Dunedin Symphony Orchestra

About

The Southern-most professional orchestra in the world! Visit: http:// www.dso.org.nz

Story

The Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, celebrating its 50th anniversary year, is Dunedin's only professional orchestra, and one of four orchestras in New Zealand funded recurrently by Creative New Zealand. The orchestra plays an extensive cultural role in Dunedin and in the wider communities in Otago and Southland, as well as many more through other media. The orchestra’s annual programme includes a five-concert subscription series, featuring high calibre conductors and soloists from overseas and from New Zealand, and some of NZ’s finest composers.
The programme also includes a wide variety of concerts, such as chamber music concerts, Proms, performing with the Topp Twins, and the Dunedin Sound Songs and Singers (Tally Ho!) concerts. Its education programmes include schools concerts, a junior academy, masterclasses and workshops, and scholarships. It accompanies productions by resident and touring opera, ballet, including of course the Royal New Zealand Ballet, musical and choral companies, and it tours to regional centres, such as Wanaka.
The orchestra size varies from 65 – 70 players for full symphonic concerts to 35 for its chamber orchestra concerts. The DSO players are part-time and they range in experience from one player who has been in the orchestra for all of the orchestra’s 50 years, to another who was in the NZSO for 20 years, to new students.
The orchestra has very strong ties with the University of Otago’s Music Department, including collaborative projects for performance, conducting and composition students and lecturers.

For more information, please see dso.org.nz

"The Dunedin Symphony Orchestra is Dunedin’s only professional orchestra, and our major funders are Creative New Zealand, Dunedin City Council and the Otago Community Trust.We have established a reputation for the high calibre of our performances. We present an annual five-concert subscription series, plus light music, schools and chamber concerts, and education programmes including masterclasses and workshops. We also regularly accompany productions by resident and touring opera, ballet, musical and choral companies."