New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the New Zealand Government, per the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Act 2004. It is currently based in the Michael Fowler Centre and has frequently performed in the adjacent Wellington Town Hall before it was closed in 2013. It also performs in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin.
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Te Tira Pūoro o Aotearoa
National Orchestra of the New Zealand Broadcasting Service (1946–1963)
NZBC Symphony Orchestra (1963–1975)
1946
Gemma New (2022)
Performances[edit]
Touring[edit]
The NZSO has always had a heavy touring schedule within New Zealand. It performed in Christchurch as early as 1947. It performs its core series of 12 programmes in Wellington and Auckland, about half of those in Hamilton, Christchurch and Dunedin, and visits several provincial cities each year. It has several times toured overseas, notably in 2005 to the BBC Proms, the Snape Maltings, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the World Expo at Aichi in Japan.[5]
Conductors[edit]
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, 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,[6] 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.[7] In June 2015, the NZSO announced the appointment of Edo de Waart as its next music director, with his first concerts in March 2016.[8] De Waart's last concert as Music Director was in November 2019. In 2020 he became NZSO Conductor Laureate.[9] NZSO Associate Conductor Hamish McKeich was appointed NZSO Principal Conductor in Residence from January 2020.[10] Gemma New was appointed the orchestra's artistic director and principal conductor in 2022, the first woman to hold the position.[11]
The orchestra's affiliated conductors to date include:
Subsidiary orchestras[edit]
National Youth Orchestra[edit]
The NZSO National Youth Orchestra was founded by John Hopkins in 1959.[17][18] It auditions afresh each year and, after an intensive rehearsal schedule, performs one programme, in 2007 to be repeated in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
The NYO celebrated its 50th Anniversary Celebratory Season in 2009, under the baton of Paul Daniel, with John Chen as soloist and Ben Morrison as Concertmaster. Their programme was Mahler's 7th Symphony, Ravel'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.[19]
List of recipients