One afternoon, after playing live in Radio New Zealand’s Auckland studio, Don McGlashan was handed a phone. On the other end, calling from the other end of the country, was Otago-based luthier Ian Davie who’d been listening to the radio in his workshop. He said: “I like your music. I’ve never heard of you before [...]

The Mt Eden Community Arts Trust raised $50,000 at an art auction in Mt Eden Village last week. The money, raised at the annual Artists in Eden event, will be awarded to young talented young artists from Auckland. Around 40 well-known Auckland artists created works from scratch or completed works in the Essex Rd Reserve, [...]

The sounds of soul, blues, rock and jazz will fill the air over the Hauraki Gulf this Easter weekend at the Waiheke International Jazz Festival. Festival director John Quigley has organised the long-running event – for many years directed by international jazz pianist David Paquette – for the past three years. He says his focus [...]

Two musical sisters are giving Auckland kids a chance to embrace their individuality and build confidence through song and dance. Jasmine and Dani Plows, 20 and 19 respectively, founded Auckland Glee in March 2012, as a performing-arts club based closely on the popular TV show Glee. Members of the club, aged between 11 and 18, [...]

Whether it’s an oriental banjo player from Nashville, Siberian-Jewish harpists or cooking classes from an African gospel choir – at Womad there is something for everyone. This Friday marks the beginning of New Plymouth’s biggest festival, kicking off three days of world music, dance, film and food. The line-up contains more than 40 performing groups, [...]

Auckland’s oldest chamber orchestra has extended special overseas invitations to their upcoming birthday celebrations. St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra plans to celebrate their 40th anniversary with a birthday concert, featuring two guest soloists from Melbourne.   Isin Cakmakcioglu, is a violinist for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, while Rachel Atkinson teaches her instrument, the cello, at Melbourne University. The [...]

After a successful season at the Auckland Museum, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition will soon come to a close, with a showing by the New Zealand Geographic photography finalists to take its place. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year – a traveling exhibition – was curated by the London National History Museum and [...]

The trend towards digital media has been interrupted by a resurgence in the sales of vinyl. Iconic Auckland music store Real Groovy has seen a 125 per cent increase in the sales of new vinyl over the past year. Managing director Chris Hart says 10 years ago dance vinyls made up more than 85 per [...]

Two young Auckland photographers are calling on their fans to help them hold their first exhibition. “Shutter Pirates” Joe Dowling and Tim Lambourne, who run a photography blog by the same name, are throwing what they call “a democratic photography exhibition run by two pirate dictators”. Inspired by the Photography Club in Brighton, which invites [...]