Virtuosi – MiddleC.org
2 July 2026
“…in line with my memory of Orchestra Wellington’s outstanding Shostakovich series from last year I was eager to hear what Marc Taddei would inspire his players to achieve with Bartók’s masterpiece – and I wasn’t disappointed..”
Shostakovich: the musical legacy of a humanitarian artist - FiveLines.nz
4 December 2025
“Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony brought the concert and the season to a close with an outstanding performance. I have never heard Orchestra Wellington play better than in this work and the Lady Macbeth suite of the previous concert.”
Enemy of the State - Regional News
18 October 2025
“The orchestra, under Marc Taddei’s direction, is in excellent form and well balanced.”
Light and darkness in a bold, balanced programme - The Post
22 September 2025
“…a controlled, sensitive triumph… intense, balanced execution of the composer's complex, often harsh, musical atmosphere.…”
From Russia with Lev: Orchestra Wellington’s third Shostakovich concert - The Post
28 July 2025
“unwavering committment…”
Party Faithful- Regional News
26 July 2025
“Party Faithful is a remarkable concert programme, presenting two symphonies – both Aotearoa premieres – by 20th-century masters. Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 20 The First of May, and Benjamin Britten’s Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 68…”
Shostakovich: music for troubled times - FiveLines.nz
2 July 2025
“Orchestra Wellington gave an incisive performance of the work under conductor Marc Taddei.”
A ‘superb performance’ of a work of ‘frightening intensity’ - The Post
8 June 2025
“Ironies aside, the symphony on Saturday night elicited a superb performance from Orchestra Wellington under the baton of conductor Marc Taddei. The ominous opening was beautifully controlled, and the overall tempo brisk and spiky without feeling rushed.”
Favoured Son - Regional News
7 June 2025
“Music director Marc Taddei’s command of the symphony’s moods and mutations is masterful.”
Prodigy - Regional News
16 April 2025
“Conductor and music director Marc Taddei leads the orchestra in a dexterous and evocative performance of this masterpiece, which bodes extremely well for the rest of our Shostakovich season.”
Musical Prodigy Night for Orchestra Wellington - MiddleC.org
15 April 2025
“Orchestra Wellington spectacularly lived up to its long-established reputation for innovative concert programming with the first presentation in its latest series “The Dictator’s Shadow””
Orchestra Wellington honours work of precocious talents - The Post
14 April 2025
“Taddei’s conducting here was superb…”
Earthly Pleasures at the Vallejo Symphony - Classical Sonoma
19 January 2025
“It was a sensitive, emotional, and beautifully played and sung concert, deftly paced by conductor Marc Taddei…”
Orchestra Wellington: a memorable performance of Britten’s War Requiem - FiveLines.NZ
11 December 2024
“Under the visionary direction of conductor Marc Taddei, the combined forces gave a consistently strong, atmospheric and dramatic account of the work.”
A Modern Hero - Regional News
7 December 2024
“Orchestra Wellington crowned its year with Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, a towering work of the 20thcentury, deeply felt by the pacifist Britten and full of emotional impact for contemporary audiences in the current global conflicts. It is an inspired, spine-tingling, heart-wrenching work and the assembled musicians did it proud.”
The Jazz Age - Regional News
9 November 2024
“In sum, with Taddei’s imaginative programming and natural ebullience, Orchestra Wellington triumphed again.”
The Secret Society - Regional News
24 September 2024
“Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun was the only work in the programme that is standard in the orchestral repertoire. (How well conductor Marc Taddei educates his audience!).”
The Romantic Generation - Regional News
17 August 2024
“This was another night of pleasure and education from Taddei and Orchestra Wellington.”
The Classical Style - Regional News
6 July 2024
“But on this occasion, my greatest pleasure was the work of the Orpheus Choir; they were terrific. So were the soloists, Emma Pearson (soprano), Margaret Medlyn (alto), Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono (tenor), and Robert Tucker (bass).”
The Grand Gesture- Regional News
4 May 2024
“
The Grand Gesture
Presented by: Orchestra Wellington
Conducted by: Marc Taddei
Michael Fowler Centre, 4th May 2024
Reviewed by: Dawn Brook
“This was a brilliantly designed and executed concert.”
Wellington, New Zealand: Alban Berg's Wozzeck - Opera Magazine (UK)
15 February 2024
“The work was put across with a level of confidence and sheer commitment that took the breath away. With the singers all the way were the musicians of Orchestra Wellington guided surely and sensitively by Taddei, making the most of all of the work’s varying moods, most particularly the nakedly brusied and bleeding anguish of the final interlude as Wozzeck drowns.” – Opera Magazine (UK), February, 2024
Orchestra Wellington’s Wozzeck: triumphant capture of Berg’s conception - Five Lines (NZ)
15 November 2023
The production itself, a few days ago, was nothing short of astonishing.
Marc Taddei is a visionary, one of the most talented concert programmers in the country, and a persuasive salesman. He regularly cajoles the large, loyal Orchestra Wellington audience into joining him on adventurous musical journeys. They’ve learned to trust him.
Taddei is to be congratulated for his huge commitment to this ground-breaking production of Wozzeck. He has shown deep insight into both Berg’s musical intentions and the composer’s compassion for the poor and disempowered. Taddei has also drawn into his artistic vision wonderfully talented performers, many singing a role debut, alongside an inventive creative team. This may not have been the most flawless performance of Wozzeck ever presented, but it absolutely and triumphantly captured Berg’s modernist conception. Unforgettable!
Wozzeck - Regional News
11 November 2023
Discordant, atonal, brutal, distressing? Yes! Wonderful? Yes!
It was a bold decision to perform it. It cannot be an easy work for soloists, chorus, or orchestra. Orchestra Wellington is to be congratulated for programming Wozzeck and all performers for pulling it off so successfully.
History in the making in 2023 – Alban Berg’s opera “Wozzeck” performed “live” for the first time in New Zealand - MiddleC.org
11 November 2023
It’s the stuff this country’s musical legends are made of…
Conductor Marc Taddei’s wondrous grasp of the ebb and flow of these disarming contrasts and his players’ ability to deliver the full range and force of their extremes made in itself an unforgettable impression.
REVIEW: (m)Orpheus (NZO) - Theatre Scene
15 October 2023
This collaboration between NZ Opera and Black Grace offers an intimate staging of Gluck’s 1769 opera Orpheus and Eurydice. The combination of Gareth Farr’s refined re-orchestration and Neil Ieremia’s guidance as both director and choreographer produces a largely accessible and compelling reimagining of the tragic Greek myth.
Anton Webern steals the show! – Orchestra Wellington and Marc Taddei with “Pharaoh” - MiddleC.org
07 October 2023
Music Director Marc Taddei’s extraordinary empathy with young musicians demonstrated a heart-warming variety of delights throughout the presentation’s opening segment of music-making.
And, as I walked to my car after the concert, the thing I found myself wanting to do the most was to get home and play that sensational Webern work again! It was , for me, the evening’s indisputable highlight, and I remain grateful to Marc Taddei and his players for THAT most of all – a truly remarkable experience!
View Article
Pharaoh - Regional News
07 October 2023
“The orchestral interludes were wonderfully Mozartian in operatic mode. The choruses were delivered with a fine range of dynamics and precise singing.”
View Article
(m)Orpheus: death and dreams in a stunning dance-opera - FiveLines.nz
22 September 2023
The triumph of the production is the opulent overlay of both a contemporary story and Pasifika culture on the famous classical myth. From the outset, all the layers are there - Gluck’s Baroque rhythms played with Farr’s timbral surprises under the stylish baton of Taddei, graceful Samoan dance gestures and fine singing from the story-telling chorus, the unexpected overlap of singing and dancing and an imaginative and beautiful set and lighting design conjuring both a contemporary funeral and a sense of otherworldly magic.
Review - (m)ORPHEUS - New Zealand Opera & Black Grace - DANZ
20 September 2023
Conductor Marc Taddei sensitively elicits clean and emotive orchestration from the small but impactful ensemble of Orchestra Wellington musicians, and the ensemble of NZ Opera singers are rich and balanced.
Michelle Potter... on dancing
20 September 2023
(m)Orpheus. New Zealand Opera & Black Grace- Michelle Potter …on dancingThis extraordinary production, (m)Orpheus, by New Zealand Opera & Black Grace, is billed as a re-imagining of Christoph Gluck’s 18th century opera, Orfeo ed Euridice. The program note calls it a dance-opera collision—which it is, but it’s also a great deal more than that.
Indeed, the whole enterprise is a five-point star—visionary and innovative direction and choreography by Neil Ieremia, a totally stunning set and costume design by Tracy Grant-Lord, a skilful re-orchestration of Gluck’s original by composer Gareth Farr played by a chamber ensemble conducted by Marc Taddei, beautiful singing delivered by three fine soloists and a wonderful eight member Chorus, and inspired dancing by members of Black Grace contemporary dance company. They all melded into the spirit life of a production that could only have been realised in Pasifika-Aotearoa New Zealand.
(m)Orpheus: Fast Forward to the Past- New Zealand Arts Review
07 September 2023
Gareth Farr’s re-orchestration for small chamber orchestra is entirely appropriate, fitting both Ieremia’s interpretation and this venue well, while the APO is as accomplished as ever under Marc Taddei.
Prophecy - Regional News
5 August 2023
Congratulations to Orchestra Wellington for their initiative, and for another compelling performance.”
Colours - Regional News
22 July 2023
Compelling programming, three superb soloists, a committed orchestra, and a dedicated conductor made this an outstanding concert.
Orchestra Wellington excels again with colourful, intriguing work - Dominion Post
04 June 2023
Myth and Ritual was the title of Saturday night’s Orchestra Wellington concert, but it could equally have been Sense and Sensuality: vivid music played with intelligence and verve.......it was matched so well by the musical colours Taddei shaped, everything contoured with a grim and grimy edge.
Myth and Ritual was the title of Saturday night’s Orchestra Wellington concert, but it could equally have been Sense and Sensuality: vivid music played with intelligence and verve….
…it was matched so well by the musical colours Taddei shaped, everything contoured with a grim and grimy edge.
Myth and Ritual in everyday life – from Orchestra Wellington - MiddleC.org
03 June 2023
An extraordinary tour de force of composition, the Dance brought forth from Marc Taddei and his players a brilliant response in both corporate orchestral and individual soloistic terms. From the frenetic opening, through the most languid sequences and right up to the final whiplash chords, the playing caught every mood, superbly voicing the chameleon-like progressions with that unique combination of sensuousness and “edge” to themes, rhythms and textures.
What particularly held my attention was the spaciousness of the phrasings in the early stages of the dance by both solo players and sections, Taddei and his musicians enabling the music’s essential bitter-sweet character to emerge, setting the strings’ almost decadent voluptuousness against the winds’ piquant flavourings, the latter pungently activating the dancer’s growing excitement and urgencies, leading to the unbridled excitement of the concluding section’s abandoned flourishes, the knife-edge wind arabesques, and the cataclysmic whiplash chords at the end – stunning!
Myth and Ritual - Regional News
03 June 2023
“In both his pre-concert talk and within the concert, conductor Marc Taddei spoke of the arts gaining strength through collaboration across artforms… The performance of Béla Bartók’s ballet, The Miraculous Mandarin, was a collaboration involving both the Orpheus Choir and BalletCollective Aotearoa. While Taddei could have performed a concert version, he chose to include dancers and present the complete work.”
Myth & Ritual. Orchestra Wellington, with Ballet Collective Aotearoa - Michelle Potter ... on Dancing
03 June 2023
Marc Taddei, music director of Orchestra Wellington (OW), has made the band a major fixture of Wellington’s music scene. A heartily large number of subscribers means there is always a capacity audience in place and the Michael Fowler Centre is no small venue.