New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Season

Korean conductor Han-Na Chang is considered one of the leading voices of her generation. She leads NZSO Principal Cellist Andrew Joyce and Principal Violist Julia Joyce in a concert of great romantics.

Conductor James Judd leads the Orchestra in a jubilant programme. It includes Shostakovich’s mighty 9th Symphony. Works by two Todd Composer Awards finalists also feature. 

The NZSO National Youth Orchestra unleashes a programme full of Russian vigour and Kiwi brilliance. It features two talented young New Zealanders — conductor Tianyi Lu and 14-year-old pianist Shan Liu. 

A French duo features in a programme of heroes and heroines. See conductor Stéphane Denève and mezzo-soprano Virginie Verrez. Both vocalist and orchestra are stretched to their limit in Strauss’s tone poem ‘Ein Heldenleben’. 

André de Ridder returns to conduct a cozy winter festival concert to warm the classical music fan’s heart. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 is the perfect vehicle for Australian pianist Andrea Lam’s NZSO debut. 

A free concert curated for neurodivergent children and adults to enjoy the orchestra in a sensory-friendly environment. An open-door experience enables people to move in and out of the performance at any time. 

Join the NZSO for a whānau-friendly concert of witches, wizards, and bedtime stories. From classical repertoire to famous movie soundtracks, you’ll be swept away on a magical adventure. 

It’s a night of romantic period wonder. Soloist Maxim Vengerov was a child prodigy. Now an adult, he has achieved superstar status as a violinist. He joins with conductor André de Ridder to perform one of the great violin concertos. 

One of the world’s great violinists Augustin Hadelich performs Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Finnish conductor Dima Slobodeniouk leads the orchestra in two marine-themed pieces, ʻLa Mer’ and ‘The Oceanides’. 

Conductor Gemma New presents a world premiere of New Zealand composer Lyell Cresswell’s third piano concerto. There is also an ode to Appalachia by Copland and Mozart’s celestial symphony. 

Aotearoa’s brightest young musicians perform as soloists and side-by-side with the NZSO in a concert celebrating the next generation of performers. 

Here’s one for the opera lovers. Thanks to his music’s emotional intensity and directness, Puccini is considered one of the most celebrated Italian opera composers still being performed today. 

Superstar conductor Vasily Petrenko leads us on an aural adventure of soaring heights and swooping emotions. Pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk will dazzle with Rachmaninov’s ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini’. 

Behold the universe in this cosmos-spanning programme of English classics. This concert includes Holst’s twentieth-century masterwork ‘The Planets’ and Elgar’s Violin Concerto played by Christian Tetzlaff. 

The trumpets shall sound as the NZSO rings in a Kiwi summer with that evergreen Christmas staple: Handel’s ‘Messiah’. Brit Thomas Blunt conducts a cohort of New Zealand soloists.