NZSO returns for big year of music in city

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Dunedin Symphony Orchestra will join forces for a unique concert experience in May, featuring 120 musicians and a 150-strong choir.

The concert at Dunedin Town Hall, on May 15, will feature the NZSO and DSO performing side-by-side for Gustav Mahler’s immense second symphony Resurrection and the world premiere of acclaimed Dunedin composer Anthony Ritchie’s fanfare Kotahitanga.

This landmark collaboration with the national orchestra celebrates the DSO’s 60th anniversary.

NZSO chief executive Marc Feldman said in a statement "over the last seven decades, the NZSO has enjoyed bringing our music to Dunedin".

"We have built close relationships with the DSO and the city’s talented choirs and soloists. However, we have rarely had the occasion to perform together on the same stage.

"Mahler’s second symphony is a Mount Everest of classical music, so it’s only natural that two New Zealand orchestras should come together to scale its majestic heights in an extraordinary musical event," Mr Feldman said.

"We’re also honoured to join the DSO for the world premiere of new music by one of the country’s foremost composers, Anthony Ritchie. It will be a night to remember."

The Resurrection symphony is one of Mahler’s most popular and admired works.

Joining the orchestras for the "Mahler’s Resurrection — DSO and NZSO Unite" concert will be renowned conductor James Judd, soprano Anna Leese, mezzo-soprano Deborah Humble and City Choir Dunedin.

Judd, who has a long history with both orchestras, is deeply knowledgeable about Mahler’s second symphony.

In 2026, the NZSO will perform two further concerts in Dunedin.

The "Serenade" concert on October 21 will be led by New Zealand conductor Tianyi Lu and feature NZSO principal cello Andrew Joyce.

Beethoven’s blockbuster Ninth Symphony, on November 21, will feature City Choir Dunedin and will be performed under the baton of NZSO artistic adviser and principal conductor Gemma New.

The concert will open with renowned Dunedin-based composer Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead’s Hoata.

Tickets to these concerts are available now. — Allied Media