- Sold-out performances included the first night of Carmen, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and the Euskadiko Orkestra (both featuring the Orfeón Donostiarra), as well as the dance and live music show Folia, and the Orquesta Filarmonica della Scala, led by Riccardo Chailly.
- Full houses were also seen at performances by the Úrsula López Flamenco Company, making their debut in the city, and the premiere of the children's opera Egia ala geRuza at the Arantzazu concert. Several events in the Early Music and Chamber Music cycles at the San Telmo Museum also drew full crowds.
- Other highlights include the revival of two challenging symphonic-choral pieces: Shostakovich's The Execution of Stepan Razin and Beethoven's Missa solemnis. Notably, Riccardo Chailly conducted the Filarmonica della Scala from Milan, and Compagnie Käfig's Folia received a standing ovation from a grateful audience.
- Overall, there were 82 events, 31 of which were free, with total box office revenue amounting to €889,962.
Under the baton of Finnish conductor Mikko Franck, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and cellist Sol Gabetta will close the 85th San Sebastian Quincena Musical this evening at the Kursaal Auditorium. The final program has a distinctly French flavour, with Franco-Argentine cellist Sol Gabetta performing Édouard Lalo's Cello Concerto. The concert will also feature Claude Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Maurice Ravel's Shéhérazade, Ouverture de Féerie, and Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird.
This concert marks the end of a festival that, from August 1st to 30th, followed a theme of travel and exoticism. Across 82 events, the festival brought together music, dance, and other arts, spreading across various venues in the city and reaching 20 towns in Gipuzkoa, Álava, Navarra, and Lapurdi. In total, 32,728 attendees embraced the motto "Summer, give me music," and box office earnings reached €889,962.
The Kursaal Auditorium's major concert series, the cornerstone of the festival's program, drew 16,159 attendees this year. Five concerts sold out: the festival’s own production of Bizet's Carmen, with musical direction by José Miguel Pérez-Sierra, artistic direction by Emilio López, and performances by the Euskadiko Orkestra, Easo Abesbatza, and soloists Rihab Chaieb, Dmytro Popov, and Miren Urbieta-Vega; a Mozart-focused program featuring his Requiem, conducted by the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Ivan Fisher, with the Orfeón Donostiarra; Beethoven's grand Missa Solemnis, performed by the Euskadiko Orkestra and Orfeón Donostiarra under the baton of Jérémie Rhorer; Folia, an electrifying blend of dance and live music that fused baroque, contemporary, and street styles, born from the collaboration between choreographer Mourad Merzouki of Compagnie Käfig and Franck-Emmanuel Comte, founder of Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, which had the audience bursting into a standing ovation; and lastly, the return of Riccardo Chailly, leading the Filarmonica della Scala.
The Kursaal has also hosted other unforgettable moments: the festival debut of pianist Bruce Liu, featuring a performance of the beloved Mahler's Fifth Symphony (“To say that it was a perfect concert is an understatement; it was spherical, and we were in the centre," noted Marta García, writing for Berria), and the rare performance of The Execution of Stepan Razin by Easo Ahots Mistoen Abesbatza with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, under Gustavo Gimeno.
Another highlight was the visit of Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan (“The result was a delight, fully embodying four great works by Bach written in Leipzig,” wrote María José Cano, El Diario Vasco). The electrifying debut of violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, led by the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Ivan Fischer, was equally remarkable (“The Moldovan violinist continues to be a torrent of energy and innovation on stage. The epithet ‘Janis Joplin of classical music,’ given to her by the German weekly Der Spiegel in 2009, remains entirely relevant,” observed Pablo L. Rodríguez in El País).
The Victoria Eugenia Theatre, another key venue of the festival, once again became a hub of flamenco, thanks to Úrsula López. Already well-known and appreciated at the Quincena, this was her debut leading her own company. The packed audience rewarded the staging of a new tribute to Lorca, this time seen through the lens of several choreographers who explored the author from Granada during the dictatorship. “A show full of nuances for connoisseurs, Comedia sin título received a warm three-minute ovation from the entire Victoria Eugenia," noted Iratxe de Arantzibia (El Diario Vasco).
Days later, the theatre hosted the young pianist Alexandra Dovgan, followed 24 hours later by a journey from Prague to the Holy Land through the concert by Cappella Mariana and Constantinople. This event, voiced by Ramón Barea, used period music to evoke the life of Czech hero Krystof Harant. On that same stage, the world premiere of Egia ala geRuza took place—a children's opera co-produced by Easo Abesbatza and the Quincena Musical. A show created for children and young people, it focused on developing young talent and emphasised themes like sustainability, inclusion, and the promotion of educational values.
The festival also featured a blend of eras and sounds at Arantzazu, resulting from a collaboration between Abraham Cupeiro and several Basque musicians, which drew a full house. Another highlight was the Gerhard Quartet's completion of Shostakovich's entire string quartet cycle at Chillida Leku, along with tributes to Eduardo Chillida and Nestor Basterretxea throughout the festival.
The other cycles rounding out the festival’s offerings continue to attract a loyal audience both within San Sebastian and beyond. This edition saw more than 12,430 people attend concerts and dance performances. Notable cycles for their attendance included: Teatro Victoria Eugenia (1,662 attendees), Early and Chamber Music at the San Telmo Museum (2,568 attendees and 6 full houses), Tabakalera Dantzan (987 attendees), Organ Cycle (5,001 attendees), Quincena Andante (2,043 attendees), and the opening concerts (1,156 attendees).
This year’s Quincena featured the nine world premieres of shows and musical pieces:
- A new production of the opera Carmen (Kursaal Auditorium)
- Children's opera Egia ala geRuza (Children's Quincena)
- Esculpiendo el silencio, choreography by Myriam Perez Cazabon in collaboration with composer Sofía Martínez (Tabakalera Dantzan)
- Hiru, a show by Kresala Dantza Taldea in homage to Eduardo Chillida (Opening Day)
- A Reverence to San Sebastian by Carol Williams (Organ Cycle)
- Glass by Félix Ibarrondo and Palladium Motus by J. J. Peña Aguayo, performed by Spanish Brass (Contemporary Music Cycle)
- La Constelación de Sagitario by Fernando Buide, performed by Abraham Cupeiro and Ensemble Música Práctica (Contemporary Music Cycle)
- Notspur by Ziyi Tao (winner of the XVII Pablo Sorozábal International Composition Competition for String Quartet), performed by the Cikada String Quartet (Contemporary Music Series).
