Quincena Musical de San Sebastián

The Music Fortnight was created in 1939, from the restlessness and the impulse of the city’s hotel industry and business owners (just as the San Sebastian International Film Festival would emerge years later), in their desire of broadening the tourist leisure proposals during the summer season. To do so, they picked up the baton of the city’s music tradition dating back from the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries: the City Conservatory, the Orfeón Donostiarra, the Gran Casino orchestras, all those great European artists who sought refuge at the Victoria Eugenia Theater during the First World War, among others.

As the oldest classical music festival in Spain, and one of the oldest in Europe, every August, it offers a large music programming, open, accessible to all audiences, and in constant evolution. From its very beginning, the Music Fortnight has earned great prestige both for the quality of the programs and the renowned performers. Among these, symphony orchestras such as the Berlin, London, Cleveland ones, La Scala of Milan, the Mariinsky Theatre of Saint Petersburg, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, the French National Orchestra, the Spanish National Orchestra and the Euskadiko Orkestra. Conductors such as Argenta, Sir Colin Davis, Fischer, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Muti, Mehta and Maazel. Ballet companies such as the New York City Ballet, the Tokyo Ballet, the London Festival Ballet, the Béjart Ballet of Lausanne, the La Scala Ballet of Milan and the Marqués de Cuevas Ballet. Vocal soloists such as Plácido Domingo, Alfredo Kraus, Luciano Pavarotti, Juan Diego Flórez, Barbara Hendricks, Jessye Norman, Montserrat Caballé, Teresa Berganza and Mirella Freni. Instrumental soloists such as Nicanor Zabaleta, Arthur Rubinstein, Yuja Wang, Anne Sophie Mutter, Maria João Pires, Mstislav Rostropóvich, Leonidas Kavakos and Christian Zacharias as well as stage directors such as Pier Luigi Pizzi, Giancarlo de Monaco, Emilio Sagi, Nicolas Joel, Lindsay Kemp and David Ritch. The presence of all these outstanding artists is complemented by the zeal to stand as a platform for emerging talents, both local and international, helping them to gain recognition and serving for the promotion and diffusion of the newest music creation.