Why subscribe?

“There’s the composer, there’s the orchestra, and then there’s YOU – our audience. You give meaning to the music!”

Marc Taddei
Music Director, Orchestra Wellington

Viva OW and its wonderful musicians, staff and programmes. We are privileged to have you. Love the insights at the ore show talks from Marc and the composers/guests. – OW subscriber

The benefits of a subscription

• Save $90–$150: Six concerts for $270, with no Ticketmaster fees. That’s just $45 per concert!
• Keep your favourite seat: The same seat for every concert, with priority renewal, all managed in-house.
• Discover extraordinary music: Six programmes of world-class artists, familiar favourites, and unexpected discoveries.
• Get more from every concert: Free printed programmes, early-access programme notes, behind-the-scenes stories, and exclusive early offers.
• Be part of the community: Join an audience that shares your passion for great musical experiences.
• Support your local orchestra: Help sustain Wellington’s only professional regional orchestra.
• Make room for extraordinary experiences: Six nights of live music to look forward to and share.

More than six concerts: why subscribing to Orchestra Wellington matters

There is something quite extraordinary about sitting in a concert hall as an orchestra begins to play. Dozens of musicians, each with their own instrument, experience, and part to play, come together to create something that exists only in that moment. You can hear it, feel it, and share it with the people around you. And when the music stops, the experience belongs to everyone who was there.

But there is something else that makes an orchestra possible, something just as important as the notes on the page and the musicians on stage.

YOU, our audience.

There’s a marvelous vibe at OW concerts, and I think people really appreciate the access to such great music at very reasonable prices. – OW subscriber

Our Music Director, Marc Taddei, often talks about the three essential elements that make an orchestral performance meaningful: the composer, the orchestra, and the audience. Without all three, what we do is meaningless.

It is a lovely way of describing something fundamental. An orchestra doesn’t exist simply to perform music. It exists to share music. And every time you take your seat, you become part of that exchange.

That’s why we believe subscribing to Orchestra Wellington is about much more than buying six tickets.

In our 2025 subscriber survey, 92% rated their subscription experience with Orchestra Wellington 4/5 stars or higher, showing that the value of their experience as a subscriber of Orchestra Wellington is impactful and truly enjoyable.

The symphonies were exceptional. They are such enormous & complex works, so many instruments. You pulled them off! The venue was excellent. I was so happy to be able to experience listening to them in my home town with my home orchestra. – OW subscriber

A season is something to experience, not just attend

There is a particular pleasure in following an orchestra throughout a season. You become familiar with its musicians, its artistic personality, and the ideas that shape its programming. You discover composers you might never have encountered, hear familiar works in new ways, and occasionally find yourself unexpectedly moved by something you didn’t know you needed to hear.

A subscription gives you the opportunity to experience all of this as a journey, rather than selecting individual concerts in isolation.

I think many orchestra goers would have been surprised at how interesting Shostakovich’s symphonies are to hear live, even the much-maligned second and third. It was interesting to follow how he changed the nature of his works given the political pressure he was subjected to. – OW subscriber

At Orchestra Wellington, we deliberately balance the familiar with the unexpected. We want you to enjoy the music you already love, but we also want to introduce you to something new. That’s part of what makes an orchestra exciting: there is always another composer to discover, another interpretation to consider, another musical world to explore.

And you don’t have to know everything about classical music to enjoy it. You don’t need to recognise every composer or understand every programme before you arrive. You simply need to be curious and willing to listen.

In our 2025 subscriber survey, 85.2% of respondents said one of the aspects they enjoyed most about their subscription is being able to experience a season with a wide variety of concert programmes containing both well- and lesser-known works, and 55% said exposure to new artists and arts organisations via Orchestra Wellington collaborations was important to them. That tells us that our audiences value being taken somewhere musically, and that discovering something new is part of the pleasure of coming back.

More than a seat in the concert hall

Subscribing also makes the practical business of enjoying great music considerably easier.

For $270, you receive tickets to all six concerts in our 2027 subscription season. That’s just $45 per concert, compared with standard single-ticket prices of $60 or $70, depending on where you sit. That’s a saving of $90–$150 across the season, without any Ticketmaster booking fees.

I am very pleased to be a subscriber to Orchestra Wellington and enjoy all concerts and pre-concert talks. When we retired, we thought we couldn’t afford NZSO and Opera but could afford OW. – OW subscriber

You also get to choose your own seats, subject to availability, and keep those seats for every concert. When the next season comes around, you have priority to renew your seats or change them if you’d prefer somewhere different.

One subscription takes care of six nights out. No remembering when tickets go on sale, no booking six separate concerts, and no wondering whether your favourite seats will still be available.

But the subscription experience extends well beyond the ticket itself.

You’ll receive a complimentary printed programme at each concert, informative pre-concert emails with programme notes and electronic programmes, and behind-the-scenes stories that bring you closer to the music and the people who make it. You’ll hear about other Orchestra Wellington performances, joint ventures, and community events before they are announced more widely, with access to early offers.

It’s a way of staying connected to the orchestra throughout the year, not just on concert night.

And perhaps the best part? You don’t have to take our word for it.

In our 2025 subscriber survey, the most frequently selected aspect of the subscription experience was supporting a local orchestra at a whopping 87.9%, followed closely by the variety of concert programming (85.2%). Descriptive programme notes, the friendliness of our staff, and the feeling of belonging to a community of music enthusiasts and supporters also featured strongly.

These are the things that make a subscription more than a transaction. They’re the things that make people want to come back – and 97.9% of respondents in 2025 said that they would do just that!

The wonderful thing about OW is that one comes away at the end of the concerts feeling exhilarated. – OW subscriber

An audience is something we build together

An orchestra needs an audience. Not just a collection of people who happen to buy tickets, but a community of people who are interested in what it does, curious about what it might do next, and willing to come along for the ride.

Some of our subscribers have been with us for decades. Others have joined more recently. Some come with friends or family, while others have made attending Orchestra Wellington a much-loved part of their own routine. Over time, familiar faces appear, friendships form, and concert nights become something to look forward to.

Our 2025 survey found that 106 respondents had subscribed for more than five years, including 21 who had been with us for more than ten years, 14 for more than 15 years, and ten for more than 20 years. That’s an extraordinary relationship to have with an organisation, and one we never take for granted.

In the same survey, an incredible and 95.3% of respondents said they have and/or would recommend a subscription to others! We love that. Because the best invitation to a concert often comes from someone who has already experienced it and wants to share it with someone else.

Of course, single-ticket audiences are an important part of our community, too. We love welcoming people who join us for one particular concert, discover an artist they admire, or decide to try something completely different. But subscribers make a different kind of commitment. They give us the confidence of knowing that an audience is there, season after season.

The orchestra makes the music. The audience makes the performance matter.

Why having an orchestra matters

Orchestra Wellington is the city’s professional regional orchestra. We are part of what makes Wellington a culturally ambitious, creative, and distinctive place to live.

Our work extends well beyond six subscription concerts. We bring local and international artists to Wellington and take New Zealand talent to the world. We commission new music, champion local composers, create opportunities for emerging musicians, collaborate with choirs, dancers, and other arts organisations, and take music into communities and public spaces.

Sinfonia Concertante with Benjamin Baker & Yura Lee – both exceptional soloists. Also the first concert, with Mendelssohn’s violin concerto (with Amalia Hall). – OW subscriber

We give audiences the opportunity to experience extraordinary musicianship, but we also help create the conditions in which musicians, composers, and the wider arts community can thrive.

Your subscription empowers Orchestra Wellington to engage more readily with community and educational mahi across the entire Wellington Region! Read more about the work that we do in schools, communities, and outside of the concert hall.

We believe a city needs these things. It needs places where people can encounter something unexpected, where artistic ambition is encouraged, where local talent can flourish, and where people can share experiences that enrich their lives.

A professional orchestra doesn’t simply preserve music from the past. It creates the opportunity for music to be made, heard, and experienced today, and for the next generation to discover what might be possible tomorrow.

And that takes an audience.

I think Wellington is very lucky to have such a great orchestra with such interesting programmes. – OW subscriber

Why your commitment matters even more now

Orchestra Wellington, like many arts organisations in Aotearoa, is facing a challenging funding environment. Creative New Zealand has reduced our annual funding by 39% for the next three years.

This is a significant reduction, and it means we have to work harder to sustain the artistic ambition, quality, and breadth of activity that our audiences have come to expect.

OW is a vital part of our overall arts scene. With performance standards have risen over several decades, I note that Radio NZ Concert records and broadcasts full concerts, whereas in the ’80s and ’90s only parts of concerts were deemed suitable for broadcast. For me, this speaks volumes!
– OW subscriber

Subscriptions play an important role. They provide a dependable injection of income at the beginning of the year, help us plan with greater certainty, and reduce the number of individual tickets we need to sell throughout the season.

They don’t solve every financial challenge, but they make a real difference.

Most importantly, they demonstrate that there is an audience for what we do. That people value having a professional orchestra in Wellington, want to hear what we have to offer, and believe that the experience is worth committing to.

We don’t take that commitment lightly.

Six concerts. One orchestra. A city full of possibilities.

There are plenty of ways to enjoy music. You can listen at home, stream your favourite performances, or buy a ticket whenever something catches your eye. All of these have their place.

But there is nothing quite like being in the room when an orchestra plays. The collective energy, the extraordinary skill, the anticipation, the unexpected moments, and the shared experience of hearing something unfold in real time.

Among those who I talked to…it was agreed that this stunning performance of Shostakovich’s fifth symphony was up there with those of world-leading orchestras they had heard. – OW subscriber

A subscription gives you six opportunities to experience that. It gives you the best value across our season, the comfort of your own chosen seat, a closer relationship with our musicians and programmes, and the satisfaction of knowing you’re helping sustain something important to Wellington.

It also gives you something to look forward to. Six evenings in your calendar when you can put everything else aside, settle into your seat, and let the music take you somewhere.

Whether you’ve been subscribing for twenty years or are thinking about doing it for the first time, we’d love you to be part of our 2027 season.

Because an orchestra needs musicians, composers, and an audience. And the audience is not simply there to listen. It is part of what makes the whole thing possible.

We make the music. You make it matter.

Join us for Orchestra Wellington’s 2027 season.