The Netherlands has a new orchestra: the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra. At least, new in name. The Orkest van het Oosten does not seem to be waiting for possible forced mergers, and is already claiming its position as the national orchestra outside the Randstad by means of this striking name change that was announced today before the start of a concert with the Jussen brothers.
In its policy plan, the Enschede-based orchestra already expresses the ambition to grow into the second orchestra of the Netherlands as soon as possible, behind the orchestra named the best in the world by the international press: the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, of course. And fair is fair: under the leadership of Jaap van Zweden - now a much sought-after conductor worldwide - the orchestra grew into a world-class orchestra. Although the start of current chief Jan-Willem de Vriend was not entirely smooth, his position is now unchallenged: at the same time as the new name, it was also announced that his contract has been extended for three years.
The name change seems a brilliant preemptive strike, given the current cultural climate. After all, state secretary Zijlstra wanted to halve the number of regional orchestras, but only a concession to the CDA managed to prevent it for the time being. On financial and qualitative grounds, however, a further merger of orchestras seems inevitable. In particular, the former Orkest van het Oosten the Gelderland Orchestra already frequently worked together for the large symphonic repertoire and for mega-productions such as Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. That the new Netherlands Symphony Orchestra has as its subtitle the Orchestra of the East persists, is a clear message to competitors in general and the Gelderland Orchestra in particular: the playing space is limited, but we are not going away.
In doing so, the orchestra will be supported by new plans from the province of Overijssel, which also seems to be competing with Gelderland by providing a one-off financial injection of eight to 10 million into the new orchestra, cancelling out the 40% cut in the state subsidy at least for the next four years. That will be voted on next week. The ball is now in Gelderland's court.
To be continued, of course
English (UK) 
Nederlands 
Français 
Of course, Mr Hilberdink is right in his observation that the article 'The' belongs to 'Netherlands', and thus also to our English name 'The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra'. That's how we use that name too, in running texts. Only in the logo is 'The' omitted. And that is allowed, a little research in the US and English markets showed.
The last sentence in my previous post should be: "By the way: it was (again) a wonderful concert, last night in Theatre De Spiegel in Zwolle" and to make a virtue of necessity (in this case to be read as "note"), the above comment between inverted commas cannot be repeated often enough, because Nederlands Symfonie Orkest is - with conductor Jan Willem de Vriend - as far as I am concerned, indeed a tóporkest!
Sincerely,
Dr Wim Hilberdink
In my opinion, the English name of the orchestra cannot be used linguistically like this: "Netherlands Symphony Orchestra", because the adjective "Netherlands" does not exist; it should be "Dutch". Maintaining "Netherlands" would in any case require the article "The" before it, and the word is used as a noun. However: in that case, the Dutch variant should read: Netherlands Symphony Orchestra.
I am a Dutchman by birth, but I have consulted (first-grade) teachers from my school's English section and they share this view.
By the way: it was a wonderful concert (again), last night in Theatre De Spiegel in Zwolle!!!
Dr Wim Hilberdink
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