Basque National Orchestra - Music Room

A little history

Children and young people are a breeding ground for new audiences. Our Orchestra fundamentally aims to cherish this age range, as part of its firm commitment to education and disseminating music. This idea was consolidated in the form of an independent concert series known as "Family Concerts" in 1996 in San Sebastian and in 1997 in Vitoria-Gasteiz. For a whole decade and until the 2005/2006 season, the stage and musical arts professional Jose Ignazio Ansorena coordinated and shaped very diverse projects, allowing the very youngest audience to enjoy concerts with different styles and formats, played by small groups or by the entire Orchestra. From the 2007/2008 season onwards, and Education Department was set up, coordinated by the musician Mikel Cañada, with the aim of - in addition to continuing the "Family Concerts" cycle - creating new projects and lines of action leading to strategies to establish an increasingly closer relationship between the Orchestra and society.

Aims

1. Design strategies to bring high quality live music to the general public and to children and young people in particular, by means of innovative and cross-discipline proposals.
2. Offering musical productions which match the aims proposed by the Basque National Orchestra for its "Family Concerts" cycle.
3. Design and carry out activities to bring the Orchestra closer to schools in all fields and at all levels.
4. Help to create an increasingly solid and close relationship between the Orchestra and the society that supports it.

Lines of action

Family Concerts

Each of the productions presented in this series, fundamental within the Department´s work, is designed for a specific audience or a certain educational stage. The general aims of this initiative tend to prioritise showing how symphonic music can support the development of different formative stages.

Activities for Schools

In order to create a place for expression and working together, the Orchestra has created links with institutions such as the University of the Basque Country, Primary and Secondary schools, Music Schools and Professional and Senior Music Conservatories. This relationship started out by setting up the "Tempo di Martxa" initiative in 2007, as the BNO celebrated its 25th anniversary, when a mobile music room travelled round large number of schools and received visits from more than 15,000 children in Primary Education.

Producing materials

As a complementary activity, the Education Department produces a dossier for each of its productions in the "Famiy Concerts" cycle, available on our Website.