Gemma New: the NZSO’s new Principal Conductor
Gemma New conducting the NZSO
Photo credit: Latitude Creative
The announcement of New Zealander Gemma New’s appointment as Principal Conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra was greeted with delight by many in Aotearoa. The pandemic-disrupted classical music world here, as elsewhere, needed something to celebrate, and New has made a hugely positive impression on both musicians and audiences on her visits home in the past two years.
New herself has been dealing with disruptions with what is clearly her usual equanimity. The day we talked by Zoom was the 2nd anniversary of lockdowns in Canada that affected the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. New has been Music Director of the HPO for eight seasons but unable to visit or conduct a live concert there for two years. She’s had four cancellations since December, she tells me from her San Diego home - Hamilton, Dallas, Amsterdam and with the NZSO itself. Sadly our national orchestra had to postpone its planned 75th Anniversary Concert ‘Jubilee’ under New's baton on March 6.
Fortunately, other engagements have gone ahead as parts of the world open up and her role as Principal Guest Conductor in Dallas has just been renewed. “I’ve had some wonderful experiences recently,” she tells me, “including with the New World Symphony in Miami, the Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal in Quebec and in St Louis, Dallas and Baltimore.” Highlights were undoubtedly her highly-praised debut with the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester last October, followed there by a BBC Philharmonic programme that included Sibelius, Brahms and Douglas Lilburn. And in February she conducted the same Sibelius Symphony, his 5th, with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. That NSO programme featured violinist Jennifer Koh performing a world premiere by New York-based composer Missy Mazzoli. Again critics were full of praise for New, mentioning her “heightened attention to detail” and “unique sensitivity”.
Gemma New rehearsing with America’s National Symphony Orchestra in the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
“…heightened attention to detail.”
Her fast-developing international career and consistent acclaim don’t seem to have gone to New’s head. Unlike some conductors, she doesn’t show an excess of ego. Alongside her many international engagements her focus now is on her new roles as NZSO’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser and these are, she says, a dream come true. “It’s been a tremendous joy coming back to New Zealand in the past few years and having really deep experiences with the Orchestra and our audiences. It’s incredibly special, having admired our national orchestra from a young age. I’m absolutely thrilled.”
New, now 35, left New Zealand in 2009 to undertake graduate conducting studies at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. [On the podium in a pandemic is my 2020 profile of New.] She told me two years ago that Swiss conductor Gustav Meier, Director of the Peabody program, taught her “to really know the score and have a lot of energy on the podium. And then, when you’re prepared, be yourself, think about sharing the music”.
It was very evident that those lessons have been absorbed into her conducting approach on her visit last year to New Zealand for an NZSO “winter festival” of concerts in Wellington and Auckland. A Friday evening NZSO premiere of Gareth Farr’s Matariki was followed the next night by Stravinsky’s explosive Rite of Spring. Then on the Sunday afternoon the NZSO National Youth Orchestra gave a staggeringly good performance of Shostakovich’s monumental ‘Leningrad’ Symphony under her baton. It was a musical marathon that showed New to be mightily well-prepared as well as versatile, skilled and dynamic on the podium. [The conductor’s art includes my review of the concerts.]
New is always relentlessly positive. When I ask about the challenges currently facing the NZSO, which has barely gathered at full-strength on stage with an audience since her 2021 concerts, she smiles. “I always try to look on the bright side,” she says. “Being able to come back in December 2020 to conduct Handel’s Messiah with the whole audience singing the Hallelujah chorus, as well as those winter concerts last year – New Zealand has been very fortunate. Many orchestras around the world have had a much longer stretch of time without any live music at all.”
Gemma New
“…always looks on the bright side.”
Photo credit: Roy Cox
During the pandemic it’s been common for orchestras to deploy their musicians as soloists and chamber ensembles for online presentations or small concerts for restricted audiences. The NZSO’s recent “Catch of the Day” live series in Wellington was an example, showing off individual talents but more a pulling together of miscellaneous “party pieces” than a curated series. It was undoubtedly less than satisfying for some in the small masked and distanced audiences. New, however, sees “ a silver lining” for orchestral musicians in performing chamber music. “It’s so good for our communication, the rehearsals are more personal and that strengthens the ties between us.”
She agrees the many cancellations have made it a “tough time” for orchestras. “We have to get back into the swing of things, it’s easy to get out of the rhythm. But before the pandemic I was saturated with music, taking everything for granted. Now when we come together we cling on to it for dear life. There’s something about that deep thirst for music that I now feel more strongly than ever.”
This year the NZSO and their new Principal Conductor are looking forward to another mid-winter festival in August, three back-to-back programmes with multi-Grammy Award-winning American violinist Hilary Hahn. New describes Hahn as a “dear friend”, having worked with her as guest conductor at the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra performing Bach violin concertos. Hahn is well-known to the NZSO and accompanied them on their European tour in 2010. “I think it’s so special,” says New, “that as we celebrate our 75th we have a star soloist who was part of that history.”
Violinist Hilary Hahn
…the star soloist is part of the NZSO’s history.
What’s her own vision for the NZSO? New is quick to point out that it’s a collective vision. “We want to be the most excellent world-class orchestra - and also the orchestra for everyone. How do we reach out to new audiences and be a source of hope and excitement and solace for every New Zealander? I fully believe in the power of orchestral music from the very first baroque orchestra till the present day, every type of orchestral music is essential to our souls, our wellness.” She’s conducted pop concerts with American orchestras and has no hesitation in including those in the NZSO offerings. “People have eclectic tastes.”
As Artistic Adviser she’ll be part of the NZSO’s programming team. “I definitely want us to celebrate and cherish our New Zealand composers and New Zealand music and music of today from around the world. You’ll find in our programmes something familiar that is a delight, and then a surprise, something new that will broaden our horizons.”
In November New returns to New Zealand for ‘Requiem’, an NZSO programme including both Mozart’s famous Requiem in D Minor and Seikilos by New Zealand composer John Psathas, a work dedicated to the composer’s parents. Writing about Seikilos, Psathas said “I’ve been shaped by what I perceive as the greatest lesson to be learned from my Greek heritage: live while you can.” New thinks the whole programme will be timely. “Music can help us dream and think big but it can also be a moment to sit down and spiritually cleanse. I think ‘Requiem’ will offer that.”
NZSO Gemma New (conductor), Hilary Hahn (violin): “Truth and Beauty”, “Style and Substance” and “Love Triumphant”, Wellington August 5-7, Auckland August 12-14.
NZSO Gemma New (conductor) with Voices New Zealand (choir): “Requiem” Wellington 18 November, Auckland 19 November.