{{Short description|Professional orchestra in Wellington, New Zealand}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=October 2019}} {{use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{infobox orchestra | name = Orchestra Wellington | short_name = OW | former_name = {{unbulleted list | Alex Lindsay String Orchestra (1948–1966) | Lindsay String Orchestra of Wellington (1967–1973) | Wellington Regional Orchestra (1974–1991) | Wellington Sinfonia (1992–2004) | Vector Wellington Orchestra (2005–2012) }} | logo = Orchestra Wellington logo.png | image = Orchestra Wellington in concert at the MFC.jpg | type = Orchestra | location = Wellington, New Zealand | principal_conductor = Marc Taddei (2007–) | concert_hall = Michael Fowler Centre | founded = {{Start date and age|1948}} | website = {{URL|https://www.orchestrawellington.co.nz}} | current_members = | past_members = }} '''Orchestra Wellington''' is New Zealand's oldest professional regional orchestra, based in the capital city of Wellington. It hosts an annual subscription series of concerts in the Michael Fowler Centre, performing varied repertoire from the Classical, Romantic and contemporary periods. The orchestra commissions and performs works by New Zealand composers, with John Psathas {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM}} the current composer-in-residence.<ref name="rnz-2020-season">{{Cite news |title=Orchestra Wellington celebrates The Great Romantic in 2020 |date=2 December 2019 |work=RNZ Concert: Upbeat |publisher=Radio New Zealand |url= https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/upbeat/audio/2018725011/orchestra-wellington-celebrates-the-great-romantic-in-2020 |access-date=20 October 2020 }}</ref> It also performs large choral works with the Orpheus Choir of Wellington, and regularly accompanies Wellington stage performances by the Royal New Zealand Ballet, New Zealand Opera, and Wellington Opera.<ref name="about">{{Cite web |title=About Your Orchestra |work=Orchestra Wellington |url=https://www.orchestrawellington.co.nz/about |access-date=23 October 2019 }}</ref>
== History ==
Wellington has had a long orchestral tradition before the establishment of its current principal orchestra. In 1928, a previous Wellington orchestra, the Wellington Symphony Orchestra, was formed with hopes of becoming a national orchestra. With Leon de Mauny conducting, it put on its first concert in the Wellington Town Hall later that year in the presence of the Governor General.<ref name="WSO">{{cite news |title=Wellington Symphony Orchestra |newspaper=The Evening Post |volume=CVI |issue=88 |date=23 October 1928 |page=5 |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19281023.2.15.17 |access-date=20 January 2024 |via=Papers Past }}></ref> The concert was recorded and broadcast on the newly formed 2YA radio station, to good reviews.<ref name="WSO-2YA">{{Cite news |title=A Fine Broadcast |newspaper=The Evening Post |volume=CVI |issue=94 |date=1 November 1928 |page=22 |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19281101.2.168 |access-date=20 January 2024 |via=Papers Past }}</ref> By 1940, losses from dwindling audiences and subscriptions partly due to the advent of World War II had threatened the orchestra with closure, and it ceased performing in 1941.<ref>{{cite news |title=Public Apathy; Symphony Orchestra; Question of Dissolution |newspaper=The Evening Post |volume=CXXIX |issue=101 |date=30 April 1940 |page=15 |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19400430.2.145 |access-date=20 January 2024 |via=Papers Past }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Orchestra in Abeyance |newspaper=The Evening Post |volume=CXXXII |issue=32 |date=6 August 1941 |page=6 |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19410806.2.25 |access-date=20 January 2024 |via=Papers Past }}</ref> The establishment of the National Orchestra in 1946, combined with a lack of players, made its revival untenable.<ref>{{Cite news |title=State Orchestra New Zealand Plan |newspaper=The Evening Star |issue=25788 |date=10 May 1946 |page=4 |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19460510.2.41 |access-date=20 January 2024 |via=Papers Past }}</ref>
In 1948, New Zealand violinist Alex Lindsay founded a new orchestra as the Alex Lindsay String Orchestra, establishing it as an incorporated society, the Wellington Regional Orchestra Foundation, in 1950. It was renamed the Lindsay String Orchestra of Wellington in 1967, and re-established with assistance from the Arts Council of New Zealand in 1973 as the Wellington Regional Orchestra.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Peter |last=Walls |title=Orchestras: Regional orchestras |encyclopedia=Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand |url=http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/orchestras/page-4 |access-date=23 October 2019}}</ref> In 1991 the orchestra was renamed Wellington Sinfonia, and in 2005 renamed again to Vector Wellington Orchestra.<ref name="natlib">{{Cite web |title=Wellington Sinfonia |work=National Library of New Zealand |url= https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22430897 |access-date=26 October 2019 }}</ref> In 2012 the orchestra dropped the naming sponsorship from electricity company Vector and rebranded to its current name, Orchestra Wellington.<ref name="namesponsor">{{Cite news |last=Forbes |first=Michael |title=Merger proposal prompts Wellington orchestra rebrand |newspaper=Dominion Post |date=5 December 2012 |url= http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/8036036/Merger-proposal-prompts-Wellington-orchestra-rebrand |access-date=26 October 2019 |via=Stuff }}</ref>
== References ==
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== External links == {{commons category}} * {{official website}}
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Category:Organisations based in Wellington Category:Culture in Wellington Category:New Zealand orchestras Category:Symphony orchestras Category:Musical groups from Wellington City