New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

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]

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:

• Anderson Tyrer (1947–1950)
• Michael Bowles (1950–1953)
• Warwick Braithwaite (1953–1954)
• James Robertson (1954–1957)
• John Hopkins (1957–1963)
• Juan Matteucci (1964–1968)
• Franz-Paul Decker (1991–1996, chief conductor)
• James Judd (1999–2007, music director)
• Pietari Inkinen (2008–2015, music director)
• Edo de Waart (2016–2019, music director)
• Hamish McKeich (2016–2019, associate conductor; 2020–present, principal conductor in residence)
• Gemma New (2022, principal conductor)

The NZSO has recorded several LPs and many CDs, several with internationally known soloists such as Alessandra Marc and Donald McIntyre. In the last decade it has sold 500,000 CDs. It records at least one CD of New Zealand music each year. It has made a number of recordings on the American Koch label and now (2007) records regularly with Naxos.[12] The latest recordings are two CDs of music by Jean Sibelius[13] and one CD of music by Einojuhani Rautavaara.

In 2012, the NZSO collaborated with Booktrack and Salman Rushdie to create music for an enhanced edition of Rusdhie's short story In the South .[14] 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 and the Symphony ‘Humen 1839’, written in collaboration with compatriot Chen Yi, was nominated for Best Orchestral Performance at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2016. Singaporean Darrell Ang 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.

In 2020 the NZSO collaborated with composer Claire Cowan to produce a recording of the music from the original ballet "Hansel and Gretel", which had been commissioned by The Royal New Zealand Ballet the preceding year.[15] The album won the 2021 Aotearoa Music Award for Best Classical Album.[16]

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

• 2005 Robin Toan [19]
• 2006 Claire Cowan [20]
• 2007 Karlo Margetić [21]
• 2008 Tabea Squire [22]
• 2009 Natalie Hunt [23]
• 2011 Alexandra Hay [24]
• 2012 Alex Taylor [25]
• 2013 Sam Logan [26]
• 2014 Sarah Ballard [27]
• 2015 Salina Fisher[28]
• 2016 Celeste Oram[29]
• 2017 Reuben Jelleyman[29]
• 2018 Josiah Carr [30]
• 2019 Glen Downie [31]
• 2020 Joshua Pearson [32]
• 2021 Ihlara McIndoe
• 2022 David Mason
• 2023 Nathaniel Otley

The New Zealand Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1987 by NZSO violinist 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.[33]