NEW ZEALAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1946, is the country’s leading professional orchestra. It has an establishment of 90 players and performs over 100 concerts annually. Touring within New Zealand is a major part of the Orchestra’s activities. All its main symphonic programs are presented in Auckland and Wellington, and in addition the Orchestra visits some 25 New Zealand towns and cities annually.

In August 2008 the Orchestra travelled to China to take part in the Beijing Olympic Cultural Festival. During this prestigious tour the NZSO performed at the Forbidden City and the National Centre for the Performing Arts. A subsequent Listener article described this as New Zealand’s “other gold”.

In 2005 the NZSO undertook a highly successful tour that included performances at the BBC Proms, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Snape Maltings in England and the World Expo at Aichi in Japan. The London Evening Standard headlined the Proms concert as a “Triumph for Kiwis” while The Times wrote of “the feel-good energy of this Orchestra: its brightly focused strings, its characterful woodwind and its noble brass”.

Pietari Inkinen was appointed the NZSO’s Music Director from January 2008. He succeeds James Judd who held the position from 1999 to 2007 and is now Music Director Emeritus. Other conductors who have worked with the NZSO include Xian Zhang, Alexander Lazarev, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, David Atherton, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Edo de Waart. Soloists who have appeared with the Orchestra recently include Lang Lang, Sa Chen, Lynn Harrell, Cho Liang Lin, Hilary Hahn, Vadim Repin, Yefim Bronfman, Simon O’Neill, Steven Isserlis, Jonathan Lemalu and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

The NZSO has an extensive catalogue of CD recordings, mostly on Naxos. Over one million of these CDs have been sold internationally in the last decade and they have received critical acclaim. Gramophone magazine welcomed the NZSO’s first recording with Pietari Inkinen (of Sibelius tone poems) by saying “perceptive and engaging Sibelius from this promising young Finnish conductor: Not only does he draw some high-quality, notably zestful playing from his new charges, he directs…with such keen temperament, abundant character and sensitivity to texture and nuance that they come up sounding strikingly new-minted”. In the September 2008 issue of Gramophone, the Orchestra’s recording of John Antill’s Coroboree was given star billing, joining the list of NZSO CDs that have been featured in the “Editor’s Choice” section. Other repertoire recorded by the Orchestra includes music by Elgar (three discs), Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven, Bernstein, Copland, Lilburn, Sculthorpe, Frank Bridge, Akutagawa, Mendelssohn, Honegger, Liszt and Vaughan Williams.

For more information, please visit www.nzso.co.nz.

September 2008

Photos courtesy of Robert Catto

Albums featuring this artist are available for download from ClassicsOnline.com
ADAGIO CHILLOUT	8.556783
AKUTAGAWA: Ellora Symphony / Trinita Sinfonica / Rhapsody	8.555975
ANTILL: Corroboree / Outback Overture	8.570241
Art & Music: Manet - Music of His Time	8.558117
Artist Profile Series - VAN RAAT, Ralph	8.578026
BERNSTEIN: Symphony No. 1 / Concerto for Orchestra	8.559100
BEST OF BRITISH	8.570573-74
BEST OF BRITISH LIGHT MUSIC	8.570575-76
BIZET (THE BEST OF)	8.556671
BIZET: Symphony in C Major / Jeux d'enfants	8.553027
BIZET: Symphony in C Major / L'Arlesienne / Jeux d'Enfants	8.553278
BRIDGE: Sea (The) / Enter Spring / Summer	8.557167
BRITTEN: Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20 / 4 Sea Interludes	8.553107
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 6 , WAB 106	8.553453
'Butterfly Lovers' Music and Dance Film (NTSC)	2.220002
CHEN / HE: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto (The) / BREINER: Songs and Dances from the Silk Road	6.110082
CHEN / HE: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto (The) / BREINER: Songs and Dances from the Silk Road	8.225972hdcd
CHEN / HE: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto (The) / BREINER: Songs and Dances from the Silk Road	8.557348
CINEMA CLASSICS 2004	8.556813
CLASSICAL MEDITATION	8.570364-65
CLASSICAL MOMENTS 3: Classical Music to Relax to	8.555359
CLASSICAL MOMENTS 5: Classical Music to Dine to	8.555361
COPLAND: Symphony No. 3 / Billy the Kid	8.559106
CRESSWELL, L.: Voice Inside (The) / Alas! How Swift / Cassandra's Songs / Kaea (Pierard, New Zealand Symphony, Judd)	9.70003
DELIUS (THE BEST OF)	8.556837
DELIUS: Paris / Brigg Fair / Eventyr / Irmelin / La Calinda	8.553001
DISCOVER FILM MUSIC	8.558210-11
DISCOVER OPERA	8.558196-97
Discover the Classics, Vol. 2	8.554246-47
DISCOVER THE SYMPHONY (1998 edition)	8.554337-38
DISCOVER THE SYMPHONY (2008 edition)	8.558208-09
ELGAR (THE VERY BEST OF)	8.552133-34
ELGAR: Enigma Variations / Pomp and Circumstances Marches, Nos. 1-5	8.571026
ELGAR: Marches	8.557273
ELGAR: Orchestral Miniatures	8.557577
ELGAR: Wand of Youth / Nursery Suite	8.557166
EXTREME CLASSICS	8.557941-42
GERSHWIN: American in Paris (An) / Porgy and Bess	8.559107
GERSHWIN: An American in Paris / Porgy and Bess / Rhapsody in Blue	8.571028
GOODWIN: Drake 400 Suite / New Zealand Suite	8.223518
GREENSLEEVES - English Pastoral Music	8.557535
HINDEMITH: Mathis der Maler / Symphonic Metamorphosis	8.553078
HONEGGER: Symphony No. 3, 'Liturgique' / Pacific 231 / Rugby	8.555974
HUMMEL: Missa Solemnis / Te Deum	8.557193
HUMMEL: Missa Solemnis / Te Deum	8.557572
JANACEK, L.: Operatic Orchestral Suites, Vol. 1 (arr. P. Breiner) - Jenufa / The Excursions of Mr Broucek	8.570555
JANACEK, L.: Operatic Orchestral Suites, Vol. 2 (arr. P. Breiner) - Kat'a Kabanova / The Makropulos Affair	8.570556
KANAWA, Kiri Te: Portrait (A) (PAL)	100226
KARLOWICZ, M.: Symphonic Poems, Vol. 2 (Wit) - Powracajace fale / Smutna opowiesc / Odwieczne piesni	8.570295
KRAUS: Violin Concerto / Olympie / Azire	8.570334
LILBURN: Orchestral Works	8.557697
LILBURN: Symphonies Nos. 1 - 3	8.555862
LISZT: Symphonic Poems, Vol. 2	8.553355
LISZT: Symphonic Poems, Vol. 3	8.557846
LISZT: Symphonic Poems, Vol. 4	8.557847
MAJESTIC JOURNEY - Original Works for Euphonium and Orchestra	8.570538
MARCHES (FAMOUS)	8.553596
MASSENET: Orchestral Suites Nos. 1- 3 / Herodiade	8.553124
MASSENET: Orchestral Suites Nos. 4 - 7	8.553125
MAYUZUMI: Bugaku / Mandala Symphony / Rumba Rhapsody	8.557693
PANDA CLASSICS - Issue Nos. 1-3 (3CD box set)	8.503204
PILGRIM'S PROGRESS: PIONEERS OF AMERICAN CLASSICAL MUSIC	8.559200
RACHMANINOV / SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Concertos	8.554677
RAUTAVAARA: Symphony No. 8, "The Journey" / Manhattan Trilogy / Apotheosis	8.570069
REGER: Mozart Variations Op. 132 / Hiller Variations Op. 100	8.553079
RIES: Piano Concertos, Vol. 1	8.557638
Russian Ballet Favourites	8.554063
SCULTHORPE: Earth Cry / Piano Concerto / Kakadu	8.557382
SHOSTAKOVICH (THE BEST OF)	8.556684
SHOSTAKOVICH (THE VERY BEST OF)	8.552129-30
SHOSTAKOVICH: Dmitry Shostakovich - A Portrait (WHITEHOUSE)	8.558188-89
SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2	8.553126
SIBELIUS, J.: Night Ride and Sunrise / Belshazzar's Feast Suite / Kuolema (New Zealand Symphony, Inkinen)	8.570763
SIBELIUS: Scenes historiques I and II / King Christian II Suite	8.570068
STORY OF AMERICAN CLASSICAL MUSIC (THE)	8.558164-65
STRAVINSKY: Igor Stravinsky - A Portrait (NICE)	8.558186-87
STRAVINSKY: Symphonies	8.225918
STRAVINSKY: Symphony in C / Symphony in Three Movements	8.553403
SVEN GORAN ERIKSSONS - Klassiska Favoriter	8.503135
THE ULTIMATE LULLABY COLLECTION	8.570514-15
THOMSON, V.: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 / Symphony on a Hymn Tune	8.559022
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (Eternal)	8.572080
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (THE BEST OF)	8.556835
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasias / Norfolk Rhapsody / In the Fen Country / Concerto Grosso	5.110053
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasias / Norfolk Rhapsody / In the Fen Country / Concerto Grosso	8.555867
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasias / Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 / In the Fen Country	6.110053
WEBER, C.M. von: Overtures (New Zealand Symphony, Wit)	8.570296
WITH LOVE TO YOU	8.557789
YAMADA: Symphony in F Major, 'Triumph and Peace'	8.555350
YAMADA: Symphony in F Major, 'Triumph and Peace'	8.555350J
ZEMLINSKY, A. von: Seejungfrau (Die) / Sinfonietta (New Zealand Symphony, Judd)	8.570240