New Zealand Festival 2014

Singer-songwriter Neko Case was here for the NZ Festival and stopped by Radio NZ with a scaled-down version of her band for a live session hosted by Emma Smith and engineered by Ian Gordon. Audio

The 2014 New Zealand Festival is drawing to a close, for some arts lovers, it's kept the best til last. Audio

Irish actor Aidan Dooley brings to life the stories of Tom Crean, an unsung Antarctic explorer. Audio

New Zealand author and curator speaking at the New Zealand Festival Writers Week. Audio

New Zealand author speaking at the New Zealand Festival Writers Week. Audio

Peter Reviews the New Zealand Festival of Tales from the Forbidden City. Audio

Whanganui-born actor Rhys Morgan has successfully established a career in Britain and Australia as drag queen Spanky. He brings his comedy cabaret show, Candice McQueen: Nasty!, to the NZ Festival for… Audio

Aidan Dooley is an Irish writer, director and actor who brings his production of Tom Crean - Antarctic Explorer to the NZ Festival, and to Auckland for one public performance, plus school events… Audio

New Zealand musician Sean O'Brien has recorded and performed with a number of various bands since the 1990s. He currently performs as Joe Blossom, and released his solo album debut, Nocturnes, in… Audio

Kate Camp has published five collections of poems, and contributes the Kate's Klassic segment to Saturday Mornings. During Writers Week she will be chairing two German authors in a conversation around… Audio

Dylan Horrocks is a New Zealand cartoonist best known for his 1998 book, Hicksville. His new book, Incomplete Works, collects many of his shorter comics from 1986 to 2012 and will be launched at… Audio

Amelia Nurse visits Power Plant, one of the more unusual shows in the festival. It's a hugely popular sound and light installation by Five UK artists in Wellington's Botanic Gardens. Audio

Music Director of Strike percussion ensemble presenting 'Between Zero and One' at the NZIAF. Audio

Deirdre reviews the world premiere of Lemi Ponifasio's The Crimson House from the NZIAF. Audio

Rachel explores Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 5 ahead of the NZSO performance. Audio

Australian author previews his Writers Week appearance at the New Zealand Festival. Audio

The New Zealand Festival's musical offerings on this weekend range from the twisted lyrics of cult favourites The Tiger Lillies…to Irish balladeer Paul Brady, to the nasty Candice (pron cand-ICE)… Audio

Review of the New Zealand International Arts Festival performance of Oswaldo Golijov's Ainadamar. Audio

Peter reviews the NZIAF production of Ross Harris and Vincent O'Sullivan's Requiem for the Fallen. Audio

Masaaki Suzuki is an international authority on the work of Bach, and has been lauded as one of the most powerful figures in music. He is the founder and musical director of the Bach Collegium Japan… Audio

Artistic Director of Mau Dance Company previews NZIAF productions of his show's 'The Crimson House' and 'Stones In Her Mouth'. Audio

Rachel explores the work of Schubert ahead of the NZSO performance of Schubert's 5th Symphony. Audio

Rachel explores the work of Schubert ahead of the NZSO performance of Schubert's 5th Symphony. Audio

Lyn Freeman visits The Power Plant installation at Wellington's Botanic Gardens. Audio

One of five artists who have created Power Plant, an array of light and sound installations currently on show at Wellington's Botanic Gardens as part of the NZ Festival. Audio

Promoter of the virtues of fermentation through workshops, lectures, and three books who will visit Wellington soon for the New Zealand Festival. Audio

There's a strong Spanish flavour to New Zealand Arts Festival this year. Audio

Reviewer and commentator from The Scotsman newspaper visiting NZ for International Arts Festival. Audio

Jonathan reviews NZIAF productions of Black Faggott and Paniora! Audio

Australian Contemporary Circus artistic director, Yaron Lifschitz, who's bringing his troupe's new show "Beyond" to the New Zealand Festival. Audio

Margaret MacMillan is a professor of international history at St Antony's College, Oxford. She discusses her new book 'The War that Ended Peace: How Europe Abandoned Peace for the First World War'. It… Audio

While the New Zealand Festival features many live theatre and music performances, there are also several major arts exhibitions. Audio

Jonathan reviews the opening night of the NZIAF production of Robert Lepage's 'Needles and Opium'. Audio

Deirdre reviews the NZIAF opening performance 'Deca Dance' by Israel based Batsheva Dance Company. Audio

Gunter reviews last night's NZIAF concert by early music plucked string specialist at Pataka Museum in Porirua. Audio

Eva speaks to Radio NZ's engineer and producer for the live broadcast of the NZSO's Beethoven 5 concert. Audio

Eva speaks to audience members Gunter Herbig and Anita Ojeda about their thoughts on the NZSO's performance of Beethoven 5. Audio

Eva speaks to Rachel Hyde from the side of the stage at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington. Audio

Eva speaks to horn player Heather Thomson, percussionist Larry Reese, oboist Peter Dykes and violinist Dean Major a few minutes before they perform Beethoven's 5th Symphony with the NZSO. Audio

Eva speaks to Hamish McKeich as he prepares to go on stage to conduct the NZSO performing Beethoven's Symphony No 5. Audio

The host of Radio New Zealand's arts show, Standing Room Only, Lynn Freeman, squeezed in as many shows as she could and survived to join us this morning. Audio

Anti-Israeli protestors say they will be stepping up their campaign after demonstrating outside a New Zealand Arts Festival dance performance. Audio

The artistic director of the Israeli dance company, which is performing at the New Zealand Festival, says he would boycott his own show if he thought it would help the Palestinian cause in Israel. Audio

Ainadamar, Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov's Grammy Award-winning tribute to the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca is playing as part of the New Zealand Festival. Richard talks to director Sara… Audio

World leading early music guitarist and lutenist giving a pair of recitals at the New Zealand Festival. Audio

NZ playwright talks about her new work Paniora! being presented at NZIAF and Auckland Theatre Company. Audio

Shelagh Magadza, artistic director of the New Zealand Festival. Audio

What do Daleks, Cybermen, a Tardis, an 80-piece orchestra, and a choir all have in common? Audio

Radio New Zealand's host of the arts show Standing Room Only, Lynn Freeman, is here with an overview of the 2014 festival programme. Audio

Artistic Director of Israel's Batsheva Dance Company talks Gaga technique and NZIAF performance of Deca Dance. Audio

Hawkes Bay Festival Opera Artistic Director speaks about her upcoming performance singing soprano role in NZSO/NZIAF Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular. Audio

French-Canadian actor starring in the New Zealand Festival season of Needles and Opium. Audio

Star of Stuart Hoar's Pasefika which is being presented as part of the New Zealand International Arts Festival. Audio

Writer and composer from NZ Fringe Festival production of 'Traces - Ghosts from the Archive'. Audio

The fifth 'Doctor Who' Peter Davison is coming to Wellington to host the 'The Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular' at the New Zealand Festival. Audio

The songs of soul survivor Charles Bradley, tell of the hardships and struggles of life- a subject he knows a lot about. After years of on again off again parenting from his mother, he left home at… Audio

Walter A Hass Professor in the Humanities at Stanford University, San Francisco, and author of seven books of criticism and a memoir. She will be a guest at Writers Week at the NZ Festival Audio

Loretta Napoleoni is an expert on terrorist financing, and advises several governments and international organisations on counter-terrorism and money laundering. She talks to Kathryn Ryan about her… Audio

Theatre artist and choreographer with performance company Mau, which will be premiering two new works at the New Zealand Festival. Audio

Ira Kaplan is the co-founder, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of the American indie rock band Yo La Tengo, which will play at the New Zealand Festival on March 15. Audio

To focus attention on what he called "one of the central moral issues of our time", prolific Australian author Thomas Keneally last year edited and contributed to A Country Too Far - Writings on… Audio

Canadian director who has created a renowned body of theatre work, most recently an updated version of his play Needles and Opium, will play during the NZ Festival in March. Audio

New Zealand Festival artistic director previews this year's event. Audio

Ursula Martinez is a London based writer and performer who's bringing her controversial cabaret show - "My Stories Your Emails" to the New Zealand Festival next month. Identity, relationships… Audio

Jaspreet Singh's novel 'Helium' addresses memories of the 1984 pogrom against the Sikhs following Indira Gandhi's assassination. He was a teenager in Delhi at the time, and writing the novel served to… Audio

Jack Lasenby is one of New Zealand's most popular children's authors. He talks about the origins of stories, growing up in the shadow of war and the Depression, a childhood in the Waikato, and a life… Audio

The Quiet Volume created by Ant Hampton is a form of audience-generated theatre, or autoteatro, which takes place in a working library. It explores the particular tension common to any library… Audio

Tan Twan Eng trained as a lawyer and worked as a solicitor in one of Kuala Lumpur's law firms before becoming a full-time writer. His latest novel, The Garden of Evening Mists, was shortlisted for the… Audio

Spanish author Jordi Puntí translates medieval poetry, Asterix, and among others, the work of Paul Auster and Daniel Pennac into Catalan. His first novel, 'Lost Luggage', has been translated into 15… Audio

Diarmaid MacCulloch, a history professor at the University of Oxford, is one of the world's most influential - and at times controversial - church historians. He has written numerous books, including… Audio

This interview contains strong language and references to drug use.

Syrian-American writer and filmmaker Rayya Elias has published the book 'Harley Loco: A Memoir of Hard Living, Post Punk and Hair -… Audio

Founder and Music Director of the Bach Collegium Japan who will feature at the NZ International Arts Festival 2014. Audio

Marcus Chown is a science writer, journalist and broadcaster and the cosmology consultant for New Scientist magazine. He is the author of many popular science books and recipient of the 2011 Future… Audio

Tony Award winning actor, Denis O'Hare is bringing his retelling of Homer's epic An Iliad to Wellington for the Festival of the Arts. Denis O'Hare plays all 13 characters - as well as the narrator and… Audio

Paris with 19th century French artist Charles Meryon - the star of a new play by Stuart Hoar, who was captured by the artist's obsession with New Zealand. Stuart's script for Pasefika won the Adam New… Audio