A snapshot provided by David North
The Nelson Symphony Orchestra has been going since 1966. It was initially formed as a chamber orchestra, but has now grown into a true symphonic orchestra able to tackle most historic and contemporary works.
We have about 35 regular players in the orchestra. Many are music graduates - some still working in their chosen field as performers or music teachers while others are pursuing alternate careers although retaining their passion for music. We also have a number of talented amateurs in our ranks. We aim for a high performance standard - grade 8 standard at least, as there is a community based orchestra, the Greenhill Orchestra, that provides playing opportunities for less advanced players or those wanting a more social performance environment.
We present 4 full concerts per year to the local community. Our repertoire is quite varied - we include contemporary and New Zealand music as well as the more traditional works in our concerts. Some of the local composers we have featured recently include Gareth Farr, Georgina Palmer, Natalie Hunt and Lissa Meridan. We also recently performed Appalachian Spring by Copland. Quite a stretch for our orchestra but we enjoyed the hard work, and our conductor for the concert, Beth Cohen brought out the best in the orchestra. One of our highights is our biennial Solo Spotlight - an opportunity for several young soloists from around the country to come and perform a movement from a concerto with a full orchestra.
Image from Eventfinda
We start rehearsing 5 weeks before the concert, and normally have 7 rehearsals in the fortnight leading up to the concert, so it is quite a commitment for our players. We also expect players to work on the music in their own time before turning up to the first rehearsal.
As I'm sure is the case with many other regional orchestras around the country, we sometimes struggle to get all the players we need for a concert. The demographics of Nelson are such that we have a large population of older people, including many retirees, some of whom don't wish to commit to the intensive rehearsal schedule. We have younger families in the region, but often the parents are both working full time and again struggle to find time to play in the orchestra. Where possible we include talented school age players, but inevitably they move out of Nelson after a couple of years to pursue graduate studies.
A particular problem is finding brass players - the brass band scene is active in Nelson, so often players commit to brass band events rather than the orchestra.
The result of these factors is that we generally bring in several players from outside the region for our concerts - often from Blenheim, but we have also started to bring in students and graduates from the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington. We are fortunate that our chair, who plays clarinet in the orchestra, is also a pilot for our local airline, Originair, and has been able to secure sponsorship from the airline with reduced price airline tickets which makes bringing in players easier, however the committee seems to be spending more and more time and budget finding additional players for concerts.
Given the wonderful climate and ambience here in Nelson, the region does attract high calibre people who move here for the lifestyle. An example is our resident conductor, Jason Balla. He has an impressive resume including music studies at Balliol College in Oxford, and conducting work with several professional American orchestras. Normally Jason will conduct two of our concerts per year, and we bring in guest conductors (including from overseas) for the other two concerts.
Jason Balla
We look forward to working with the Orchestra Association. Collaboration between regional orchestras can only benefit us all - for example by providing visiting players multiple performance opportunities while they are in New Zealand. We also see great benefit in having a register of players, so that we (and other orchestras) can easily source players for concerts as required.
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Did you enjoy discovering or reading about the Nelson Symphony Orchestra?
Why not send an encouraging comment to its Chairperson, David North: dnassoc@hotmail.com
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