Don’t miss Masterworks in Manukau tomorrow night!   

The NZSO’s annual Setting Up Camp tour is on the road now. 

Our Masterworks evening concerts led by NZSO Music Director Emeritus James Judd have already enthralled audiences in Wellington, Blenheim and Nelson. Tomorrow, we bring this thrilling programme to Manukau (10 June) and Kerikeri, which is now sold out, on 13 June. 

Setting Up Camp daytime performances and events continue with our Ngā Tohu o te Taiao Schools’ Concerts in Manukau (11 June), Whangārei (12 June) and Kerikeri (13 June). A Side-by-Side session, where local musicians perform alongside NZSO players is in Whangārei this week (12 June). 

Masterworks: Mozart, Beethoven & Haydn is an exhilarating journey from the hall of the mountain king to the Viennese countryside with a selection of classical music’s greatest hits. 

Manukau and Kerikeri feature the instantly recognisable Suite No. 1 from Grieg’s Peer Gynt, Beethoven’s iconic Sixth Symphony (Pastoral), the world premiere of Kiwi composer Briar Prastiti’s The Garden and majestic Symphony No. 100 (Military). 

Our thanks to Pub Charity in helping make Setting Up Camp possible and Roger and Catherine Taylor for their generous support for our Nelson performances. 

Experience future music stars with the NZSO National Youth Orchestra

Aotearoa New Zealand’s brightest young orchestral musicians come together next month for NYO Adventure: Rachmaninov & Strauss in association with the Adam Foundation, conducted by the acclaimed Canadian maestro Adam Johnson.  

This is your chance to witness the next generation of musical brilliance in an unforgettable evening of artistry and passion in Wellington and Auckland. 

Joining them is rising star Madison Horman, a 2024 Lexus Song Quest semi-finalist. Madison performs Richard Strauss’ exquisite 4 Lieder Op. 27, a set of songs originally composed as a wedding gift for Strauss’ wife, soprano Pauline de Ahna. With her refined talent and fresh experience from the Royal Academy of Music, Madison is poised to bring these romantic and expressive works to life in a way that is both intimate and breathtaking.   

This year’s programme also features glacier, a brand-new composition by NZSO NYO 2025 Composer-in-Residence Luka Venter, offering a fresh and bold addition to the orchestral repertoire. Audiences can also revel in the daring and charismatic energy of Strauss’ Don Juan, followed by the sweeping emotions of Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony—a masterwork that dances between moods of deep longing, playful charm, and soaring passion.   

Don’t miss the chance to support and celebrate these talented young musicians as they make their mark in the world of symphonic music. 

Firebird takes flight in Wellington and Christchurch

Firebird: Ravel & Stravinsky in Wellington (17 July) and Christchurch (19 July) promises an electrifying evening of musical storytelling, featuring acclaimed Spanish pianist Javier Perianes making his NZSO debut. 

Celebrated for his ability to make the piano “sing and glitter with alert, polished brilliance” (Sydney Morning Herald), Javier takes the stage for two dazzling works: Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, a lively fusion of jazz-infused rhythms and echoes of the composer’s Spanish Basque heritage, and de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain, a dramatic and seductive portrait of Andalusian Spain.   

Guiding this evocative musical journey is another NZSO debut: conductor Emilia Hoving – winner of the Finnish Critics’ Prize for Best Newcomer in the Arts (2021). With a conducting style praised as both precise and powerful, Hoving leads the orchestra through an exhilarating programme.   

From 1950s Christchurch with John Ritchie’s A Christchurch Symphony, where the bustling energy of Papanui Road and the clanging of tram bells come vividly to life, to the fiery magic of Stravinsky’s Firebird, a masterpiece that shimmers with the legend of the glowing bird of Russian myth, this is an evening that’s not to be missed. 

Support the 2025 NZSO National Youth Orchestra

For over 65 years, the NZSO National Youth Orchestra has nurtured the next generation of musicians offering a professional experience unlike any other in the country, which continues to shape Aotearoa’s arts and cultural landscape.  In July young musicians from around the country will assemble for NYO Adventure: Rachmaninov & Strauss, presented in association with the Adam Foundation. 

This is a vital professional development programme for emerging musicians, it is only possible because of generous donations.    

Make a gift today, to be part of a young musician's musical journey. Support the NYO Appeal! 

State-of-the-art fitout gets funding boost 

Government funding towards completion of the NZSO’s fit out in the new national music centre was this week celebrated by a visit to the construction site in Wellington Town Hall by Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith. 

The Minister, accompanied by the NZSO’s new Chief Executive Marc Feldman and NZSO Board Chair Carmel Walsh, was shown progress on the NZSO’s facilities, including a state-of-the-art recording studio which is being completed in the Town Hall basement. 

The Government announced in the 2025 Budget an additional $2 million towards the NZSO’s fitout. 

During the visit, the Minister and accompanying media were also shown progress on the Town Hall auditorium where live performances, including NZSO concerts, will resume after the extensive seismic strengthening and upgrade of the Town Hall is completed. 

The national music centre, which includes the Town Hall, is a unique collaboration between the NZSO, Victoria University of Wellington’s New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī and Wellington City Council. 

Enjoy the NZSO when you fly overseas with Air NZ 

The NZSO’s Storytime is a magical blend of storytelling and music which countless tamariki and their whanāu adore. 

Each episode features New Zealand music performed by NZSO players as a special guest reads a much-loved Aotearoa New Zealand children’s story. 

We’re delighted that you can now watch four Storytime episodes on Air New Zealand international flights. 

The four episodes are Taea Ngā Whetū (read by Piripi Taylor), Kua Whetūrangitia a Koro (Pere Wihongi), Tio Tiamu (Maaka Pohatu) and I Roto i te Ngahere (Ria Hall). Each story in narrated in te reo Māori with English subtitles available. 

And just as exciting, from the comfort of your Air New Zealand seat during flights you can also enjoy NZSO performances. 

Air New Zealand’s selection’s features two NZSO performances to dazzle your eyes and ears by Kiwi composers David Mason (Wāhi Ngaro) and Gareth Farr (Ngā Hihi o Matariki). 

For all Storytime episodes and more join our streaming platform NZSO+ 

Nothing beats the NZSO’s new timpani

Thanks to the generosity of our NZSO Foundation donors, all of Aotearoa New Zealand can now experience the glorious sound of Dresden timpani with the arrival of our new touring drums. 

“Without this kind of support and commitment to the NZSO, the acquisition of instruments like these simply would not be possible. Kudos to the internationally renowned Precision Classic Timpani for building these wonderful bespoke instruments for the NZSO,” says Section Principal Timpani Laurence Reese. 

“Timpani are large, heavy, and surprisingly delicate,” he says. 

“Symphonic-quality instruments are not ideally suited to travel. Yet, that's what orchestras all over the world have been doing since the invention of the modern Dresden timpani in 1881. And touring is what the NZSO has been doing since its inception in 1947. But the demands of travelling timpani all over Aotearoa New Zealand have been fraught with challenges; their own size, weight, and ungainliness, the limits of the moving truck, the access to venues large and small, and the position on the venue stage all play a part in the difficulties of the NZSO Production Team and the timpanists” 

The new timpani, made exclusively for the NZSO by Precision Classic Timpani in Michigan, means that the NZSO is finally after many decades able to offer the sound of superior Dresden-style timpani all over the country, and not just in Wellington. 

Through the generous contributions of donors to the NZSO Foundation, funding became available in August of 2019, and the drums were ordered in March of 2020. 

But Dresden timpani are not an off-the-shelf musical instrument, says Laurence.  

Each set is custom built by only a handful of manufacturers in Europe or the USA. What differentiates these new timpani apart from others is their lighter weight and ease of handling, without compromising the superior sound production of Dresden instruments.  

“When the Foundation confirmed the order for a set of drums from Precision Classic Timpani in that March, little did we know of the challenges about to befall the process over the coming five years. A global pandemic, a worldwide shortage of copper, design tweaks by the NZSO and the manufacturer, shipping cost increases, and finally the three-month journey by ship to New Zealand all conspired to make what should have been a year-long process into one that was five times longer.”  

Now that the Dresden timpani have arrived, they will be the main touring instruments for NZSO concerts around the country for many decades to come.  

Says Laurence: “Special thanks must go to the NZSO Foundation Board, the Foundation's donors, the NZSO Production team, and Mark Guthrie, the designer and owner of Precision Classic Timpani. Without these partners, New Zealanders would be without this majestic, magnificent sound in concerts all around the country.