BIOTZ ALAI MEMBERS CONCERT

El concierto de este año se celebrará en la Iglesia de San Nikolas, el día 10 de enero a las 8 de la tarde

Concierto en el Palacio Euskalduna (II)

Junto con el Coro Easo de Donosti, el Coro Araba de Gasteiz y el Coro de voces graves de Pamplona y la BOS (Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao). Director: Günter Neuhold
Requiem de Cherubini

Concierto en el Palacio Euskalduna (I)

Junto con el Coro Easo de Donosti, el Coro Araba de Gasteiz y el Coro de voces graves de Pamplona y la BOS (Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao). Director: Günter Neuhold
Requiem de Cherubini

Concierto en Iratxe (Nafarroa)

GETXO CHORAL DAY

The Getxo Town Hall Choral Day took place last Sunday, June 15th beneath the Santa Eugenia marquis in Romo. Each of the nine choirs that exist within the council interpreted two pieces from their repertoires. The Biotz Alai, as dean choir, rounded the concert up singing the Goizeko Izarra and the Boga-boga, which were also sung by the audience. After the Mayor Imanol Landa’s offering of a souvenir to all the choirs, these all joined up to sing the Agur Jaunak under the direction of our director Javier Oyarzabal.

BIOTZ ALAI CONCERT AT IRALABARRI

A choir week was organized in order to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the San Antonio Choir of Iralabarri, which has been a great choral and audience success. It began on June 11th with the University Choir, the 12th with the Biotz Alai the 14th with the Bilbao Choir, ending up with the host choir on stage on June 15th.
Our choir’s presentation was greatly praised by the audience that filled the church and enthusiastically followed each and every one of the songs that the choir sang. The concert began with Religious Polyphonic pieces such as Christus Factus Est by Palestrina, Our Father (Aita Gurea) by Madina and Ave Maria by Victoria, etc. These were followed by a large choice of basque songs, blues, italian pieces, etc. The San Antonio Choir of Iralabarri members and directors sincerely congratulated the Biotz Alai.

BIOTZ ALAI CHOIR IN CONCERT AT THE REDENTOR CHURCH

Algorta’s Biotz Alai Choir will hold the second of its anual Eastertime sacred concerts;
on this ocasion, Vicente Goicoechea’s “Inmaculate Conception Mass” written for deep voice choirs and organ, this forthcoming April 11th at 8:30pm.
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Vicente Goicoechea, born in Aramalona (Alava) in 1854, is one of the most complete well-known Basque composers of religious polyphonic music. He produced most of his work from his position as Chapel Master of the Valladolid Metropolitan Cathedral from 1890 till 1907. In these years he wrote the very best of his work, amongst which is the mentioned Mass of the Inmaculate, which has seldom been performed due to the difficulty of being written for deep voices and organ. The Biotz Alai has recorded this piece on cd alonside the Euskal Camerata Orkestra/ Basque Camara Orchestra, under the direction of Josu Soldevilla.
On this ocasion, the choir will perform accompanied at the organ by Daniel Oyarzabal, a highly prestigious organist in Spain as well as throughout Europe, where he has offered numerous concerts. Javier Oyarzabal, leading director of the Biotz Alai choir will baton the event.
During the first part of the concert, the Biotz Alai will present a variety of holy pieces by composers throughout the ages such as Palestrina, Tomas Luis de Victoria, Jaunsaras, Cherubini, Javier Busto, etc.
Within the year’s agreements adquired by the Biotz Alai choir, a grand concert where Cherubini’s Requiem will be performed alongside other deep-voice choirs such as the Easo, Araba and Navarra Voices, interpreted together with the BOS/Bilbao Symphonic Orchestra, will take place this upcoming month of October.
Entrance to the April 11th concert will be free of charge.

The organist Daniel Oyarzabal and the Biotz Alai Choir in Concert, commemorating the Centennial of the San Nicolas Church organ in Algorta

A commemorative concert celebrating the Centenary church organ will be held at San Nicolas parish at 8pm this upcoming March 18th.

The organ was placed in San Nicolas church in May 1908, signed by the prestigious brand “Manufacture de Grandes Orgues J. Merklin & Cie.”, one of the most famous organ-makers in Europe. This marvellous organ was donated to the parish by a benefactor and was valued at 28.500 pesetas (Moore...)

Daniel Oyarzabal, born in Vitoria in 1972, is a well-known organist and has graduated in organ, clef and ancient instrument studies at the most important European Conservatories. He received the Special Prize given by the Media within the Young Interpretors National Concerts in 1990 held in Ibiza; in 1998 he won first prize in the improvisation category in the Rome Music Concorso Internationale; and in 2002 he was given third position in the 19th Edition of the world-famous Nijmegen International Organ Competition in Holland.

He has participated in many festivals: Religious Music in Cuenca, Bach Festival, San Sebastian’s Musical Fortnight, Vienna Festival and Amsterdam’s Organ Festival. He has collaborated alongside different orchestras, such as the Bilbao and Euskadi Symphony Orchestras, Capilla Peñaflorida and Europe Chamber Orchestra, as well as offering concerts in France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Italy and Japan.

He is the Artistic Director of the Young Interpretors Organ Festival of Alava.

Daniel Oyarzabal at the organ will play during the first part of the concert, whilst the
Biotz Alai under Javier Oyarzabal’s baton will constitute the second half, performing Poliphonic Religious pieces written by Palestrina, Madina, Javier Busto, Rabanello, etc. Daniel Oyarzabal will accompany some pieces at the organ.

The Biotz Alai wishes to state its close liason to the San Nicolas de Bari parish in Algorta, where it was founded in 1923, and where it accompanies all liturgical activities to this day.
PROGRAM pdf_icon

BIOTZ ALAI MEMBERS CONCERT

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The Biotz Alai choir will celebrate its traditional Concert for Members this upcoming January 12th, it being the XXXIX Edition.

These concerts began on January 5th 1970 when we first celebrated an Epiphany Concert, which soon turned into a homage to the choir members, and was called the Members Concert by 1972.

The Biotz Alai usually celebrates its festive concert alongside a guest choir, which will be the Araba choir from Vitoria on this occasion. It is a deep voice choir, with whom the Biotz Alai will jointly interpret Cherubini’s Requiem in D minor next year, under the baton of Maestro Juanjo Mena, sharing scenario with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra as well as with two other choirs, the Easo and Voces de Navarra choirs, forming a total choir group of 150 deep voices.

This celebration will serve as an aperitif to the great forthcoming concert; both choirs will interpret various masterpieces from their own repertoires, ending up with 5 joint masterpieces which will be interpreted by more than 80 choir members and a grand finale alongside the Uribe Costa Txistulari (Traditional Basque Flute) Band.

The Members Dinner will be held at the Igeretxe Hotel after the concert, where a total of 250 assistants are expected.

BIOTZ ALAI CONCERT AT THE PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY OF BILBAO

On November 6th The FISC (Social Innovation of Culture Foundation) NGO is organizing a concert at the Bilbao Philharmonic Society in aid of the humanitarian projects it has been developing in Peru this year. The Biotz Alai Choir was invited to participate in the concert and accepted with pleasure. In the gala the choir will be performing a wide selection of their best repertoire: songs by Iruarrizaga, Ortelli, Aramburu, Montsalvatge, etc. This function will be starting at 20:00.
Tickets cost 10,00 € and they can be bought at the Philharmonic Society, at the NGO and at the Biotz Alai premises.
We believe it is a nice way of cooperating with those who most need it and enjoying a fantastic concert by the Biotz Alai at the same time

SAN LORENZO CONCERT

Next August 10th, the Biotz Alai choir will be holding their traditional San Lorenzo concert, which will take place at the Biotz Alai plaza, at 22:00. Free admitance. Thank you.

CONCERT IN SAN CARLOS DE LA RÁPITA

As part of their tour throughout Catalunya, our choir will be offering a concert on July 19th in the New Church of San Carlos de la Rápita at 20:00. Entrance will be free.
This concert will be organized and sponsored by the City Council of San Carlos de la Rápita. Within the programme there will be pieces of work by Palestrina, Madina, Iruarrizaga, Morera, Sorozabal and many more, to end up singing L´Ampordá.

PERFORMANCE IN MONSERRAT

Next July 16th, the Biotz Alai choir will be performing at the settings of the Monserrat Basílica of the Mother of God. They will be singing some religious polyphony Works by authors Duch as Palestrina, Perossi, Madina ,etc. The choir will end up their show interpreting the Salve Regina and the “Virolai”, hymn in the honour of Virgin Monserrat

CONCERT AT THE TEATRE AUDITORI IN SALOU

On July 14th the choir will hold a concert at the Municipal Auditorium in Salou, which will be organized by the Ama Lur choir from Salou and sponsored by the City Council. Conducted by Javier Oyarzabal, the choir will perform several Basque-folk and international pieces of work at 22:00. Tickets will be sold at the Auditori’s ticket office at the price of 6,00 €.

Sacred CONCERTS 2007

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As part of the Easter celebrations, the Biotz Alai will soon be giving two sacred concerts in Las Arenas and Algorta.
On March 30th together with the Ondarreta Choir, Biotz Alai will be performing at the Church of Ntra. Sra. de las Mercedes in Las Arenas. Under the direction of Javier Oyarzabal and accompanied by Jose Ramón Rodríguez on the organ will perform works by composers such as Palestrina , Goicoechea , Arriaga , Quafield , etc and will also be performing for the first time two Hail Marys, by Javier Busto and Father Madina , respectively .
On April 3rd in the Parish Church of San Nicolás de Bari in Algorta, the Biotz Alai on its own will be performing their second sacred concert, adding to the previous programme some parts of the Requiem by Cherubinni and of the Mass in honour to the Immaculate Conception by Vicente Goicoechea.
The concert in Las Arenas will start at 20:00 and the one in Algorta will start at 20:00. Entry to both concerts is free.

Forthcoming Concerts by the Biotz Alai

On February 24th at 8 pm, the Biotz Alai will perform in the Polideportivo (Sports centre) in Erandio, along with the Ondarreta Choir, in the 4th Erandio Festival of Habaneras and Sea Shanties.

THE PROGRAM pdf_icon

Also alongside the Ondarreta Choir, as part of the events organized by the choir of Las Arenas to celebrate its fortieth anniversary, our choir will take part in a Sacred Concert in the church of Las Mercedes, on March 30th.
We will be providing more detailed information about these concerts and their respective programmes soon.

Menmbers' Concert

The Biotz Alai will give its traditional Concert  for its Members on January 13, at the Getxo Antzokia at 8:00 p.m.  The choir will be joined by a choir from Bermeo –“Bermeoko Abesbatza- and this is going to be the 28th edition of the Members’  Concert. Entrance to the concert is free.
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THE PROGRAM

CHOIR CONCERT IN PLENCIA

The Biotz Alai choir will be holding a concert on 8 September at 22:00 in Santa María Magdalena church, in Plencia. They will be singing some religious poliphonic themes, some "habaneras" and some Basque choral music. Thank you.
The program:
- I zatia:
Christus factus est, Palestrina
O salutaris, Jausarás
Canción del viejo poeta, L Iruarrizaga
Nortxu
La Montanara, T Ortelli
Adios, Luis de Aranburu
Por el mar, Moreno Buendía
- II zatia:
Goizeko izarra, Santesteban
Kanta berri, Solozabal
Lau lagun, Tomás de Garbizu
Kitolis, Aranburu
Anaiak gara, JJ Gainza
Katalin, Tomás de Garbizu

SAN LORENZO CONCERT

Next August 10th, the Biotz Alai choir will be holding their traditional San Lorenzo concert, which will take place at the Biotz Alai plaza, at 22:00. Free admitance. Thank you.

Concert by the Biotz Alai in Bermeo

On July 8th, as part of the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of Bermeo’ko Abesbatza, the Biotz Alai Choir will be giving a choral concert in the Church of Santa Maria, Bermeo, in which it will perform diverse works from its more classical reportoire of Basque folklore, including Kitolis, Illun abarra, Goizeko izarra, etc. The Biotz Alai choir has always maintained a special friendship with Bermeo’ko Abesbatza, especially during the years during that Gaizka San Pedro was conductor, when the two choirs gave several concerts together and the Biotz Alai was invited every year to celebrate the Arrantzale eguna, in Bermeo.
In the absence of the regular conductor this concert will be conducted by Gorka Garcia Erauskin, who acts as the deputy conductor of the Biotz Alai.

Sacred Concerts by The Biotz Alai choir

The Biotz Alai Choir will be giving two sacred concerts in the coming weeks, as part of the Easter celebrations.
These concerts have become a traditional fixture in the choir’s artistic calendar, and will take place in Bilbao and Algorta. This year the concerts will be on April 4th in Algorta, at the parish church of St Nicolás de Bari, at 8:30 pm, and in Bilbao, at the church of San Vicente, on April 6th at 7.30 pm.
In the first part of the programme the choir, under the direction of Javier Oyarzabal, will perform various religious polyphonic works, a capella, by composers such as Vitoria, Rabanello, Madina, Beethoven etc., and in the second part, accompanied by Jose Ramón Rodríguez on the organ, they will give their interpretation of several sections of the Requiem by Cherubini.
Entry to both concerts is free.

Concert in Sestao

This year, 2006, the Orfeón choir of Sestao is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and has invited our choir to give a concert in Sestao as part of the commemorative events it has organised. The concert will take place on February 24, in the Church of “Los Frailes”, at 8pm. The Biotz Alai will use the opportunity to take a journey through its discography, performing songs from the six CDs the choir has recorded, and offering selections from all its work over recent years. As well as the more established “classics” from the Biotz Alai repertoire, such as Goizeko Izarra, Boga-boga and Katalin, the audience will be able to hear works such as Ach Fraulein Zart, Sind Surmani and Beethoven’s Adagio. In addition the choir will perform two works which they premiered with great success at their members’ concert on January 7 of this year, namely Maite Miña, by Glz.Bastida, and a harmonization of the Agur Jaunak, by Tomás Garbizu, accompanied by piano and a group of “txistularis”.

Our choir regards this concert with a great deal of interest and affection, all the more because the Orfeón of Sestao and the Biotz Alai have always maintained a deep friendship which has survived the years and the different singers who have performed in the two choirs.

Menmbers' Concert

The Biotz Alai will give its traditional Members’ Concert on January 7 at the Getxo Antzokia at 8pm.

On this occasion the entire programme will be performed by the choir itself, and will be dedicated to performances from their discography, including various songs from the CDs they have recorded.

This year a tribute will be paid to the Zubizarreta brothers, Angel, Txomin, Agustín and Josean, all four of whom formed part of the choir at the same time during a period of years, and who left an indelible impression on the first tenors’ section, due to their dedication and commitment to the Biotz Alai. Josean continues to form part of the ranks of the choir, and alongside other relatives of his late brothers, he will receive the Biotz Alai’s tribute.

Later in the evening, the members’ dinner will take place at the Igeretxe restaurant in Algorta, where we look forward to seeing everybody.

Entrance to the concert is free and invitations to the dinner can be obtained at the premises of the choir from December 20 onwards.

26TH ANNUAL GETXO CHORAL WEEK

The Biotz Alai choir has participated this year in the 26th Getxo Choral Week, an event where traditionally each year one of the choirs from the municipality acts as host. This year, as well as the Biotz Alai, who opened the week as host choir on October 26, there were performances from a German vocal quintet, The Calmus Ensemble, The Choir of Warsaw University from Poland, and The Schola Cantorum from Norway.

Under the direction of Javier Oyarzabal, the Biotz Alai began with a journey through their repertoire, presenting some of the songs that will be included on their new CD, soon to be released, as well as established classics such as Nortxu, Canción del Viejo Poeta (“Song of the Old Poet&rdquoWinking- which always receives an enthusiastic audience response- Alma Llanera and Adiós, another favourite with the public.

Various soloists took part in the concert, including tenors Jose Luis Erkoreka, Juanma Saez, Xabier Aguirre and Jon Tellexea, as well as, amongst the baritones, Koldo Baez, and amongst the basses, Gorka Garcia Erauskin.

Throughout the whole Choral Week, the public attendance was excellent.

Concert in Palma de Mallorca

Concert in the Church of San Nicolás, in Palma, accompanied by the Capella Mallorquina Choir
Mallorca

Concert in Andratx

Concert given by the choir in the parroquial Church of Andratx, accompanied by the Andratx Municipal Choir.

Andrax

Corpus Christi

Mass sung in the Plaza de Etxetzu, in the old port of Algorta, to celebrate Corpus Christi. Followed by a popular recital by the choir and a “sardinada”.
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Concert in Barakaldo

Concert as part of the events to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Schola Cantorum, in the Church of San Vincente in Barakaldo.

Ria nervión IV Concert - Santurtzi

Concert with the Ondarreta Choir from Las Arenas, for the recording of the Ria Nervion IV CD, in the Church of San Jorge, Santurce.
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Concert in Algorta

Concert of sacred music for Lent, accompanied on the organ by Maitane Abasolo, in the Church of San Nicolás de Bari, at 8pm.

Concert in Bilbao

Concert of sacred music for Lent in the Basilica de Begoña, accompanied on the organ by Maitane Abasolo.