The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is the national orchestra of New Zealand. It is a crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, with 90 full-time players. The orchestra was founded in 1946 as the National Orchestra (by Oswald Astley Cheesman and others) and administered by Radio New Zealand until 1989, under the name of the NZBC Symphony Orchestra (New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation). It is currently based in the Michael Fowler Centre but frequently performs also in the adjacent Wellington Town Hall in Wellington.