The female vocal group Vocalia Taldea began its professional career in 2000. Created by the initiative of its current director, Basilio Astulez, Vocalia Taldea is a project which embodies the pursuits and musical concerns of young women from the Basque Country. The project is focused on the firm intention of creating a stable vocal group that offers a repertoire that, for reasons of musical and vocal demand, is not usually interpreted.
Vocalia Taldea currently consists of around 36 singers from Araba/Álava, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa,Navarra and La Rioja, with extensive experience in the world of choral music. Their risky programming and careful staging make the group as a reference of the current choral performance scene..
Vocalia Taldea interprets a wide range of female choir repertoire, from classical to the contemporary period, both Basque and international music. Likewise, it carries out intense research work on the repertoire of the 20th and 21st centuries, which enables innovation and expansion of the expressive potential of the group.
The group has recorded three albums, Neskatxena,María Mater and Haizeak Dakar, the latter dedicated entirely to the music of composer Xabier Sarasola.
Since its beginnings, Vocalia Taldea has been invited to a large number of choral cycles and festivals throughout the Spain and Europe (Italy, France, Ireland, Belgium, and others). Its concerts, praised by critics, define its trajectory highlighted by quality, originality and innovation. The group collaborates frequently with diverse orchestras, soloists and cultural entities, and has received more than twenty awards at international contests like Tours, Arezzo, Maasmechelen or Cork.
In November 2019 Vocalia Taldea realized a five-concert tour with the Basque National
Orchestra, directed by maestro Juanjo Mena, as a part of their subscription series, interpreting
the music of Gustav Holst.
Between the September and December 2020 Vocalia Taldea presented the baroque program Le Muse Veneziane with the music of Antonio Vivaldi, NicolaPorpora and Baldasare Galuppi at different early music festivals in Zumarraga, Zenarruza and Ordizia, together with the Conductus Ensemble conducted by Andoni Sierra.
Throughout the 2021 Vocalia Taldea performed concerts in Madrid, Azkoitia, Zornotza, Dax (Francia) and Vitoria-Gasteiz. Its program There Is No Rose with the music of Benjamin Britten, Johannes Brahms and Xabier Sarasola was presented in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Beasain and Bilbao (Arriaga Theatre and Philharmonic Society). In these concerts the suite Urtats Elur, composed by Xabier Sarasola was performed for the first time. The piece was created to mirror a Britten’s Christmas suite A Ceremony of Carols.
In 2022 a new project Arima Sakra was created. It consists of a carefully selected sacred music repertoire for feminine choir and organs with works of Felix Mendelssohn, Francis Poulenc and Kim André Arnesen. This program was presented at the Sacred Music Festival in Hondarribia, in Burgos and, in 2023, at the Basque National Orchestra cycle Matinées de Miramon. This repertoire was interpreted in the collaboration with the organist Oscar Rodriguez and soprano Nerea González.
In August 2022 Vocalia Taldea interpreted Claude Debussy’s Sirènes at the International Festival of Santander and Classical Music Festival of San Sebastian “Quincena musical Donostiarra”, together with the maestro Alain Antinoglu and Frankfurt Radio Symphony. The concerts claimed great success and positive critique from the part of the audience.
In April 2023 Vocalia Taldea was the winning choir of the 50th edition of prestigious choral contest of Ejea de los Caballeros. In this occasion the participants were the winning choirs of previous editions which gives the contest even major relevance. The prize is an important recognition of the quality of the work done by Vocalia Taldea and its director Basilio Astulez.
In December 2023, Vocalia has the opportunity to present live in the chapel of the San Telmo Museum in Donostia the program recorded on its latest album GURI on the occasion of the Musikagileak cycle, dedicated to new musical creation in the Basque Country.
Vocalia's projects for 2024 include a concert at the Cuenca International Religious Music Week, participation in the Musika Música festival in Bilbao performing La Nuit de Saint Saëns by the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra or the interpretation of Sirènes, by Debussy, within the subscription series of this institution with which Vocalia Taldea collaborates regularly.
