Josetxu Obregón is a Spanish cellist, specializing in

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...

performance.

Biography

After developing a career as a modern cellist, having been appointed teacher of

Madrid Royal Conservatory The Madrid Royal Conservatory () is a music college in Madrid, Spain. History The Royal Conservatory of Music was founded on July 15, 1830, by royal decree, and was originally located in Mostenses Square, Madrid. In 1852 it was moved to the Roy ...

and cellist of the

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, established in 1888 at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). It is considered one of the world's leading orchestras. It was known as the Concertgebouw Orchestra u ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Josetxu Obregón oriented his life towards the early performance field. Born in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, he has been awarded with eleven prizes at international competitions, and coursed Bachelor and Master Studies in Spain, Germany and

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He specialised in Baroque

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

interpretation with Lucia Swarts in the

Royal Conservatory of The Hague The Royal Conservatoire (, KC) is a conservatoire in The Hague, providing higher education in music and dance. The conservatoire was founded by King William I in 1826, making it the oldest conservatoire in the Netherlands. Since September 2021, t ...

, having also a constant contact with Anner Bijlsma, who taught him weekly. He received also lessons from Jaap ter Linden, Balazs Mate, Marc Vanscheewijck, Eric Hoeprich, Judy Tarling,

Bart van Oort Bart van Oort (born June 6, 1959) is a Dutch classical pianist. Biography Van Oort was born in Utrecht. After completing his studies in modern piano in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in 1983, he studied fortepiano there with Stanley Hoog ...

, Frank de Bruine, etc.

Orchestras

Selected this season as principal cellist of the

European Union Baroque Orchestra The European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) is a training initiative that allows young performers of baroque music from the European Union to gain orchestral experience as part of their career development. Its purpose is to bridge the gap between ...

, he has played under Lars Ulrich Mortensen ( Concerto Copenhagen), Cristina Pluhar (

L'Arpeggiata L'Arpeggiata is a European early music group led by Christina Pluhar, and founded by her in 2000. The group has presented both traditional early music and also several collaged and themed performances and recordings. The group focuses on Italian ...

) and Maggie Faultless with great success, also appearing as soloist of Vivaldi concerto for 2 cellos in concerts in 13 countries. He performs with ensembles as

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) is a British period instrument orchestra. The OAE is a resident orchestra of the Southbank Centre, London, associate orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera Artistic Associate at Kings Place, and ...

(UK), Arte dei Suonatori (PL), Rotterdams Baroque Ensemble, Esterhazy Trio, Aldiviva and Bach Ensemble. He is the Artistic Leader of the ensemble La Ritirata. As a soloist he performed both

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

Cello Concertos and several

Boccherini Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and '' galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major classic ...

Cello Concertos with orchestras in Spain,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and

. He was also invited to play

cello sonatas as soloist with Forma Antiqva.

Recordings

* “Boccherini. Sonatas”. La Ritirata. Josetxu Obregón. Verso VRS 2065 (2008) * “Prokofiev. Cassadó. Webern”. Josetxu Obregón, cello. Ignacio Prego, piano. Verso VRS 2073 (2009) * “Chiaroscuro”. La Ritirata. Tamar Lalo, Enrike Solinís, Josetxu Obregón. Arsis 4229 (2009) * “Luigi Boccherini. Trios Op. 34, Vol. 1”. La Ritirata. Hiro Kurosaki, , Josetxu Obregón. Columna Música 1CM0258 (2010) * “Luigi Boccherini. Trios Op. 34, Vol. 2”. La Ritirata. Hiro Kurosaki, Lina Tur Bonet, Josetxu Obregón. Columna Música 1CM0275 (2011) * “Concierto barroco”. La Ritirata. Josetxu Obregón. DVD Cantus CV 1210 (2012) * “Andrea Falconieri. Il Spiritillo Brando. Dance music in the courts of Italy and Spain, c.1650”. La Ritirata - Josetxu Obregón. Glossa GCD 923101 (2013) * “Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga (1806-1826). The complete string quartets on period instruments”. La Ritirata. Hiro Kurosaki, Miren Zeberio, Daniel Lorenzo, Josetxu Obregón. Glossa GCD 923102 (2014) * “The Cello in Spain. Boccherini and other 18th century virtuosi”. Josetxu Obregón. La Ritirata. Glossa GCD 923103 (2015) He made a CD recording of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

’s triple concerto with Mariana Todorova and Ignacio Prego (Piccolo PC210), having also recorded "Francesco Cavalli. L’Amore Innamorato" and "Via Crucis"

– Christina Pluhar (

Virgin Classics Virgin Classics was a record label founded in 1988 as part of Richard Branson's Virgin Records. The unit, along with EMI Classics, was acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012 as part of the takeover of the EMI Music Group, however the terms o ...

50999 694577 0 8), "Jean-Philippe Rameau. L'Orchestre de Louis XV. Suites d'Orchestre"

Le Concert des Nations ''Le Concert des Nations'' is an orchestra using period instruments, which performs the orchestral and symphonic repertoire from the Baroque to Romanticism: 1600 - 1900. The orchestra was created in 1989, the youngest of the groups conducted by the ...

–

Jordi Savall Jordi Savall i Bernadet (; born 1 August 1941) is a Spanish Conducting, conductor, composer and viol player. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for popularizing the viol ...

(Alia Vox AVSA9882A+B), "Baroque Suites" as principal cellist of the EUBO

–

Lars Ulrik Mortensen Lars Ulrik Mortensen (born 9 November 1955) is a Danish harpsichordist and conductor, mainly of Baroque solo music, chamber music and early music repertory. He was a professor in Munich in 1996–99 and has since then been artistic director of ...

( The Gift of Music (record label) CCL CDG1211), "Salve Regina" Harmonia del Parnàs (Tempus TMP1001), "Oreste Camarca. Monográfico de la obra de cámara" (Banco de Sonido BS061), etc. He was personally invited by Anner Bijlsma to perform in a Dutch documentary film on

Luigi Boccherini Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and '' galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major classi ...

and Anner Bijlsma, filmed in

Arenas de San Pedro Arenas de San Pedro is a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2006 census ( INE), the municipality has a population of 6,682 inhabitants. Its seal Seal may refer to any of the following: ...

, Spain, where the composer lived the last years of his life. He made recordings for

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

(United Kingdom),

NPO 3FM NPO 3FM is a Dutch rhythmic CHR radio station controlled by public broadcaster NPO. The vast majority of the songs played on-air are rock, alternative, indie and pop, though dance and Mega Top 30 tracks may also air at times. History As ...

(

Norddeutscher Rundfunk (; "North German Broadcasting"), commonly shortened to NDR (), is a public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states of Lower Saxony, ...

Deutschlandradio Kultur Deutschlandfunk Kultur (; abbreviated to ''DLF Kultur'' or ''DKultur'') is a culture-oriented radio station and part of Deutschlandradio, a set of three national radio stations in Germany. Initially named ''DeutschlandRadio Berlin'', the station ...

Südwestrundfunk (; ), shortened to SWR (), is a regional public broadcasting corporation serving the southwest of Germany, specifically the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The corporation has main offices in three cities: Stuttg ...

(Germany),

ORF (broadcaster) (ORF ; , ) is the national public broadcaster of Austria. Funded from a combination of television licence fee revenue and limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media. Austria was the last country in ...

(Austria),

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

(Norway),

Mezzo TV Mezzo is a French television channel, broadcasting classical music (including opera and ballet), jazz and world music. It was formed in 1992 and was called France Supervision until 1998. In 2010 it added a sister channel, Mezzo Live HD. In Ja ...

Arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

(France),

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española (''Spanish Radio and Television'', RTVE), is the Spanish national public Broadcasting, television and radio broadcaster. It is a state-owned enterprise f ...

, La 2 (Spain), RNE, RNE Radio Clásica, RNE Radio 5,

Antena 3 (Spain) Antena 3 (''Antena Tres'') is a Spanish terrestrial television channel part of Atresmedia, of which it is the flagship station. Its current headquarters are located in San Sebastián de los Reyes. Some of the most popular programmes broadcast ...

Cuatro (TV channel) Cuatro (stylized as cuatro°, "Four") is a Spanish free-to-air television channel that was launched in November 2005. Owned by Mediaset España, the Spanish subsidiary of the Italian Mediaset group, it is broadcast on TV frequencies licensed to ...

Canal Sur Canal Sur ('South Channel') is part of Radio y Televisión de Andalucía (RTVA), the public broadcasting company of Andalusia. It was created by means of the devolved powers given to this autononomous community by an Act of Parliament in its ...

EITB Euskal Irrati Telebista (; ; acronym EITB, branded eitb) is the Basque Autonomous Community's public broadcast service, which broadcasts throughout the Basque Country. Its main brand is Euskal Telebista (ETB, Basque Television). EITB is the l ...

, Canal 4 Castilla y León, Catalunya Música, Radio Euskadi, Radio Vitoria (Spain),

Macedonian Radio Television Macedonian Radio Television (), or MRT () for short, is the public broadcasting organisation of North Macedonia. It was founded in 1993 by the Assembly of North Macedonia, Macedonian Assembly. Its legally defined service is the production and ...

(

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

), Radio HJUT

Jorge Tadeo Lozano University Jorge Tadeo Lozano University is a private university whose main campus is located in Bogotá, Colombia, with satellite campuses in Cartagena, Santa Marta and Chía. Established in 1954, the institution was named after the botanist, scientist a ...

(

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

), Radio USACH (

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

), CRI Online (China), etc.

Tours

He has played in important Early Music Festivals as Fringe Festival Oudemuziek Utrecht (

), (

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

), and (Germany), (

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Ohrid Summer Festival The Ohrid Summer Festival () is a festival founded on 4 August 1961, always taking place between 12 July and 20 August in the city of Ohrid, North Macedonia. Originally, the event was initiated and it played important role in efforts of the Sociali ...

(

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

), (France), (Italy), Kipria International Festival (

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

York Early Music Festival The York Early Music Festival is an English arts festival devoted mainly to European classical music, classical music from the 18th century and earlier. It was established in 1977, and takes place in York each July, organised by the National Centr ...

and Music at

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

(UK), Festival International Echternach (

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

), etc. He made his debut in America with a United States tour playing in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, etc. Next appointments include Mexico and Japan.

Instruments

Josetxu Obregon plays an original

Sebastian Klotz Sebastian Klotz (18 January 1696 – 20 January 1775) was a German violin maker, one of three sons of Mathias Klotz. Klotz was born in Mittenwald on 18 January 1696, the second son of Mathias Klotz, from whom he learnt the art of violin making ...

cello from 1740 recently restored by Johannes Loescher (

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

) and historical bows of different periods from Kees van Hemert (

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

) and Andreas Grutter (

External links

Josetxu Obregón - Official website Josetxu Obregón's YouTube ChannelLa Ritirata YouTube ChannelVideos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obregon, Josetxu Spanish performers of early music Musicians from Bilbao Spanish classical cellists Academic staff of the Madrid Royal Conservatory Living people Royal Conservatory of The Hague alumni Year of birth missing (living people)