Orfeón Donostiarra © DR
Orfeón Donostiarra
Founded in 1897 in San Sebastián (in the Spanish Basque country), the Orfeón Donostiarra is considered one of the most important choirs in Spain and Europe. Composed of non-professional singers, the Orfeón Donostiarra has retained the spirit of an amateur ensemble while developing a professional operation that enables it to offer 35 to 40 concerts a year. Since 1987, its director has been José Antonio Sainz Alfaro.
Its eclectic repertoire includes some one hundred works for choir and orchestra, over fifty operas and zarzuelas, and a large number of folk pieces. It includes many works by French composers such as Gabriel Fauré, Hector Berlioz, George Bizet, Maurice Ravel, Maurice Duruflé, Charles Gounod, Claude Debussy, Francis Poulenc, Camille Saint-Saëns and Jules Massenet.
The Orfeón Donostiarra has performed under the direction of the greatest conductors: Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboïm, Riccardo Chailly, Gustavo Dudamel, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Juanjo Mena, Riccardo Muti, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa Pekka Salonen, Tugan Sokhiev, Yuri Temirkanov, Alberto Zedda,… The Orfeón Donostiarra has also collaborated with leading orchestras: Berliner Philharmoniker, English Chamber Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Galician Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse…
The Orfeón Donostiarra regularly takes part in Spain’s most important festivals: Quincena Musical de San Sebastián, Festivals de Granada, Santander and Peralada. The Orfeón Donostiarra has also taken part in some of Europe’s most prestigious festivals: Lucerne and Salzburg Festivals, London Proms, Ruhr Triennial, Saint-Denis Festivals, Chorégies d’Orange.
The Orfeón Donostiarra has taken part in numerous recordings made for EMI France by Michel Plasson and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, including Fauré’s Requiem, Ropartz’s Symphonie N°3, Gounod’s Mors et Vita and Franck’s Rédemption, as well as Verdi’s Requiem and Orff’s Carmina Burana. The recording of Verdi’s Requiem made in Berlin under the direction of Claudio Abbado for the centenary of the composer’s death was nominated for a Grammy Award in the “Best Choral Performance” category. Two other recordings made with the Orfeón Donostiarra under Claudio Abbado have been released by Deutsche Grammophon: L’Hommage à Carmen, made during the Silvesterkonzert in Berlin in 1997 with the Berliner Philharmoniker, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in Lucerne in 2003 with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra.
Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, recorded in a stage version in Salzburg in 1999, is available on DVD from Arthaus Musik. In 2009, the Orfeón Donostiarra once again recorded Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”, which has become the ensemble’s “sonic calling card”, for Virgin Classics with the Hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt and Paavo Järvi. The recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 at the opening concert of the 2016 Lucerne Festival, conducted by Riccardo Chailly, was also released on DVD by Accentus, to unanimous acclaim from the specialist press.