24th International Festival “The Days of Organ – Dies organorum”: LORETO ARAMENDI

With an impressive background as a recording artist, harpsichordist and pianist, Loreto Aramendi is currently a conservatoire professor and the principal organist of the Cavaillé-Coll organ (1863) in the Basilica of Santa María del Coro in San Sebastián. She will perform works for organ by Liszt, Saint-Saëns, Franck and Tournemire among others. The concert is supported by the Instituto Cervantes in Belgrade, which is celebrating 20 years of work in Serbia this year, and Acción Cultural Española (AC/E).

Program:
Dietrich Buxtehude (c. 1637–1707)
Toccata in F major, BuxWV 156

Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Funérailles from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (transcription: Louis Robilliard)

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Danse macabre, Op. 40 (transcription: de Louis Robilliard)

Jehan Alain (1911–1940)
Litanies

Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986)
Chorale Variations on the Veni Creator, Op. 4

Phillipe Glass (1937)
Mad Rush

Charles Tournemire (1870–1939)
Choral Improvisation Victimae Paschali

Biography:
International concertist and main organist of the Cavaillé-Coll organ (1863) of the Basilique of Santa María del Coro, Loreto Aramendi, has given numerous recitals at international festivals in USA, Japan, Canada, Argentina, Moscow and most of European countries performing in places like Opera City Hall of Tokyo, National Auditorium of Madrid (Bach-Vermut), Notre Dame of Paris, Hallgrímskikja in Reykjavik, Saint Patricks Cathedral in New York among others. In 2015 she published a double CD recorded on the Cavaillé-Coll organ (1863) of the Basilique of Santa María del Coro with works by C. Franck, F. Liszt, J. Brahms and Ch. Tournemire, which received the 4 stars award from “Choir & Organ” Magazine, and was acclaimed by “The Sydney Organ Journal”. In 2017 she published another double CD recorded on The Cavaillé-Coll of the Saint Ouen of Rouen Abbey with Louis Robilliard transcriptions acclaimed by the critics.
Interested in the pipe organ building process, she has collaborated and participated in several works of organ restoration in France and Spain.
She started her studies at the Conservatoire of San Sebastian where she obtained higher degrees in piano, harpsichord, organ and chamber music with Loreto F. Imaz, Esther Mendiburu and Cristina Navajas. She studied organ at the National Regional Conservatoire of Bayonne with Bernadette Carrau and Esteban Landart, receiving the Gold Medal and the First Prize upon completing the Advanced Degree course. Entering into the National Higher Conservatoire of Lyon (C.N.S.M.D), she worked with Jean Boyer, Louis Robilliard and Jacques van Oortmersen, obtaining the First Prize with ”Mention trés bien” and her National Diploma of Advanced Studies with specialization in the organ. She then furthered her studies at the National Regional Superior Conservatoire in Paris with Noëlle Spieth, receiving the First Prize upon finalizing her Advanced Degree in the harpsichord.
Loreto Aramendi has collaborated with the Basque Symphony Orchestra. She gives concerts as a soloist and as part of different groups as an organist, pianist, and harpsichord player. She is currently a professor at the F. Escudero Conservatoire in San Sebastian. Her commitments for next season include recitals in Japan, USA, France, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Germany, England, Switzerland, Israel, Denmark, Estonia, Serbia, Russia, Luxemburg and Finland.