2025
A Macbeth full of ambition and blood in Irun
2025 Season of the Luis Mariano Lyric Association - C. C. Amaia (Irun) - 29/03/2025, 19:00
Macbeth (melodramma in quattro atti) - Music: Giuseppe Verdi - Libretto: Francesco Maria Piave and Andrea Maffei
Macbeth: PAOLO RUMETZ // Lady Macbeth: KARINA SKRZESZEWSKA // Banco: EMIL ABDULLAIEV // Macduff: ALESSANDRO FANTONI // Lady-in-waiting: MARIFÉ NOGALES // Malcolm: JOSU CABRERO // Doctor: HODEI YÁÑEZ // Servant: Dario Maya // Assasin: ANTONIO CALLEJA // ERAGIYOK abesbatza // Luis Mariano Chorus and Orchestra // Stage direction: Alfonso de Filippis // Musical direction: Aldo Salvagno
ERAGIYOK kicked off 2024 with an international performance after receiving the invitation from the organisers of the 'Cantigos in Carrela' festival in Sardinia to perform as a representative of the Basque Country. The festival was born in 1997 with the purpose of bringing together on the weekend before Carnival choirs from the island that practise traditional Sardinian singing , as well as inviting every year an international choir, representative of a characteristic and generally minority choral and cultural tradition. Over the years, groups from Italy, France, Portugal, Catalonia, Asturias, Scotland, Bulgaria, Georgia and the USA, among others, have performed through the festival.
Populos et Concurdos
The first day of the festival, Populos et Cuncordos, took place on Friday afternoon to present the international guest choir. ERAGIYOK performed to a packed Santa Maria degli Angeli church in a concert in which they alternated between sacred and popular Basque repertoire. It was accompanied by Cuncordu Lussurzesu and Cuncordu di Castelsardo, two groups representing the cuncordu, one of the traditional forms of singing practised in Sardinia.
The initial greeting of the festival was given by Giovanni Mura, president of the AIDOS Cultural Association that organises the two days, and Diego Loi, mayor of Santu Lussurgiu. Both highlighted the importance of maintaining the centuries-old tradition of Sardinian singing, before giving way to the two local groups, which performed religious and secular songs.
The last to perform was ERAGIYOK. The audience followed attentively the explanations that preceded each intervention of the choir, which emphasised both the similarities between the Basque and Sardinian cultures, which have preserved their melodies and texts thanks to the oral transmission from generation to generation, and the differences in the evolution of both traditions since the end of the 19th century.
The language barrier was not an obstacle for the public to appreciate the Basque melodies and rhythms, which were shown in all their diversity: from sacred works such as Agur, Maria and Aita Gurea to classic works of our folklore such as a vibrant Kitolis with its zortziko and ezpatadantza and our iconic work, Ator, mutil .
After handing over a souvenir figure as a symbol of friendship and fraternity to the organisers, the concert ended with a sweet Aurtxoa seaskan and a solemn rendition of Agur zaharra.
Cantigos in Carrela, a hymn to tradition
The second day had a completely different character, bringing together all the Sardinian music groups and ERAGIYOK. They all took part in an itinerant journey through the historic centre of the town, one of the best preserved medieval sites in Sardinia.
Starting from the Market Square, the organisers set up various stages where the choirs and the local dance group performed, while the locals and visitors joined in the spectacle by surrounding and interacting with the artists between performances. This went on until well into the night, in a show that sought to take music out of the enclosed spaces and reconnect with the popular tradition of singing in the street, and which ended in a festive atmosphere of fraternisation.
Music and solidarity, companions in life
Kantua eta Elkartasuna 2025 - St. Ignatius of Loyola Church (Donostia) - 12/04/2025, 20:00
Tebe poem (G. Lomakin) // Ave, Maria (J. Guridi) // Aita gurea (F. Madina) // Boga, boga (J. Guridi) // Txeru (J. Guridi) // Erriko festa (V. Zubizarreta) // DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE: O Isis und Osiris (W. A. Mozart) // MACBETH: Coro di sicari (G. Verdi) // MARINA: Coro de marineros (E. Arrieta) // FÜNF LIEDER: 3. Geleit (J. Brahms) // Nere etxea (Aita Donostia) // Nere etorrera (V. Larrea) // Euskalerria (P. Sorozabal) // Nere maitiarentzat (J. J. Santesteban) // Pilota partida bat (T. Aragüés Bernad) // Agur zaharra (S. Salaberri)
Conductor: Jon Larrauri Delika
Pianist: Miren Gabirondo Olazabal
After the performance given in November 2024 in the Kantua eta Elkartasuna cycle, ERAGIYOK took part in the same cycle again, closing the 2025 edition. On this occasion, the concert was held in the St. Ignatius of Loyola Church with a large audience that almost filled the temple.
For this performance in favour of the Zaporeak ERAGIYOK association, they had prepared a programme that combined sacred music, lyrical repertoire and Basque folklore. After an introspective start with Lomakin's magnificent Tebe poem followed by Guridi's Ave, Maria with the same character, the first of the most eagerly awaited moments came with Madina's well-known and spectacular Aita gurea. The emblematic work by the priest from Oñati allowed the choir to show its full range of sound, from the most delicate piano to the most sonorous forte.
Also noteworthy were the incursions into the lyrical section, including a fragment of the opera Macbeth, recently performed in Irun, and the premiere of one of the five works that the German composer Johannes Brahms wrote for bass voices ‘a cappella’, Geleit.
In Basque folklore, as well as old classics such as Boga, boga, Euskalerria and Nere etxea, there were several novelties. Thus, Txeru by Guridi and the satirical song Erriko festa by Zubizarreta could be heard for the first time in the voices of ERAGIYOK.
If throughout the concert the audience's response was favourable, their approval was heard even louder during the encores. The audience burst into applause with Nere maitiarentzat by Iparragirre and, especially, with the last premiere of the night, the joyful Pilota partida bat by Tomás Aragüés, in which five soloists from the choir could be heard perfectly supported by the whole ensemble.
After receiving souvenirs from the organisers and Zaporeak, there was still a chance to listen to one more song, a solemn Agur zaharra, which was the perfect ending to a concert that left a great taste in the mouth.
