HELENE GRIMAUD, THE MOST CHARISMATIC AND PASSIONATE PIANIST IN TODAY'S CONCERT HALLS, WILL STAR IN THE 2ND SERIES OF SEASON CONCERTS BY THE BASQUE NATIONAL ORCHESTRA

After the start of the Season Concerts just a few days ago, the Basque National Orchestra is kicking off its second series of concerts that will take place on 5th and 8th October in San Sebastian, 6th in Vitoria, 7th in Bilbao finishing on the 10th in Pamplona. If Andrés Orozco-Estrada was given the responsibility of inaugurating the Season, Andrey Boreyko, as the formation's Principal Guest Conductor, will take over in this second series also starring the pianist Hélène Grimaud.

Hélène Grimaud is French although she lives in the United States (www.helenegrimaud.com). She is considered to be one of the most important international pianists, performing as a soloist with the best orchestras in the world and with the most prestigious conductors. She has recorded exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon since 2002 and she has demonstrated that she a versatile and charismatic artist, with an unlimited passion for music. However, music is not her only interest as this leading musician, who has developed a great marketing strategy, includes wolves among her passions, saying that she feels a special connection with them. In the United States she has founded the Wolf Conservation Center, as an Institution that protects the species and works as a breeding establishment.

Hélène Grimaud will be the soloist performing in Rachmaninov's Second Concerto for piano and orchestra. This is considered to be one of the most difficult concertos, bearing mind that the composer was a great piano virtuoso and littered the score with spectacular moments for the piano and the orchestra.

In the second part, after Hélène Grimaud, the Orchestra will play the concerto from P.I.Tchaikovsky's First Symphony, keeping the Russian theme. He wrote this youthful work just a year after finishing his studies in the St Petersburg Conservatory and starting to give classes in Moscow. This eminently Russian programme has the honour of being conducted by Andrey Boreyko, the Principal Guest Conductor of the Basque National Orchestra.

Concerts in the Second Series of the Season Concerts
5th and 8th October: Kursaal Auditorium Donostia-San Sebastian 8pm.
6th October: Teatro Principal Vitoria-Gasteiz 8pm.
7th October: Euskalduna Palace, Bilbao 8pm.
10th October: Baluarte Auditorium, Pamplona. 8pm.

Programme
S. Rachmaninov: Concerto for piano and orchestra no.2
P.I.Tchaikovsky: Symphony no1 "Winter Reveries"

Andrey Boreyko, conductor
Hélène Grimaud, piano