Edurne Santos Arrastua · Bassoon

Biography

Edurne Santos Arrastua was born in the Basque Country and completed her music studies in Donostia, Stuttgart, Basel, and Vienna. Her teachers included Sergio Azzolini. With her Spanish wind quintet Haizea, she won the Montserrat Alhavedra Chamber Music Competition and was also a scholarship holder of the Oskar and Vera Ritter Foundation.

Her orchestral career took her to the Bruckner Orchestra Linz for three years and to the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen for ten years. With both ensembles, she has performed at major festivals and in the most renowned concert halls worldwide under the baton of renowned conductors.

In addition to her concert activities, she taught for three years as assistant to David Tomàs-Realp at the Musikene University of Music in Donostia. Her artistic spectrum ranges from new music, which she interprets with KlangForum Wien, to early music on historical instruments, which she performs with ensembles such as Concerto Köln, Das neue Orchester Köln, the Wiener Akademie, the Prisma Ensemble, and Concentus Musicus Wien.
I play new music with KlangForum Wien and early music on historical instruments with Concerto Köln, Das neue Orchester Köln, the Wiener Akademie, the Prisma Ensemble, and Concentus Musicus Wien.

About this event

Exposé: Women and the bassoon in contemporary music

In recent decades, there has been a decisive change in the perception and presence of women in the music landscape. Women's voices are no longer only heard in political contexts, but increasingly in artistic ones as well. Nevertheless, it has long been difficult for female performers to gain professional recognition and permanent positions; for female composers, it has often been even more challenging to have their works taken seriously and performed.  The situation was particularly complex for the bassoon in the second half of the 20th century. The instrument was often neglected in contemporary music because it was mistakenly associated with “old timbres” or considered to be limited in terms of sound. Numerous composers ignored it in favor of more modern instruments. It was precisely under these circumstances that it was often female composers who, with a more sensitive approach and an open understanding of sound, began to rediscover the bassoon. With intelligence, respect, and artistic curiosity, they created significant works that have not yet received the recognition they deserve in the male-dominated music culture. 

Sofia Gubaidulina is an outstanding example, whose compositions for bassoon—such as the Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra or the Duo for Two Bassons—are among the most significant contributions of the 20th century. Nevertheless, her works are far less frequently included in the repertoire than, for example, Berio's Sequenza XII, which is often regarded as a reference work, even though it appears less sophisticated in terms of composition, at least from an interpretative perspective. Since new music is a living, constantly evolving field whose works have not yet been definitively evaluated by the historical canon, this master class is dedicated to exploring bassoon compositions by female composers of different generations. The aim is to critically examine their artistic quality, analyze aesthetic trends, and determine which of these works deserve a stronger presence in the concert repertoire. This study is not only intended as a contribution to equality in music, but also as a plea for an expansion of the aesthetic and interpretative horizons in the treatment of the bassoon within contemporary music.