One of the world’s greatest opera singers, a sensational chart-topping British saxophonist and Kiwi Oscar-winner Bret McKenzie are part of a star-studded array of artists to perform with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in 2025.

American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, a multi-Grammy Award winner and Olivier Award winner, performs for the first time in New Zealand with the NZSO led by Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor Gemma New.

Hailed as “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation” (The New Yorker) and with a voice “nothing less than 24-carat gold” (The Times) DiDonato will perform Berlioz’s spine-tingling song cycle Les nuits d’été (Summer Nights) in Wellington and Auckland.

“Our superstar-studded season creates a ‘wow!’ experience right throughout the year with so many virtuosic performers and their insightful perspectives,” said New.

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, 2024. Photo: Supplied.

British saxophonist Jess Gillam, 26, went to No.1 in the UK classical charts with her first two albums, featuring music from classical composers to Björk, David Bowie and Kate Bush.

The youngest ever soloist to play at the prestigious Last Night at the Proms, Gillam performs in New Zealand for the first time Glazunov’s romantic Saxophone Concerto and joins the orchestra for Rachmaninov’s epic Symphonic Dances.

Oscar-winning musician and comedian Bret McKenzie, who starred alongside the NZSO and The Muppets for the hit Jim Henson Retrospectacle in 2018, will host the family-friendly Creepy-Crawly Carnival.

British saxophonist Jess Gillam. Photo: Supplied.

The concerts, with the orchestra led by acclaimed German conductor André de Ridder, feature McKenzie as narrator of Saint-Saëns beloved Carnival of the Animals.

The orchestra also perform Roussel’s enchanting The Spider’s Feast: Symphonic Fragments to a special big-screen video experience starring New Zealand creepy-crawlies and more.

Other international stars to perform with the NZSO in 2025 include Grammy-winner Daniil Trifonov and fellow pianist Javier Perianes, Finnish violinist and conductor Pekka Kuusisto, Austrian cellist Kian Soltani and Welsh flautist Emily Beynon, alongside Kiwi violinist Amalia Hall, taonga puoro specialist Jerome Kavanagh Poutama and NZSO Concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppänen.

Artistic advisor and principal conductor Gemma New. Photo: Supplied.

Legendary Japanese maestro Masaaki Suzuki, a leading authority on Bach, is part of the line-up of top international conductors to lead the NZSO in 2025, which includes Australia’s Simone Young, Portugal’s Joana Carneiro, Italy’s Umberto Clerici, Hungary’s Gábor Káli and NZSO Music Director Emeritus James Judd.

In 2025, New also conducts the NZSO’s 2025 Season opener Pictures at an Exhibition, featuring Emily Beynon, and Mahler’s extraordinary Sixth Symphony, a monumental work involving 110 musicians.

In 2025 Maestro de Ridder leads the winter Immerse Rumakina festival with three concert programmes. The NZSO also tours a selection of Baroque masterpieces, and a special Summer Brass programme led by celebrated American musician and conductor Gail Williams.

New Zealand works to feature in 2025 include Salina Fisher and Jerome Kavanagh’s Papatūānuku and the world premiere of Victoria Kelly’s Stabat Mater.

Kelly’s work is a response to Rossini’s famous Stabat Mater, which is also performed in the concert, led by esteemed Italian conductor Valentina Peleggi and featuring soprano Madison Nonoa, mezzo-soprano Anna Pierard, tenor Filipe Manu, bass-baritone Teddy Tahu-Rhodes and Voices New Zealand.

Canadian Adam Johnson will conduct the NZSO National Youth Orchestra in concerts featuring Kiwi soprano Madison Horman.

For more details on the NZSO’s Season 2025 go to www.nzso.co.nz

Tickets are on sale now for NZSO Members. Full or Lite memberships are available via www.nzso.co.nz/concerts-and-tickets/membership/