The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous
Crown entity owned by the
Government of New Zealand
, background_color = #012169
, image = New Zealand Government wordmark.svg
, image_size=250px
, date_established =
, country = New Zealand
, leader_title = Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
, appointed = Governor-General
, main_organ =
, ...
, per the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Act 2004. It is currently based in the
Michael Fowler Centre
The Michael Fowler Centre is a concert hall and convention centre in Wellington, New Zealand. It was constructed on reclaimed land next to Civic Square, and is the pre-eminent concert site in central Wellington.
Commissioned in 1975, building be ...
and has frequently performed in the adjacent
Wellington Town Hall
The Wellington Town Hall ( mi, Te Whare Whakarauika) is a concert hall and part of the municipal complex in Wellington, New Zealand, which opened in December 1904. It has been closed to the public since the 2013 Seddon earthquake, and it is cur ...
before it was closed in 2013. It also performs in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
,
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
and
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
.
History
A national orchestra for New Zealand was first proposed with the founding of the Radio Broadcasting Company in 1925, and broadcasting studio orchestras operated in major cities from the late 1920s. A national orchestra was formed in 1939 for
New Zealand's Centennial Exhibition in 1940.
The orchestra became permanent in 1946 in the aftermath of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
as the "National Orchestra of the New Zealand Broadcasting Service" (by
Oswald Cheesman and others); the inaugural concert took place on 6 March 1947. It was managed as a department of the
New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation
The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was a publicly owned company of the New Zealand Government founded in 1962. The Broadcasting Act 1976 then reformed NZBC as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ). The corporation was ...
, which later became
Radio New Zealand, as the NZBC National Orchestra.
The orchestra was renamed the NZBC Symphony Orchestra in 1963, and in 1975 renamed again to the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. In 1988, the orchestra became fully independent of Radio New Zealand, and began operating as an independent Crown-owned company.
Even after the formal separation of the orchestra from Radio New Zealand, NZSO performances continue to be recorded, broadcast and archived by Radio New Zealand Concert.
Auckland Town Hall
Auckland Town Hall is an Edwardian building on Queen Street in the Auckland CBD, New Zealand, known both for its original and ongoing use for administrative functions (such as Council meetings and hearings), as well as its famed Great Hall and ...
,
Wellington Town Hall
The Wellington Town Hall ( mi, Te Whare Whakarauika) is a concert hall and part of the municipal complex in Wellington, New Zealand, which opened in December 1904. It has been closed to the public since the 2013 Seddon earthquake, and it is cur ...
and
Michael Fowler Centre
The Michael Fowler Centre is a concert hall and convention centre in Wellington, New Zealand. It was constructed on reclaimed land next to Civic Square, and is the pre-eminent concert site in central Wellington.
Commissioned in 1975, building be ...
performances are broadcast live-to-air and streamed online, and performances in other centres or overseas cities are usually recorded and broadcast at later dates.
In 2022 the orchestra performed a special 75th anniversary concert, conducted by Gemma New.
Performances
Touring
The NZSO has always had a heavy touring schedule within New Zealand. It performed in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
as early as 1947. It performs its core series of 12 programmes in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
and
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
, about half of those in
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
, Christchurch and
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
, and visits several provincial cities each year. It has several times toured overseas, notably in 2005 to the
BBC Proms
The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
, the
Snape Maltings
Snape Maltings is an arts complex on the banks of the River Alde at Snape, Suffolk, England. It is best known for its concert hall, which is one of the main sites of the annual Aldeburgh Festival.
The original purpose of the Maltings was the m ...
, the
Concertgebouw
The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls in ...
in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
and the World Expo at
Aichi
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture ...
in
Japan.
Conductors
Franz-Paul Decker was the last NZSO conductor to have the title of chief conductor, and had the title of Conductor Laureate until his death in May 2014. The first conductor to have the title of Music Director of the NZSO was
James Judd
James Judd (born 30 October 1949, Hertford) is a British conductor.
James Judd grew up in Hertford, learning the piano, flute and organ as a child and discovering his talent for conducting at high school. He studied at the Trinity College of ...
, from 1999 to 2007. Judd is now the orchestra's Music Director Emeritus.
In May 2007, Pietari Inkinen was named the NZSO's second Music Director, and he formally took up the post in January 2008. Inkinen concluded his NZSO tenure in 2015 and subsequently took the title of honorary conductor. In June 2015, the NZSO announced the appointment of
Edo de Waart
Edo de Waart (born 1 June 1941, Amsterdam) is a Dutch conductor. He is Music Director Laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. De Waart is the former chief conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic (2011-2016), Artistic Partner with the ...
as its next music director, with his first concerts in March 2016. De Waart's last concert as Music Director was in November 2019. In 2020 he became NZSO Conductor Laureate. NZSO Associate Conductor Hamish McKeich was appointed NZSO Principal Conductor in Residence from January 2020.
Gemma New
Gemma New (born 27 December 1986) is a New Zealand-born conductor. In 2022 she was appointed principal conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, becoming the first woman to hold the position in the orchestra's 75-year history.
Biography
...
was appointed the orchestra's artistic director and principal conductor in 2022, the first woman to hold the position.
The orchestra's affiliated conductors to date include:
*
Anderson Tyrer (1947–1950)
*
Michael Bowles
Michael Andrew Bowles n Gaelic: Micheál Ó Baoighill(30 November 1909 – 6 April 1998) was an Irish conductor and composer, who was also active in New Zealand, the US, and England.
Life
Bowles was born in Riverstown, County Sligo, and grew u ...
(1950–1953)
*
Warwick Braithwaite
Henry Warwick Braithwaite (9 January 1896 – 19 January 1971) was a New Zealand-born orchestral Conducting, conductor. He worked mostly in Great Britain and was especially known for his work in opera.
Early life and family
Braithwaite was one of ...
(1953–1954)
*
James Robertson (1954–1957)
*
John Hopkins (1957–1963)
* Juan Matteucci (1964–1968)
*
Franz-Paul Decker
Franz-Paul Decker (June 26, 1923 – May 19, 2014) was a German-born conductor.
Life
Decker was born in Cologne, Germany, where he studied at the Hochschule für Musik with Philip Jarnach and Eugen Papst. He made his conducting debut at the ...
(1991–1996, chief conductor)
*
James Judd
James Judd (born 30 October 1949, Hertford) is a British conductor.
James Judd grew up in Hertford, learning the piano, flute and organ as a child and discovering his talent for conducting at high school. He studied at the Trinity College of ...
(1999–2007, music director)
*
Pietari Inkinen
Pietari Inkinen (born 29 April 1980, Kouvola, Finland) is a Finnish violinist and conductor.
Biography
Inkinen began violin and piano studies at age 4. As a youth, he also performed in a rock band. He attended the Sibelius Academy and gradu ...
(2008–2015, music director)
*
Edo de Waart
Edo de Waart (born 1 June 1941, Amsterdam) is a Dutch conductor. He is Music Director Laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. De Waart is the former chief conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic (2011-2016), Artistic Partner with the ...
(2016–2019, music director)
*
Hamish McKeich (2016–2019, associate conductor; 2020–present, principal conductor in residence)
*
Gemma New
Gemma New (born 27 December 1986) is a New Zealand-born conductor. In 2022 she was appointed principal conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, becoming the first woman to hold the position in the orchestra's 75-year history.
Biography
...
(2022, principal conductor)
Recordings
The NZSO has recorded several LPs and many CDs, several with internationally known soloists such as
Alessandra Marc
Alessandra Marc, born Judith Borden (born July 29, 1957) is an American dramatic soprano who has appeared at many of the world's opera houses and orchestras. Marc is particularly known for her interpretations of the works of Richard Strauss, Richa ...
and
Donald McIntyre
Sir Donald Conroy McIntyre (born 22 October 1934 in Auckland) is an operatic bass-baritone from New Zealand.
Operatic career
McIntyre made his formal debut as Zaccaria in ''Nabucco'', at the Welsh National Opera, in 1959. In 1964 he created ...
. In the last decade it has sold 500,000 CDs. It records at least one CD of
New Zealand music
The music of New Zealand has been influenced by a number of traditions, including Māori music, the music introduced by European settlers during the nineteenth century, and a variety of styles imported during the twentieth century, including ...
each year. It has made a number of recordings on the American Koch label and now (2007) records regularly with Naxos. The latest recordings are two CDs of music by
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...
and one CD of music by
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Einojuhani Rautavaara (; 9 October 1928 – 27 July 2016) was a Finnish composer of classical music. Among the most notable Finnish composers since Jean Sibelius (1865–1957), Rautavaara wrote a great number of works spanning various styles. ...
.
In 2012, the NZSO collaborated with
Booktrack
Booktrack is the creator of the e-reader technology that incorporates multimedia such as music, sound effects, and ambient sound. The company was founded and maintains offices in Auckland, New Zealand and is headquartered in San Francisco, Califor ...
and
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and We ...
to create music for an enhanced edition of Rusdhie's short story '' In the South ''. The NZSO recorded part of
Howard Shore's score for ''
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'', notably the "Mines of Moria" sequence, as well as an alternate version of the cue "The Breaking of the Fellowship". The NZSO also performed and recorded Howard Shore's score for ''
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug'' and ''
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies''.
An NZSO recording of works by Pulitzer Prize-winning Chinese composer
Zhou Long
Zhou Long (; born July 8, 1953) is a Chinese American composer. He won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Biography
Zhou Long was born in Beijing, China. Born into an artistic family, he began studying piano from an early age. Due to the artist ...
and the Symphony ‘Humen 1839’, written in collaboration with compatriot
Chen Yi Chen Yi may refer to:
* Xuanzang (602–664), born as Chen Yi, Chinese Buddhist monk in Tang Dynasty
* Chen Yi (Kuomintang)
Chen Yi (; courtesy names Gongxia (公俠) and later Gongqia (公洽), sobriquet Tuisu (退素); May 3, 1883 – June ...
, was nominated for Best Orchestral Performance at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2016. Singaporean
Darrell Ang
Darrell is a given name derived from an English surname, which was derived from Norman-French , originally denoting one who came from Airelle in France. There are no longer any towns in France called Airelle, but is the French word for huckleberr ...
conducted the recording, which was recorded in Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre in June 2013 and released on the Naxos label in May 2015. It was the first Grammy nomination for the NZSO.
Subsidiary orchestras
National Youth Orchestra
The NZSO National Youth Orchestra was founded by
John Hopkins in 1959. It auditions afresh each year and, after an intensive rehearsal schedule, performs one programme, in 2007 to be repeated in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
,
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
and
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
.
The NYO celebrated its 50th Anniversary Celebratory Season in 2009, under the baton of
Paul Daniel
Paul Daniel (born 5 July 1958) is an English conductor.
Biography Early life
Daniel was born in Birmingham. As a boy, he sang in the choir of Coventry Cathedral, where he received musical training; then studied music at King's College, Cambr ...
, with
John Chen as soloist and Ben Morrison as Concertmaster. Their programme was
Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
's
7th Symphony,
Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
's
Left-Hand piano concerto and an original composition by Natalie Hunt, ''Only to the Highest Mountain''. The 2009 season also saw the return of John Hopkins to join in the celebrations.
National Youth Orchestra Composer-in-Residence scheme
In 2005 the orchestra inaugurated its Composer-in-Residence scheme appointing
Robin Toan as first recipient of the award.
List of recipients
* 2005 Robin Toan
* 2006 Claire Cowan
* 2007 Karlo Margetić
* 2008 Tabea Squire
* 2009 Natalie Hunt
* 2011 Alexandra Hay
* 2012 Alex Taylor
* 2013 Sam Logan
* 2014 Sarah Ballard
* 2015
Salina Fisher
Salina Fisher (born 6 October 1993) is a New Zealand composer and violinist currently based in Wellington.
Fisher attended Burnside High School in Christchurch. She graduated from the New Zealand School of Music and then studied for a Master o ...
* 2016 Celeste Oram
* 2017 Reuben Jelleyman
* 2018 Josiah Carr
* 2019 Glen Downie
* 2020 Joshua Pearson
New Zealand Chamber Orchestra
The New Zealand Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1987 by NZSO
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
ist Stephen Managh, its first leader, and comprises members of the NZSO. Later renamed the NZSO Chamber Orchestra, they toured and recorded extensively for 13 years. They generally performed without a conductor under the direction of their first violinist and Musical Director Donald Armstrong. They are not currently performing.
See also
*
Orchestra Wellington
Orchestra Wellington is New Zealand's oldest professional regional orchestra, based in the capital city of Wellington. It hosts an annual subscription series of concerts in the Michael Fowler Centre, performing varied repertoire from the Class ...
References
External links
NZSO website online September 1994, it claims to be the first orchestra website in the world.
DiscographyNZSO music samplesRadio New Zealand Concert onlineNew Zealand Symphony Orchestra archival collectionat the
Alexander Turnbull Library
The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''Nat ...
{{Authority control
Symphony Orchestra
New Zealand orchestras
Musical groups established in 1946
Radio and television orchestras
Symphony orchestras
RNZ Concert
National youth orchestras