Symphony orchestra misses Grammy
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra missed out on winning a Grammy Award this week.
The orchestra was nominated for Best Orchestral Performance at the 58th annual Grammy Awards, which took place in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
If the orchestra had won, it would have joined the ranks of Lorde, The Flight of the Conchords and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa as New Zealand Grammy Award winners.
The Symphony Orchestra’s entry comprised of a recording of works by Pulitzer Prize-winning Chinese composer Zhou Long and Symphony Humen 1839, written in collaboration with compatriot Chen Yi.
Singaporean Darrell Ang conducted the Symphony Orchestra recording, which took place in Wellington’s Michael Fowler Centre in June 2013 and was released on the Naxos label in May 2015.
Orchestra chief executive Christopher Blake said he was proud of the nomination.
‘‘The recording is exciting and colourful and provides many opportunities for the orchestra to display its affinity with contemporary music from the AsiaPacific region,’’ he said.
‘‘This is one of many international collaborations and projects the orchestra has been involved in over the past few years. I’m proud that our players have been acknowledged for their artistic excellence.’’
The winner was the Boston Symphony Orchestra for its recording of Shostakovich: Under Stalin’s Shadow – Symphony No. 10, conducted by Andris Nelsons.
Other nominees included the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony and Oregon Symphony. It is the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s first Grammy nomination.
As New Zealand’s national symphony orchestra, the NZSO tours extensively throughout the country each year.
It also tours internationally and earned wide critical acclaim for its performances on its 2010 European tour.
The orchestra has made more than 60 recordings for the Naxos label and has sold more than one million CDs internationally.