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NZSO Chamber Orchestra |
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The NZSO Chamber Orchestra (formerly the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra) was founded in 1987 with leading players from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Since then it has established itself as New Zealand's premier chamber orchestra. The orchestra generally performs without a conductor, directed instead from the first violin chair by Music Director Donald Armstrong.
The orchestra has toured throughout New Zealand over the past 13 years, and increasingly abroad. Highlights have included acclaimed performances at EXPO in Seville in 1992, and an engagement by Musica Viva, Australia as Orchestra-in-Residence at the prestigious Mittagong Festival, NSW, in 1993.
The NZSO Chamber Orchestra performs regularly with distinguished international soloists, and many of New Zealand's finest artists have joined the orchestra in concert, including pianist Michael Houstoun, tenor Patrick Power, flutist Alexa Still, and the New Zealand String Quartet. In 1996 Dame Malvina Major, Helen Medlyn and Deborah Wai Kapohe made their debuts with the orchestra, and in 1997 the bass Paul Whelan came home to New Zealand for his first tour with the orchestra.
The NZSO Chamber Orchestra has produced a catalogue of fine CDs, including Douglas Lilburn's Landfall in Unknown Seas narrated by Sir Edmund Hillary, the music of Richard Rodney Bennett, and the world premiére recording of the complete Orchestral Trios of Johann Stamitz, released in late 1995. In 2000 they recorded Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and other Britten works for the Australian label Artworks Ltd.
The NZSO Chamber Orchestra is a division of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
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| Recordings |
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MMT2040 John Ritchie – Aquarius
In commemoration of the composer's 80th birthday, Trust Records presents a programme of John Ritchie's delightfully attractive works for string orchestra and full orchestra.
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MMT2036 Gareth Farr – Warriors from Pluto
By turns dynamic and lyrical, percussive and rhythmic, this CD features five new works for chamber orchestra performed by the NZSO Chamber Orchestra with the STRIKE percussion ensemble.
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MMT2022 Keith Lewis – Opera Kings, Gods & Mortals
In this programme of operatic arias by Handel, Gluck and Mozart, New Zealand’s busiest tenor performs the music for which he is most well-known.
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