National Symphony Orchestra

The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) was formed in 1953. This was achieved by combining the three already existing studio orchestras of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). In 1987, the SABC announced that the financial responsibility of a full-time, permanent orchestra was too great and, to help with the cost, the NSO was combined with the Transvaal Philharmonic Orchestra under PACT management. It became one very big orchestra, still under NSO emblem, able to service Pretoria’s audiences as well as Johannesburg’s; the two entities were separated into and called The Red and The Blue orchestras. However, the merger proved to be non-sustainable and a split followed in 1991.

The NSO was relaunched in 1991 with Richard Cock as artistic director at its helm and was a part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation until 1997 when the withdrawal of funding for the NSO by the SABC was announced, resulting in the termination of employment of all musicians. The active fund-raising appeals by Johannesburg newspapers to music lovers and corporate sponsors to save the city’s orchestra yielded sufficient money and resulted in the NSO starting up again in January 1998, but two years later the funds ran out and the NSO was forced to close again in February of 2000.

Thirty retrenched musicians from the disbanded NSO became the founders and owners of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, a Section 21 Company.

For more information, see Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Sources

Polina Burdukova. 2010. 'An analysis of the status of orchestras in South Africa'. Unpublished Masters thesis. University of Pretoria.

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