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Royal Northern Sinfonia

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Royal Northern Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra, founded in Newcastle upon Tyne and currently based in Gateshead. For the first 46 years of its history the orchestra gave most of its concerts at the Newcastle City Hall.[1] It also gave monthly concerts in Middlesbrough town hall and at Stockton & Billingham Technical College in Billingham. Since 2004 the orchestra has been resident at The Glasshouse, formerly known as Sage Gateshead. In June 2013 Queen Elizabeth II bestowed the title 'Royal' on the orchestra, formally naming it Royal Northern Sinfonia.[2]

Royal Northern Sinfonia
Orchestra
Former nameNorthern Sinfonia
Founded1958; 66 years ago (1958)
Concert hallSage Gateshead
Principal conductorDinis Sousa

History

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Hall 1 at Sage Gateshead, the orchestra's current home

Michael Hall (1932–2012) founded the ensemble in 1958 as the first permanent professional resident chamber orchestra in Britain outside London.[3] The ensemble gave its first concert on 24 September 1958 as the 'Sinfonia Orchestra', at the City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne, and gave six concerts in its first season, 1958–1959.[4] Hall acted as the organization's single leader, in effect as "general manager, secretary, artistic director, conductor and fund-raiser",[5] though without a formal title. The word 'Northern' was added to the orchestra's name in 1959 to give the name of 'Northern Sinfonia'.[6] The orchestra became an established institution in 1959, with Humphrey Noble chosen as the first chairman of the ensemble's management committee.[7] Hall resigned from the orchestra in 1964 but returned as a guest conductor in subsequent years. After Hall's departure, Rudolf Schwarz and Boris Brott took over musical leadership of the ensemble in parallel, with Schwarz being the first titled artistic director of the ensemble. Keith Statham served as the orchestra's general manager from 1966 to 1974.

Thomas Zehetmair was appointed as music director in November 2001, starting with the 2002–2003 season, for an initial contract of three years and six weeks of concerts each season.[8][9] Following contract extensions in 2005[10][11] and 2011,[12] he concluded his tenure with the orchestra at the end of the 2013–2014 season. Other conductors on the orchestra's roster currently include as its Principal Conductors John Wilson since 2009 and Mario Venzago since 1 January 2010. Venzago's current contract as Principal Conductor is through 2013.[13] Simon Halsey served as Principal Conductor of the Northern Sinfonia's Choral Programme from 2004 through 2012.

In May 2014, the Royal Northern Sinfonia announced the appointment of Lars Vogt as its next music director, effective September 2015.[14][15] Vogt served as music director designate for the 2014–2015 season, in his first formal orchestral post. In November 2014, the orchestra announced the appointment of Julian Rachlin as its new principal guest conductor, effective with the 2015–2016 season.[16]

During Vogt's tenure, Royal Northern Sinfonia toured to Asia.[17] In 2017, the orchestra performed at the BBC Proms' first Prom outside of London since 1930, at Stage@TheDock in Hull.[18] Vogt concluded his tenure as music director in 2020,[19] and subsequently held the title of Principal Artistic Partner with the orchestra until his death in September 2022.

In January 2020, Dinis Sousa first guest-conducted the orchestra. He returned as guest conductor in the autumn of 2020. In March 2021, the orchestra announced the appointment of Sousa as its next principal conductor, effective from September 2021.[20] In September 2023, Royal Northern Sinfonia announced the extension of Sousa's contract as principal conductor through the close of the 2026-2027 season.[21]

In November 2022, Nil Venditti first guest-conducted the orchestra. In June 2024, the orchestra announced the appointment of Venditti as its next principal guest conductor, the first female conductor to be named to the post, effective with the 2024-2025 season.[22]

The orchestra has recorded for the NMC[23] and Naxos[24] labels, among others.

Artistic Directors, Music Directors and Principal Conductors

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Lars Vogt, former Music Director

References

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  1. ^ David Ward (4 June 2004). "Sinfonia crosses the river". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  2. ^ "Queen honours 'Royal' Northern Sinfonia" (Press release). Northern Sinfonia/The Sage, Gateshead. 13 June 2013. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  3. ^ David Lumsdaine (11 September 2012). "Michael Hall obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  4. ^ Griffiths, Bill, Northern Sinfonia. Northumbria University Press, p. 3 (ISBN 1904794076).
  5. ^ Griffiths, p. 5.
  6. ^ Griffiths, p. 13.
  7. ^ Griffiths, p. 16.
  8. ^ David Mermelstein (2 December 2001). "A Violinist Who Can Do Many Things". New York Times. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  9. ^ James Jolly (6 November 2001). "Northern Sinfonia appoint Zehetmair". Gramophone. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  10. ^ "Conductor continues". The Northern Echo, 1 August 2005.
  11. ^ "Northern Sinfonia, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London" The Northern Echo, 2 August 2005.
  12. ^ Alfred Hickling (31 January 2011). "Northern Sinfonia/Zehetmair – review (Sage, Gateshead)". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  13. ^ "Mario Venzago joins Northern Sinfonia team". Gramophone. 18 December 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  14. ^ "Royal Northern Sinfonia announces Lars Vogt as new Music Director ahead of Sage Gateshead's 10th birthday season" (Press release). Royal Northern Sinfonia. 28 May 2014. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  15. ^ Imogen Tilden (29 May 2014). "Lars Vogt to replace Zehetmair at Royal Northern Sinfonia". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  16. ^ "Julian Rachlin Appointed Principal Guest Conductor of Royal Northern Sinfonia" (Press release). Royal Northern Sinfonia. 13 November 2014. Archived from the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  17. ^ Whetstone, David (15 May 2017). "Royal Northern Sinfonia and its director Lars Vogt are off to China and South Korea". nechronicle. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  18. ^ Morrison, Richard (24 July 2017). "Review: The Proms in Hull; Prom 9: Fidelio and Prom 10: Aurora at the Royal Albert Hall". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  19. ^ "Lars Vogt appointed Music Director of the Orchestre de chambre de Paris" (Press release). Askonas Holt. 9 October 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  20. ^ "Dinis Sousa appointed Principal Conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia" (Press release). Askonas Holt. 16 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  21. ^ "Dinis Sousa extends with Royal Northern Sinfonia" (Press release). Askonas Holt. 7 September 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  22. ^ "Classical Music at The Glasshouse 2024/25" (Press release). The Glasshouse International Centre for Music. 18 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  23. ^ Andrew Clements (4 July 2003). "Casken: Darting the Skiff; Maharal Dreaming, etc: Schiff/ Northern Sinfonia/ Casken". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  24. ^ Andrew Clements (7 February 2003). "Britten: Albert Herring; Gillett, Bedford et al". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
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