07/05/2009
Vitoria-Gasteiz, 7th
May 2009.- The Santa María Cathedral Foundation has
organised for next Saturday 9th May another event within the ´Open for
concerts´ cycle, with a performance by Daniel Oyarzabal. The
prestigious musician born in Vitoria-Gasteiz shall interpret, with a
two-manual German harpsichord, the `Goldberg Variations`, Johann
Sebastian Bach`s most well-known and successful keyboard piece. The
recital will start at 20:00 under the portico and is free with
invitation.
Oyarzabal graduated with honours in the specialities of harpsichord and
organ, studies which he perfected at the Conservatory of Music in
Vienna with Thomas Schmögner, at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague
along with the finest musicians. Likewise, he has received a number of
awards in different competitions, such as the First Prize for
Improvisation at the International Music Competition in Rome in 1988,
or the Third Prize at the Nineteenth International Organ Competition of
Nijmegen (Holland) in 2002.
He has performed in a number of
international festivals, both as a soloist and continuist, performing
in concerts all over Europe and Japan. He has been featured as an organ
soloist at the Due Organi in Concerto Festival in Milan, the
International Orgelkonzert Cycle of Copenhagen, the Organo Pleno
Festival of Vienna, and the Internationaal Orgel Festival of Amsterdam.
Oyarzabal also regularly collaborates with the diffusion of
contemporary Basque music, and with the performance of pieces by
current composers. Since the year 2000 he is the artistic director of
the International Organ Festival of Vitoria, which is aimed at
promoting and supporting young organ interpreters of different
nationalities.
During his intervention under the portico of the Santa María Cathedral,
Oyarzabal will interpret the ´Goldberg Variations´, Johann Sebastian
Bach´s most well-known keyboard piece and a favourite among classical
music lovers. The ´Goldberg Variations´ are a single theme called Aria,
thirty variations and a reprise of the Aria or Aria da Capo. The
variations do not follow the melody of the aria, but rather a constant
bass-line. The peculiarity is that Oyarzabal will interpret this piece
with a two-manual German harpsichord. It is a copy of a German
harpsichord by Christian Müller in 1738, built by Andrea Restelli in
2004.
Once
again this concert is free of charge and will be held under the portico
of the Cathedral at 20:00. As space is limited invitations must be
collected at the Visitor Reception Centre (Plaza de las Brullerías).