NZSO proudly welcomes conductor André de Ridder for three nights of ground-breaking music. As a former student of legendary conductor Colin Davis, de Ridder has spread his wings wide to encompass the whole spectrum of music.

De Ridder brings his "energy, taste, and a discriminating ear for balance and timbre" (The Telegraph) to everything from operatic staples like Bluebeard's Castle or collaborative works with Damon Albarn from Gorillaz.

De Ridder will lead the NZSO in the Pulitzer-Prize-winning epic, Become Ocean, by John Luther Adams.

Inspired by the oceans of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, Luther Adams says of his undulating masterpiece:

as the polar ice melts and sea level rises, we humans find ourselves facing the prospect that once again we may quite literally become ocean.