Genre-spanning Star Conductor Leads NZSO For Winter Festival

From working with top orchestras and opera companies around the globe, to collaborations with bands Gorillaz and The National, André de Ridder is one of the most sought-after conductors in the world today.

For the first time, the German conductor leads the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in three back-to-back concerts in Wellington (28-30 July) and Auckland in (4-6 August).

Become Ocean is the New Zealand premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece by American composer John Luther Adams.

Hailed as one of the best orchestral works of the 21st century, Become Ocean is a unique immersive music experience, inspired by the seascapes of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest and a meditation on climate change.

“As the polar ice melts and sea level rises,” says Adams, “we humans find ourselves facing the prospect that once again we may quite literally become ocean.”

The work has captured the imagination of musicians across genres. Pop superstar Taylor Swift was so moved by the Seattle Symphony’s recording of Become Ocean, she donated US$50,000 to the orchestra. Adams was delighted. “Through her generosity and her open ears, Taylor Swift is inviting her fans to experience a new and different kind of music,” he said.

The second concert, Marsalis: Blues Symphony, features two monumental works – George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and legendary jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ acclaimed Blues Symphony.

Regarded as Marsalis’ most innovative work, Blues Symphony takes 12-bar blues and explodes it into a lyrical, kaleidoscopic history of American music.

For Gershwin’s treasured jazz-age classic, which turns 100 next year, the NZSO will be accompanied by renowned Australian pianist Simon Tedeschi.

The concert opens with Mari by Bryce Dessner of indie rock band The National. Dessner, a Grammy Award winner both as a classical composer and in The National, sought inspiration for Mari from the landscapes where he lives in southwest France.

Maestro de Ridder’s third NZSO concert, Beethoven 5, features the composer’s trailblazing Fifth Symphony and his remarkable Coriolan Overture, alongside a mesmerising contemporary piece subito con forza by Korean composer Unsuk Chin, inspired by both of Beethoven’s works.

Tickets to all concerts are available via Ticketmaster.

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