The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is the concert radio orchestra of Raidió Teilifís Éireann. As one of the RTÉ Performing Groups, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra now gives a 33-concert subscription season, performs lighter Tuesday lunchtime and Friday evening concerts in June and July, plays an important role in Irish contemporary music through its Horizons series in January and February, and undertakes twice-yearly one-week tours of Ireland. Since 2005, the orchestra has been featured on RTÉ One's The Symphony Sessions.
History
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 1930s and '40s 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 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, 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, 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. The orchestra became known as the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra. 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. 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. Commencing September 2017, the current Principal Guest Conductor with a contract for three years is Nathalie Stutzmann. In 2012, the ninth President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, was announced as sole patron of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, it was announced that the National Concert Hall would take over the operation of the orchestra to relieve RTÉ's funding position. 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.
