Upbeat

Auckland cellist Matthias Balzat was the Grand Prize winner of the National Concert Competition on Saturday with his performance of Shostakovich’s first Cello Concerto. Tony Ryan was there and… Read more Audio

We asked listeners, RNZ Concert presenters and players from the orchestra to share their most memorable concert experience with us. Here's what they said... Read more Audio

Clowning can be a funny business, but for Ruth Dudding and Zack McCracken it’s rather serious business. The duo is part of Clown Doctors New Zealand, a group that goes into hospitals and care… Read more Audio

Earthquakes cause displacement, and that was the catalyst for a lot of rarely seen New Zealand art to be put on display at the Adam Art Gallery. The November earthquake saw more than half of Victoria… Read more Audio

Rugby league and musicals might seem like strange bedfellows, but Australian journalist Hugh Lunn and composer Bradley McCaw have combined the two, for their new show Home Ground: The State of Origin… Read more Audio

Total language immersion is at the heart of 9Bach - an alternative folk group formed by Welsh singer-songwriter and pianist Lisa Jen and her husband English guitarist Martin Hoyland. Read more Audio

Former deputy artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet, Henning Albrechtsen is in New Zealand to coach at the New Zealand School of dance. He’s a specialist in the Bourneville method, a style… Read more Audio

Wellington’s photography festival Photival is a festival with a conscience. Spread around the city the installations reflect life on the brink. Ben Laksana’s photographs capture the isolation of those… Read more Audio

Opera and cake, what could possibly go wrong? That is the basis of Dunedin singer Claire Barton’s latest show Bon Appétit! Inspired by television chef Julia Childs, Claire whips, beats and bakes live… Read more Audio

The National Concerto Competition has been giving young musicians under 25 a chance to shine while playing classical music for 50 years. This year, 1988 winner Hamish McKeich will conduct the finals… Read more Audio

From spacesuits for films and dresses for Game of Thrones, costumier Chantelle Gerrard has been busy. Now, she, and 30 others are turning their hands to creating both period and modern pieces for… Read more Audio

Warm, humourous and delicate is how Peter Hoar describes violinist Chloe Hanslip’s performance of Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 5 with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. But how did the rest of the… Read more Audio