ARRIAGA Y EL ECO DE SU TIEMPO

The Teatro Arriaga wants to celebrate the bicentennial of the death of the Bilbao-born composer Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, after whom our theatre is named. On the occasion of this 200th anniversary, which will be celebrated on January 17, 2026, a very special concert is being presented. The musical direction of the concert will be led by Josetxu Obregón, a performer specialized in the works of the Basque composer, as demonstrated in the CD *“Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga. The complete string quartets on period instruments,”* which, among other awards, received the Codalario Award for Best Musical Product of 2014.

For this evening, the chosen programme includes some of Arriaga’s lesser-heard religious vocal works, such as *“Stabat Mater”*, premiered in Paris when the composer was studying at the École Royale de Musique et Declamation, where its director at the time, Luigi Cherubini, considered it a masterpiece; or the motet *“O Salutaris Hostia”* for two tenors, bass, and orchestra, curiously with the same vocal and instrumental arrangement as Cherubini’s later work of the same name, which is also featured in the programme. The concert will be completed with two of the six symphonies of Op. 12 by another Italian composer, Luigi Boccherini, published in 1776 but composed in 1771 in a classical style similar to that of Haydn or Mozart, when the composer was in the service of Infante Don Luis de Borbón. Therefore, we present a high-level musical event to remember our most beloved composer, for obvious reasons.