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 me ...

, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous

Crown entity A Crown entity (from the Commonwealth term ''Crown'') is an organisation that forms part of New Zealand's state sector established under the Crown Entities Act 2004, a unique umbrella governance and accountability statute. The Crown Entities Act i ...

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 List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

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 River / ...

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 opposin ...

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 Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...

, 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 ...

and

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

as early as 1947. It performs its core series of 12 programmes in

and

, 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

, 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 ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

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 Prefectu ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

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) *

(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) *

(2016–2019, music director) * Hamish McKeich (2016–2019, associate conductor; 2020–present, principal conductor in residence) *

(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 20th-century classical music, early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest com ...

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 List of compositions by Einojuhani Rautavaara, gre ...

. 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 Wes ...

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

and

. 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 regular ...

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.

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 collection
at 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 An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...

New Zealand orchestras Musical groups established in 1946 Radio and television orchestras Symphony orchestras RNZ Concert National youth orchestras