top of page
LogoTransparente.png
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Youtube

Donostiako Orkestra Barrokoa

Beginnings of the Donostia Baroque Ensemble:

D.  Tomás Aragüés Bernad (1935-2022) was the founder and first director of the San Sebastián Baroque Ensemble in 1974. The previous year he had been appointed Professor of Solfeggio and Music Theory at the San Sebastián Conservatory of Music, and in his spare time he began directing a group of music-loving friends. Its members were Fernando Saldaña, Carlos Fiel, Ángel Pérez, and Juan Torregaray. They were soon joined by Rosario Urreta, her daughter Mª Elena Martínez de Murguía, and the siblings Ana and Jesús Muñoz-Baroja. Tomás Aragüés was completely dedicated (perhaps due to the joy he saw in its members), so much so that he began harmonizing small scores for them so that they could easily play them. Thanks to his good work, he managed to conduct their first concert. Alongside his work as director, he also accompanied the group playing the organ during his time there (1974-1979).

 

At this time, Jose Mari Zubeldia (cello) was responsible for officially registering the group under the name Conjunto Barroco de San Sebastián.

 

The musical curiosity of the group's first members led them to study new instruments. Carlos Fiel studied the transverse flute; Ángel Pérez, the double bass; and Juan Torregaray, the viola, thanks to the work of Josefa Iribas (Pepita), a piano, violin, and viola teacher highly regarded by her students.

Rafael López (violin), Luis Udaquiola (violin, chamber music professor at the San Sebastián Conservatory), his brother Jose Mª Udaquiola (transverse flute and tenor), Pedro Ochoa, Mª Pilar Ochoa de Eribe, and Lourdes Iglesias (cello) soon joined the group.​

In 1976, Ana Mª Sebastián (violin), Mª Ángeles Etxebeste (violin), and Enrique Fanlo (cello), all professors at the San Sebastián Conservatory, also joined the group. Juan Manuel Gómez de Edeta,, Professor of Horn at the San Sebastián Conservatory at the time, also participated as a soloist accompanied by other brass players from the first concerts.

Between 1980 and 1983, Ana Mª Sebastián, who was the group's concertmaster, took over as director of the Conjunto Barroco, as Tomás Aragüés left his post to conduct the conservatory's new orchestra. In 1981, the group participated in the "Herriz Herri" program organized by the Basque Government to promote classical music in different locations in the Basque Country, giving ten concerts. With the financial support they received, they purchased a harpsichord for the ensemble from a lutherie in Seville.

Other directors came later. Loreto Fernández Imaz (1983-1989), Jose Antonio Sainz Alfaro (1989-1992), Jose Antonio Pascual Puy (1992-1996), Gotzon Arrizabalaga (1996-2007) and, the current director, Sergio Zapirain (2008).

DONOSTIAKO ORKESTRA BARROKOA - ORQUESTA BARROCA DE SAN SEBASTIÁN
DONOSTIAKO ORKESTRA BARROKOA - ORQUESTA BARROCA DE SAN SEBASTIÁN
DONOSTIAKO ORKESTRA BARROKOA - ORQUESTA BARROCA DE SAN SEBASTIÁN
bottom of page