Curriculum
Orfeón
Donostiarra

Founded in 1897, the Orfeón Donostiarra adds to its long trajectory the prestige of being considered as the most important choral society in Spain. Its repertoire covers over a hundred choral symphonic works, more than fifty operas and zarzuelas and a large number of folk and polyphonic works.

For over a century they have maintained the spirit of an amateur choir, with a professional dedication capable of providing an average of 35 - 40 concerts a year. José Antonio Sainz Alfaro, who followed in the footsteps of Secundino Esnaola, Juan Gorostidi and Antxon Ayestarán, has directed them since 1987.

They are regular participants at the most important Spanish music festivals: Canarias, Santander, Peralada, Granada, Cuenca and Quincena Musical (Musical Fortnight), and at European festivals including Salzburg (1999) with the Catalan group Fura dels Baus version of Berlioz' Faust's Condemnation and the premier of Choral Symphony no 5, Requiem, Bardo, Nirmanakaya, by Philip Glass; the Festival de Montreux (1999), with the Lyon Orchestra, for the performance of Stabat Mater by Rossini under the direction of Mark Monkowski; the German Rhine contests (2002) and the Ruhr Triennials (2002 & 2004), and the Lucerne Festival (2003) with the Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”, under the direction of Claudio Abbado and the Festival Orchestra. They have also participated in the Festival of the Mexican city of Morelia (2003) and Saint-Denis, París (2006).

In 2007 It closed the ceremony at the Canarias Festival playing Mahler`s Symphony nº 2 along with the Berlin Philarmonic conducted by Simon Rattle and in 2008 it played Verdi’s Messa da Requiem along with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti at that Festival again.

Notable international performances in recent years include those at the Salle Pleyel in Paris with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, under the direction of Tugan Sokhiev (2009). That same year the choral society debuted at the Alter Oper in Frankfurt with maestro Paavo Järvi and the Hr-Sinfonieorchester from Frankfurt. In 2007 it gave a concert in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. In 2006 it travelled to Caracas (Venezuela) where it performed Beethoven's Ninth Symphony under the direction of Claudio Abbado and the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and began a collaboration with the West Eastern Divan Orchestra conducted by him. In 2004 the choir toured the Netherlands with The Hague Residence Orchestra in its centennial conducted by Barenboim, resulting in the first three concerts of the orchestra's international tour in 2006 and another in 2009. It participated in the centenary of Verdi’s death with the Italian composer’s Requiem (2001) and with Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic with Mass in F minor by Bruckner (2001). In 1997 it sang in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Claudio Abbado in Silvesterkonzert.

Standing out amongst the numerous soloists that the Orfeón has worked with are De los Angeles, Armstrong, Baker, Bastianini, Berganza, Bumbry, Burrows, Caballé, Carreras, Van Dam, Decker, Donath, Domingo, Gigli, Hager, Janowitch, Lorengar, Mandeal, Marshall, del Mónaco, Norman, Pavarotti, Procter, Schwarkopf, Tear, Varga or Vickers, amongst others. Amongst conductors: Abbado, Argenta, Barenboim, Frühbeck, López Cobos, Maag, Makerras, Maazel, Markewich, Masur, Mehta, Muti, Ozawa, Rattle, Salonen, Stokovsky or Víctor Pablo Pérez.

Standing out amongst orchestras they have collaborated with are: the Berliner Philharmoniker Orchester, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Rundfunk Sinfonie Berlín Orchestra, the Galicia Symphonic, the Madrid Symphonic, the Russian National Orchestra or the Milan Philharmonic.

Standing out from over 130 recordings are those made for EMI-France: Padmavati (Rousel), Requiem (Fauré), III Symphony (Ropartz), La Arlesiana (Bizet), Edipo (Enesco), Guercoeur (Magnard), Evocations (Roussel), Coronación Mass (Mozart), Mors et Vita (Gounod), Redemption (Franck), Requiem (Verdi) and Carmina Burana (Orff) with the Toulouse Capitol National Orchestra and Michel Plasson. In 2003, the CD of Verdi’s Requiem Mass, edited by EMI, was nominated for the Grammy’s in the category of “best choral performance”. The same work was edited for DVD. Under the Deutsche Grammophone label: Homage to Carmen, recorded during the Silvesterkonzert held in Berlín in 1997 with Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic; the Condemnation of Faust recorded in 1999 in Salzburg and Mahler’s 2nd in 2003 at the Lucerna Festival with the Festival Orchestra and Claudio Abbado. With Auvidis-Ibérica: Goyescas (Granados) and La tabernera del puerto (Sorozábal). It recorded for Virgin Classics in 2009 Mahler's Second Symphony with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Paavo Järvi.