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In 1926, a national radio channel began, based in Dublin. It hired staff musicians, who often played together on the radio and in concert as a chamber orchestra. String players from the radio, wind players from the Army School of Music, and other musicians played as the Dublin Philharmonic Society under the direction of Colonel Fritz Brase, Head of the Army School of Music since 1923. The original group was gradually expanded during the 1930's and 1940's and by 1946 had reached 40 musicians. Early conductors included Vincent O'Brien and, from 1941, Michael Bowles, guest conductors included Aloys Fleischmann and Frederick May. Often called the 'Station Orchestra', many (albeit not regular) public concerts were given and broadcast live from venues such as the Mansion House, Metropolitan Hall and Capitol Theatre.
In 1948, the broadcasting authority, now called Radio Éireann (Radio Ireland), expanded the orchestra to symphonic size by opening its membership to musicians from all over Europe. Ireland, as a neutral country during World War II, had been spared damage, so musicians from the wrecked economies of a ruined Europe were easy to attract. The new orchestra was named the Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra. After Michael Bowles' involuntary retirement (Bowles had objected to recruiting so many foreigners for the 1948 enlargement), the new orchestra worked for a while without a permanent conductor, commissioning major guest conductors instead such as Jean Martinon and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt. In 1953, the orchestra found a principal conductor in Milan Horvat, who remained until 1956. In 1961, Ireland added television to its broadcasting service. The name of the new organisation was to be Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The orchestra became known as the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra (RTÉSO). By now it was, de facto, the national orchestra of Ireland. Its new chief conductor from 1961 was Tibor Paul. He was succeeded by Albert Rosen, Colman Pearce, Bryden Thomson, and Janos Fürst.
From its foundation in 1948 as the Raidió Éireann Symphony Orchestra the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra has been at the forefront of symphonic music in Ireland providing an unbroken stream of concerts. Since that time, the orchestra has firmly established itself as a primary force in Irish musical life. World-class conductors associated with the orchestra’s early days include Jean Martinon, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Edmond Appia, Milan Horvat and Sir John Barbirolli. The first half of the 1960s saw Tibor Paul as Principal Conductor, a tenure memorable for the visit of Igor Stravinsky.
Across the decades, the RTE NSO has worked with world famous composers, including Igor Stravinsky, Witold Lutosławski, Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, Olivier Messiaen and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Among the many legendary conductors and artists who performed with the orchestra over the years were Josef Szigeti, Isaac Stern, Henryk Szering, Ruggiero Ricci, Wilhelm Kempff, Julius Katchen, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu, Joan Sutherland, Bernadette Greevy, Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Mstislav Rostropovich, Paul Tortelier, Constantin Silvestri, Charles Dutoit and Sir Charles Groves. World famous artists in recent years have included Boris Berezovsky, Sarah Chang, Nikolai Demidenko, Sir James Galway, Angela Gheorghiu, Evelyn Glennie, Angela Hewitt, Daniel Hope, Wolfgang Holzmair, Kiri Te Kanawa, Freddy Kempf, Tasmin Little, Daniel Müller-Schott, Julian Rachlin, Alexander Toradze, Maxim Vengerov and Nikolaj Znaider.
In 1981, the RTÉSO found a new home when the National Concert Hall opened in Dublin. Also, at about the same time, it expanded its broadcasting activities. Until 1979, RTÉ had run only one radio channel and one television channel. In 1979, they established more channels, including an arts station called FM3, which aired numerous concerts by the RTÉSO. In 1989, the orchestra was again expanded and renamed the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. George Hurst became principal conductor in 1990. Kasper de Roo succeeded Hurst from 1994 to 1998. Alexander Anisimov became the orchestra's principal guest conductor in 1995 and principal conductor in 1998. Gerhard Markson succeeded Anissimov in 2001 and was principal conductor through 2009. Alan Buribayev was the principal conductor of the orchestra from 2010 to 2016, with Hannu Lintu as the orchestra's principal guest conductor from 2010 and Finghin Collins the orchestra's first-ever Associate Artist. In 2007, the orchestra was featured on RTÉ One's TV series The Symphony Sessions.
Today the orchestra is a primary force in Irish musical life through year-long programmes of live performances of music ranging from symphonic, choral and operatic to film and popular music, contemporary traditional and contemporary classical and music with a particular educational focus; schools and educational projects; a mentoring scheme for young musicians; broadcasts on RTE and internationally through the European Broadcasting Union; recordings and new commissions. In November 2018, the orchestra, with conductor Nathalie Stutzmann and violinist Ray Chen, travelled to Bucharest to give the closing concert of the International Festival of Radio Orchestras. In 2017 the orchestra performed, by invitation, in China’s prestigious National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing with conductor José Serebrier.
In 2012, the ninth President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, was announced as sole patron of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. In September 2016, Jaime Martín first guest-conducted the RTÉ NSO. Following 3 subsequent return guest-conducting appearances, in January 2018, the RTÉ NSO announced the appointment of Martín as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2019-2020 season, with an initial contract of 3 years.
The orchestra has been critically acclaimed for its recordings on the Marco Polo, Naxos, Claves and RTE lyric fm labels. These include the complete symphonies of Malcolm Arnold, Sergei Rachmaninov, Felix Mendelssohn, and Nielsen, critically acclaimed reof works by Georges Bizet and Dukas with conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud, a series of recordings as part of the Composers of Ireland series, a landmark recording project funded by RTÉ and The Arts Council which to date has recorded works by composers including Gerald Barry, Raymond Deane, Seóirse Bodley, Deirdre Gribbin, Ian Wilson, John Kinsella, Stephen Gardiner, Kevin O’Connell, Donnacha Dennehy and Kevin Volans as well as recordings of selected orchestral works by Aloys Fleischmann, Frederick May and Seán Ó Riada, Finghin Collins: Mozart Piano Concertos and Celine Byrne: For Eternity.
Since September 2017, the orchestra has enjoyed a rich relationship with Nathalie Stutzmann as Principal Guest Conductor, with a contract for three years. In addition to Nathalie Stutzmann, major international artists in the 2018-2019 Season include Alexander Vedernikov, Leonard Slatkin, Jaime Martín, Maxim Vengerov, Ray Chen, Veronika Eberle, Vilde Frang, Amihai Grosz, Simone Lamsma, Alina Ibragimova, Kari Kriikku, Bryn Terfel, Piotr Beczala and Oksana Volkova and Irish artists Barry Douglas, Hugh Tinney, Orla Boylan, Celine Byrne, Anna Devin, Robin Tritschler, Ailish Tynan, the acclaimed young trad band Moxie, and concertina player Niall Vallely in the world premiere of his Concerto for Concertina and Orchestra.
World premieres of works by Irish composers have included music by Elaine Agnew, Gerald Barry, Ed Bennett, Linda Buckley, Ann Cleare, Siobhán Cleary, Frank Corcoran, Jerome de Bromhead, Raymond Deane, Donnacha Dennehy, David Fennessy, Deirdre Gribbin, Ronan Guilfoyle, Andrew Hamilton, Gráinne Mulvey, Kevin O’Connell, Karen Power, Jennifer Walshe and Bill Whelan. As part of RTÉ 1916, the orchestra premiered One Hundred Years a Nation by Shaun Davey with text by Paul Muldoon, in concert with a choir of 1000 voices at Collins Barracks, Dublin on Easter Sunday 2016. In addition, the orchestra featured in four concerts as part of Composing the Island: A century of music in Ireland 1916–2016. The orchestra performed repertoire by 16 Irish composers covering years from the 1920's through to composers of 2016.
Recent Irish premieres include Thomas Adès Totentanz,Detlev Glanert’s Insomnium, Wolfgang Rihm’s Verwandlung 4, Kaija Saariaho’s Circle Map, Huw Watkins’ Flute Concerto, Wave Movements by Bryce Dessner (The National) and Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), and the European premiere of John Luther Adams’ Pulitzer Prize winning work, Become Ocean.
In 2018 RTÉ commission an independent review of their Orchestras. The "Boden" Report was produced by Mediatique. It outline several options for the future of both the NSO and RTÉ Concert Orchestra, including closed down one or other of the Orchestras and moving one to the National Concert Hall. In budget 2020 it was announced that the NSO would move to the NCH in 2021, with a budget of €8 million being provided by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. |
