picked up between 15 and 21 September at the San Sebastian Festival information points at Kursaal and Okendo Plaza, from 9:00 to 20:00, or at the Donostia Tourism Office, Monday through Saturday from 9:00 to 20:00, and Sunday from 10:00 to 19:00. The last tickets are available at the Velodrome ticket booth at 10 AM.

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