Royal Northern Sinfonia is a British

chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

, founded in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

and currently based in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

. For the first 46 years of its history, the orchestra gave most of its concerts at the

Newcastle City Hall The Newcastle City Hall (currently known as O2 City Hall Newcastle for sponsorship reasons) is a concert hall located in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has hosted many popular music and classical artists throughout the years, as well as stan ...

. Since 2004, the orchestra has been resident at

Sage Gateshead Sage Gateshead is a concert venue and musical education centre in Gateshead on the south side of the River Tyne in North East England. Opened in 2004 and occupied by North Music Trust it is part of the Gateshead Quays development which incl ...

. In June 2013 Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

bestowed the title 'Royal' on the orchestra, formally naming it the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Description

Hall 1 stage, The Sage Gateshead (2115001551)

Michael Hall (1932–2012) founded the ensemble in 1958 as the first permanent professional resident chamber orchestra in Britain outside London. The ensemble gave its first concert on 24 September 1958 as the 'Sinfonia Orchestra', at the City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne, and gave six concerts in its first season, 1958–1959.Griffiths, Bill, ''Northern Sinfonia''. Northumbria University Press, p. 3 (). Hall acted as the organization's single leader, in effect as "general manager, secretary, artistic director, conductor and fund-raiser", though without a formal title. The word 'Northern' was added to the orchestra's name in 1959 to give the name of 'Northern Sinfonia'. The orchestra became an established institution in 1959, with Humphrey Noble chosen as the first chairman of the ensemble's management committee. Hall resigned from the orchestra in 1964 but returned as a guest conductor in subsequent years. After Hall's departure, Rudolf Schwarz and Boris Brott took over musical leadership of the ensemble in parallel, with Schwarz being the first titled artistic director of the ensemble. Keith Statham served as the orchestra's general manager from 1966 to 1974. Thomas Zehetmair was appointed as music director in November 2001, starting with the 2002–2003 season, for an initial contract of three years and six weeks of concerts each season. Following contract extensions in 2005 and 2011, he concluded his tenure with the orchestra at the end of the 2013–2014 season. Other conductors on the orchestra's roster currently include as its Principal Conductors John Wilson since 2009 and Mario Venzago since 1 January 2010. Venzago's current contract as Principal Conductor is through 2013.

Simon Halsey Simon Halsey, CBE (born 8 March 1958) is an English choral conductor. He is the chorus director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus (CBSO Chorus), a position he has held since 1983, and has been chorus director of the London Symphony Chor ...

served as Principal Conductor of the Northern Sinfonia's Choral Programme from 2004 through 2012. In May 2014, the Royal Northern Sinfonia announced the appointment of

Lars Vogt Lars Vogt (8 September 1970 – 5 September 2022) was a German classical pianist, conductor and academic teacher. Noted by ''The New York Times'' for his interpretations of Brahms, Vogt performed as a soloist with major orchestras, including the ...

as its next music director, effective September 2015. Vogt served as music director designate for the 2014–2015 season, in his first formal orchestral post. In November 2014, the orchestra announced the appointment of

Julian Rachlin Julian Rachlin (born 8 December 1974) is a Lithuanian-born violinist, violist and conductor. Background and early life Born in Vilnius, he emigrated in 1978 with his musician parents to Austria. In 1983, he entered the Konservatorium Wien and st ...

as its new principal guest conductor, effective with the 2015–2016 season. During Vogt's tenure, Royal Northern Sinfonia toured to Asia. In 2017, the orchestra performed at the BBC Proms' first Prom outside of London since 1930, at Stage@TheDock in Hull. Vogt concluded his tenure as music director in 2020, and subsequently held the title of Principal Artistic Partner with the orchestra until his death in September 2022. In January 2020, Dinis Sousa first guest-conducted the orchestra. He returned as guest conductor in the autumn of 2020. In March 2021, Royal Northern Sinfonia announced the appointment of Sousa as its next principal conductor, effective September 2021. The orchestra has recorded for the NMC and Naxos labels, among others.

Artistic Directors, Music Directors and Principal Conductors

* Michael Hall (1958–1964) * Rudolf Schwarz (1964–1973) * Christopher Seaman (1973–1979) *

Tamás Vásáry Tamás Vásáry (; born 11 August 1933) is a Hungarian concert pianist and conductor. Biography and career Vásáry was born in Debrecen, Hungary, and made his stage debut at the age of 8, performing Mozart's Piano Concerto in D major, K.107 ...

and

Iván Fischer Iván Fischer (born 20 January 1951) is a Hungarian conductor and composer. Born in Budapest into a musical family of Jewish heritage, Fischer initially studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest. His older brother, Ádám Fis ...

(1979–1982) *

Richard Hickox Richard Sidney Hickox (5 March 1948 – 23 November 2008) was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music. Early life Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family. After attending the Royal Gram ...

(1982–1990) *

Heinrich Schiff Heinrich Schiff (18 November 1951 – 23 December 2016) was an Austrian cellist and conductor. Early life Heinrich Schiff was born on 18 November 1951 in Gmunden, Austria. His parents, Helga (née Riemann) and Helmut Schiff, were composers. He ...

(1990–1996) *

Jean-Bernard Pommier Jean-Bernard Pommier (born 17 August 1944 in Beziers), is a French pianist and conductor. Early life and education Jean-Bernard Pommier began playing the piano at the age of four and gave his first public concert at the age of seven. He had ...

(1996–1999) *

Thomas Zehetmair Thomas Zehetmair (born 23 November 1961) is an Austrian violinist and conductor. Biography Zehetmair was born in Salzburg, and studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum, where both of his parents taught. His festival debut was at age 16. He was in mas ...

(Music Director, 2002–2014) *

(Principal Conductor, Choral Programme, 2004–2012) * John Wilson (Principal Conductor, 2009–2015) * Mario Venzago (Principal Conductor, 2010–2015) *

(Music Director, 2015–2020; Principal Artistic Partner, 2020–2022) *

(Principal Artistic Partner, 2015–present) *

(Conductor Laureate, 2015–present) * Dinis Sousa (Principal Conductor, 2021–present)

References

External links

Official home page of the Royal Northern Sinfonia
{{Authority control Chamber orchestras English orchestras Music in Tyne and Wear 1948 establishments in England