Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa (BOS) (Spanish: Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao, unofficial English translation: Bilbao Symphony Orchestra) is a

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

based in

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

, Basque Country.

History

The orchestra's first concert was on May 8, 1922 at the

Teatro Arriaga The Arriaga antzokia in Basque or Teatro Arriaga in Spanish is an opera house in Bilbao, Spain. It was built in Neo-baroque style by architect Joaquín Rucoba in 1890, the same architect that built the city hall. It is named after Juan Crisóstom ...

, under the direction of maestro Armand Marsick (nephew of

Martin Pierre Marsick Martin Pierre Joseph Marsick (9 March 1847, in Jupille-sur-Meuse – 21 October 1924, in Paris), was a Belgian violin player, composer and teacher. His violin was made by Antonio Stradivari in 1705 and has since become known as the Ex Marsick St ...

). Principal conductors have been Armand Marsick,

Vladimir Golschmann Vladimir Golschmann (16 December 18931 March 1972) was a French-American conductor. Biography Vladimir Golschmann was born in Paris. He studied violin at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. He was a notable advocate of the music of the composers ...

, Jesús Arámbarri, José Limantour, Antoine de Babier,

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (born Rafael Frühbeck; 15 September 1933 – 11 June 2014) was a Spanish conductor and composer. Frühbeck was born in Burgos, Spain to a family of German ancestry. He first took up conducting while on military serv ...

, Alberto Bolet, Pedro Pirfano, Urbano Ruiz Laorden and

Theo Alcántara Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...

Günter Neuhold Günter Neuhold (born 2 November 1947) is an Austrian conductor. Born in Graz, he attended the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz and graduated in 1968 with a master's degree. He later studied conducting with Franco Ferrara i ...

has been music director and Chief Conductor since 2008. It has also been conducted by

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

Jesús Guridi Jesús Guridi Bidaola (25 September 1886 – 7 April 1961) was a Spanish Basque composer who was a key player in 20th-century Spanish and Basque music. His style fits into the late Romantic idiom, directly inherited from Wagner, and with a stron ...

Pablo Sorozábal Pablo Sorozábal Mariezcurrena (18 September 1897 – 26 December 1988) was a Spanish composer of zarzuelas, operas, symphonic works, and the popular ''romanza'', " No puede ser". He was born in San Sebastián, in a working-class family. ...

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', ''Polish Requiem'', ''A ...

Carmelo Bernaola Carmelo Alonso Bernaola (16 July 1929 5 June 2002) was a Spanish composer and clarinetist from Basque Country. A member of the Generation of '51, he was one of the most influential composers in the Spanish musical scene of the second half of t ...

Luis de Pablo Luis de Pablo Costales (28 January 1930 – 10 October 2021) was a Spanish composer belonging to the generation that Cristóbal Halffter named ''the Generación del 51''. Mostly self-taught as a composer and influenced by Maurice Ohana and Max ...

Ernesto Ernesto, form of the name Ernest in several Romance languages, may refer to: * ''Ernesto'' (novel) (1953), an unfinished autobiographical novel by Umberto Saba, published posthumously in 1975 ** ''Ernesto'' (film), a 1979 Italian drama loosely ba ...

and

Cristóbal Halffter Cristóbal Halffter Jiménez-Encina (24 March 1930 – 23 May 2021) was a Spanish classical composer. He was the nephew of two other composers, Rodolfo and Ernesto Halffter and is regarded as the most important Spanish composer of the gener ...

and other composers performing their own works. The BOS was invited to perform at

Mariinski Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, for the 300th Anniversary of the city. In 1998 it represented the Basque Country at the World Expo in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, and in 1999 it took part in the inauguration of the

Euskalduna Palace The Euskalduna Conference Centre and Concert Hall (''Palacio Euskalduna'' in Spanish, ''Euskalduna Jauregia'' in Basque) is located in the city of Bilbao, Basque Country (Spain), beside the Estuary of Bilbao, built in part of the area that was fo ...

in Bilbao. The BOS performs regularly at the National Auditorium in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and the Musical Fortnight in Donostia, in addition to engagements at the

Santander International Festival The Festival Internacional de Santander (FIS) is one of Spain's oldest music festivals. Each year, during the month of August it presents two to three operas as well as performances from visiting ballet and theatre companies, solo recitals, and ch ...

Paris Festival Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and the Religious Music Festival in Cuenca.

Recordings

In the 1980s, the era of López Cobos ("Obras de Arriaga") and Lorenzo Martínez Palomo ("Obras de Madina"), the BOS arranged its first most noteworthy recordings. At the end of the nineties an agreement was reached with the multi-national company

NAXOS Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best abr ...

to record 30 CDs, and the results of these are now appearing.

Operas

Vocal, Choral and Orchestral Works

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bilbao Symphony Orchestra Basque music Organisations based in Bilbao Spanish orchestras Musical groups established in 1922 Tourist attractions in Bilbao 1922 establishments in Spain