Orchestral manoeuvres

NZSO musicians will be “Setting up Camp” in small centres around New Zealand in 2021

Igor Stravinsky created The Soldier’s Tale at the end of WW1, though sadly the first tour of his engaging theatre piece was scuttled by the 1918 Spanish ‘flu epidemic. Now, as part of the NZSO’s expanded Setting up Camp project, musicians from the orchestra plus dancers and actors from the Royal NZ Ballet plan to take the chamber work to thirteen small centres from Wanaka to Kerikeri in 2021. A second Camp tour, Town & Country, takes a larger NZSO to seven more towns with a varied programme celebrating rural and urban landscapes.

The NZSO is not the only orchestra reaching beyond its traditional subscription series this  year. The APO often plays outside the standard concert hall in wider Auckland and this year increases the focus on a broader, more diverse audience through APO Connecting and small ensemble concerts such as In Your Neighbourhood.  Its well-established Unwrap the Music series also increases the accessibility of classical orchestral music for newer audiences.

The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra:

taking musicians and audiences outside the conventional concert hall

In Ōtautahi/Christchurch, the CSO is connecting explicitly with its city community.  Tūrangawaewae opens the 2021 season, marking the ten-year earthquake anniversary and including a commemorative premiere by local composer Philip Norman. Later in the year Tūmahana, based on the creation story of Ngāi Tahu, will be undertaken in creative partnership with the iwi. It features dance, aerial and visual arts; performances for schools are scheduled.

Last year the CSO collaborated with the Māori cultural performance group Te Ahikaaroa.

In 2021 they will present Tūmahana in a creative partnership with Ngāi Tahu.

During the pandemic, orchestras world-wide have taken a massive hit. Concert seasons have been cancelled outright. Closed borders have hampered contracting of international conductors and soloists. Orchestras have, however, lifted their digital game and under lockdown huge numbers watched livestreamed concerts.

Now, orchestras here are finding innovative ways to take up this audience-broadening opportunity. In seasons announced so far for 2021, alongside the silver lining of more New Zealand performers our orchestras are developing and expanding strands of activity with a clear focus on attracting a wider range of concert-goers.

Greater community presence, new venues, varied artistic presentations crossing art-form boundaries, audience engagement and education plus increased digital offerings could all add up to the biggest-ever demographic expansion of New Zealand’s classical music audience.

 For more information, check out www.nzso.co.nz/concerts-and-tickets/season-2021 www.apo.co.nz/community-education/community and www.cso.co.nz/events/turangawaewae 

This article was first published in the NZ Listener January 2021