Beyond Words: our unique collaborative music experience begins on 07 March

Next week the NZSO joins with Aotearoa New Zealand’s Muslim communities and acclaimed international artists to present Beyond Words in Christchurch (07 March), Wellington (09 March) and Auckland (10 March). 

Supported by the Ministry for Ethnic Communities and the Rātā Foundation, Beyond Words is a special collaboration to promote unity and peace through music and to honour the lives lost and changed forever in Ōtautahi Christchurch on 15 March 2019.  

Featuring acclaimed conductor Fawzi Haimor, powerful Moroccan vocalist OUM and oud virtuoso Kyriakos Tapakis, the NZSO performs the New Zealand premieres of remarkable works from American Valerie Coleman, Iranian Reza Vali, Estonian Arvo Pärt, traditional songs and the world premiere of a new work from renowned Aotearoa New Zealand composer John Psathas. 

Psathas’ Ahlan wa Sahlan, composed in collaboration with OUM and Tapakis, uses the Arabic welcome to let people know they are in a place where they belong.  

“I felt really humbled and touched by John's [Psathas'] approach because of the context of this work,” OUM told RNZ Concert in an interview. 

“I always had been singing since I was a kid, but not taking it too seriously... I loved [architecture] actually, I spent six wonderful years, but during this time I was already doing gigs. 

“I think [music] is not only about wanting to express something. Now that I practice music for years, I believe this is more than a job... I think it's a field where we learn about ourselves as musicians and artists, and the practice of music and of writing and composing gets us more close to who we are, and gets us in front of ourselves. And I'm still learning.” 

Beyond Words in Wellington is presented in association with the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts and the Auckland performance is presented in association with Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival. 

Vocalist Abdelilah Rharrabti, vocalist and daf musician Esmail Fathi, and saz player Liam Oliver from Ōtautahi Christchurch’s Simurgh Music School, also join the Orchestra to perform traditional music of the Middle East.  

Beyond Words has a series of free community engagement events in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland in collaboration with Muslim communities and Unity Week, the official commemoration to be held from 15 March. 

A recorded performance of Beyond Words will be streamed for free on NZSO+ on 15 March at 8.30pm.  

NZSO to play extraordinary new music and a Mahler masterpiece in April

One of the world’s best percussionists joins the NZSO in April to perform an extraordinary and critically acclaimed work inspired by climate change for the first time outside the United States.

Losing Earth by Emmy-winning and Grammy-nominated composer Adam Schoenberg features percussionist Jacob Nissly, who also performed at the world premiere of the lauded percussion concerto in 2019.

Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a thrilling thing to behold… a bravura theatrical spectacle” Losing Earth was inspired by the climate catastrophe threatening our natural world and the ancient use of percussion in storytelling.

In addition, Schoenberg, twice named among the top 10 most performed living composers by American orchestras, will be in New Zealand for the performances in Wellington and Auckland as part of the NZSO’s Mahler 5 programme, led by NZSO Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor Gemma New.

“Losing Earth is a fierce, atmospheric, and dramatic work that showcases many facets of what a percussionist can do, while also addressing the topic of climate change as a musical narrative,” says Schoenberg.

“I’m thrilled to come to New Zealand for the first time and to witness Jake Nissly, Gemma New, and the NZSO perform the southern hemisphere premiere of this work.”

Nissly is Principal Percussionist for the San Francisco Symphony and works often with Schoenberg.

“I am incredibly excited to give the premier of this piece for the first time outside of the United States. Adam and I share a friendship and collaboration back to our time in school together and I couldn't be more thrilled to be able to perform this piece with the NZSO,” he says.

For Gemma New Losing Earth is an exciting complement to Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, which requires 99 musicians on stage, and New Zealand composer Salina Fisher’s remarkable Kintsugi.

“Get ready for extremes,” Gemma says. “The Fifth Symphony is passionate, wild and drenched in emotion. Inferno versus paradise, reality versus utopia, despair versus hope, frailness versus vehemence. From solemness to joy we run the full gamut in this astounding musical journey.

“Kintsugi is the ancient Japanese art of embracing imperfections. Salina has marvellously written delicate, floating melodies, swirling, rustling textures, and calm sonic ponds to emulate this replenishing spiritual journey.”

Mahler 5 is generously supported by NZSO donors Bill Falconer, Tim Fulton and Anna Greenwood.

Testimony, featuring Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky touring this April

Experience exhilarating and evocative works by music giants Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Bruckner, New Zealand’s Douglas Lilburn and Finland’s greatest composer since Sibelius, Einojuhani Rautavaara, with the NZSO in April.

Testimony Shostakovich & Tchaikovsky, directed by NZSO Concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppänen, is a rare opportunity to enjoy crucial works by the composers performed exclusively by the NZSO’s strings.

With performances in Wellington, Nelson, Napier, Tauranga, Hamilton and Auckland, Testimony includes the NZSO’s talented Associate Principal Cellist Ken Ichinose as soloist for Tchaikovsky’s romantic Andante cantabile, the famous second movement from his String Quartet No. 1 which the composer arranged for cello and orchestra.

Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony is an arrangement of his Eighth String Quartet, written after he saw the aftermath of the apocalyptic 1945 bombing of Dresden. Though he dedicated the Quartet to “victims of fascism and war,” in his later memoir, Testimony, Shostakovich said that the Quartet in fact described himself.

The Adagio from Bruckner’s String Quintet has been lauded as “the pearl of the quintet … one of the noblest, most enlightened, tenderest and most beautiful in sound.”

Rautavaara’s Pelimannit is a suite of fantasies on Finnish fiddle music, while Lilburn’s Diversions overflows with Lilburn’s love for the Kiwi countryside.

The Nelson performance of Testimony is generously supported by Roger and Catherine Taylor.

NZSO’s 2024 Conducting Fellowship is the biggest yet

The NZSO’s Conducting Fellows – the largest number to date – were welcomed in February to the first of four sessions in 2024.

This year’s cohort is a mix of 14 conducting students from across Aotearoa New Zealand. Under the guidance of NZSO Music Director Emeritus James Judd and NZSO Principal Conductor-in-Residence Hamish McKeich, each student took part in two days preparation with pianists before conducting the full NZSO in works that ranged from Elgar’s String Serenade to Mussorgsky’s Night on the Bald Mountain.

The NZSO Conducting Fellowship Te whakawhiwhinga kaiārahi is funded through the Tindall Foundation with the generous support of Creative New Zealand through its Pacific Arts programme.

The 2024 Conducting Fellowship programme is also the subject of a study to be undertaken by noted leadership scholar Associate Professor Ralph Bathurst of Massey University and NZSO Second Violins Sub-Principal Emeritus Dr David Gilling. The study will look at what the experience of working with a leading orchestra brings to the connection between our Conducting Fellows and the musical communities they lead.

Two Conducting Fellows, Reuben Brown and Kira Oldfield, were interviewed by RNZ Concert about their experience, which can be heard online.

Asked what makes a good conductor, Kira said: “The orchestra needs you to start, stop, turn corners and go faster and go slower ... and they need to have absolute confidence that you know what you're doing so that you can help them.”

Join us at the NZSO Foundation Gala Dinner in March

Curated in collaboration with our fabulous partner, Logan Brown Restaurant, the NZSO Foundation’s first Gala Dinner event since 2018 is at the Grand Hall at Parliament in just three weeks.

As well as an exciting social event for our donors and supporters, a limited number of tickets are available for the public and NZSO Members to purchase. Get in quickly to reserve your places as there are just a few tickets left!

This lively black-tie gala dinner is an opportunity for 120 guests to join members of  the NZSO to celebrate our wonderful supporters and benefactors.  The venue is generously sponsored by The Honourable Paul Goldsmith, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage – who will also give a keynote speech and treat guests to a performance on the piano. The MC is the NZSO’s own inimitable David Bremner (Principal Trombone). Music, fine food and wine will feature throughout the evening.

Through this elegant and memorable event, we wish to recognise and shine a light on the nurturing community and family of donors and supporters around the NZSO. Alongside this dinner, Webb’s will host an online auction and all proceeds raised will support the purchase of integral new instruments which the NZSO is seeking to acquire in 2024.  

Going once, going twice… join the NZSO Foundation online auction to fund new instruments

For the NZSO to perform the greatest music ever written also means having the best instruments!

This year the NZSO Foundation is raising funds to buy much-needed specialist instruments and accessories in the ever-so-vital wind and percussion sections. (Where would Ravel or Prokofiev be without them?)

To this end, the NZSO Foundation has amassed an impressive array of objects and unique experiences that will be auctioned online through renowned New Zealand auction house Webb’s 21 – 28 March.

The lots up for auction range from a baton autographed by the NZSO’s Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor Gemma New, through to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to receive private coaching and tuition from NZSO Music Director Emeritus James Judd and let your inner Gustavo Dudamel out as you conduct the NZSO on a mutually agreed symphonic work.

At home or in-restaurant culinary experiences by Logan Brown Restaurant, luxury accommodation at Queenstown’s exquisite Eichardt's Private Hotel, Fijian resort experiences, premium season opening tickets to the London Symphony Orchestra, and much more will be up for grabs.

All proceeds will be put toward a goal of $50,000 which the NZSO will invest on oboes, a cor anglais, a marimba, xylophone, and a vibraphone.

In the words of NZSO Principal Timpanist Larry Reese: “We are the orchestral sprinkles, taking something wonderful, sprinkling our varied sounds on top, and making it even better!”

NZSO and Royal New Zealand Ballet – a 40-year partnership in 2024

This year the NZSO is delighted to again perform with the Royal New Zealand Ballet for six performances of Swan Lake in Wellington from 1 May.

With Tchaikovsky’s sweeping score, Swan Lake is one of the most popular and beloved of all ballets. This year is also the 40th anniversary of the NZSO’s first performances with the Royal NZ Ballet. In 1984 we joined forces for Swan Lake, beginning an exciting and enduring creative partnership, ranging from small scale intimate shows, such as our hit A Soldier’s Tale in 2021, to full-scale ballet productions.

For the Wellington performances the NZSO will be led RNZB Principal Conductor and NZSO Principal Conductor-in-Residence Hamish McKeich.

Swan Lake also tours to Auckland (with Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra), Napier, Christchurch (with Christchurch Symphony Orchestra), Dunedin and Invercargill in May and June.