New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to play special concerts designed for Covid restrictions

NZSO Concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppänen is one of an ensemble of Orchestra players performing free concerts at Wellington's Public Trust Hall from tomorrow Photo /Latitude Creative

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) will play live to audiences this week in a series of concerts designed for an audience of up to 100 people.

The seven special free concerts will take place at the Public Trust Hall on Lambton Quay in Wellington from tomorrow.

The NZSO had to cancel its North Island Art of the Fugue tour this month because of Covid-19 restrictions.

It has also postponed its sold-out 75th anniversary concert at Wellington's 2000-seat Michael Fowler Centre until later this year.

Under the traffic light system's red setting the orchestra is allowed to perform live with an audience of up 100 people. Everyone in the audience must be vaccinated, maintain social distancing, and are encouraged to wear masks.

Major blows have been dealt to the capital's arts scene in the past week with the cancellation of the Homegrown and CubaDupa festivals.

However, the NZ Fringe Festival is still going ahead with small venues, reduced capacities, and other measures to help ensure audiences and artists can all safely participate.

NZSO's concert series Daily Catch will include works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart and New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn. The programme changes for each concert and the works to be played are announced each night.

Entry is free, but tickets are required and they have all been swiftly snapped up apart from the seventh concert set to be listed online shortly.

NZSO chief executive Peter Biggs said the orchestra was determined to still present live music in a way that ensured the safety of players and audience members.

"Our players love nothing more than performing in front of a live audience and they were eager to look at other ways where we could perform live under the red setting. We also knew the public were just as hungry for a night out where they could enjoy their national orchestra live during our 75th anniversary year.

"The Daily Catch concert series lets audiences still experience the NZSO live and feel safe in doing so. This will be the first time we've partnered and performed at Public Trust Hall, which is a fantastic venue for live music and one where the audience can comfortably maintain social distancing."