Upbeat Podcast Options

1:55 PM.New Zealand School of Dance graduate Hayley Stevenson analyses the school's 50th anniversary performance. Read more

1:45 PM.When composer Rod Biss heard the main nesting grounds of one of New Zealand’s most endangered birds was under imminent threat of being developed into dozens of expensive houses and a golf course, he… Read more Video, Audio

1:25 PM.Irish music holds a special place in many of our hearts, and is growing in popularity with new, young audiences in the UK, Europe and America.  Lankum is an Irish band formerly known as Lynched, who… Read more Audio

1:00 PM.Young jazz vocalist Lauren Nottingham features on pianist Mark Donlon’s latest album Shadowbird and the two are touring the country with drummer Dexter Stanley-Tauvao and bassist Chris Beernink to… Read more Audio

1:30 PM.West Auckland born Rosita Hendry is touring the country as part of contemporary  French Canadian company  Cirque Éloize. Rosita has had a very fast route to top level performance after seeing a show… Read more Audio

1:00 PM.Musical theatre legend Helen Medlyn doesn’t set out to steal the show, but in the past few years she’s landed the parts that shine in the spotlight. Most have a vile edge – but this time she’s… Read more Audio

1:30 PM.The most prolific partnership on our classical music scene, composer Ross Harris and poet Vincent O'Sullivan have been pouring out operas, songs, oratorios, even symphonies for some 13 years now after… Read more Audio

10:06 AM.The NZ Festival first became part of Shelagh Magadza's life around 20 years ago. Her earlier jobs there involved administration and  ferrying artists around Wellington - but since 2014 she has been… Read more Audio

1:45 PM.Prepare yourself for a massive magic show simply titled Magicians.

The spectacle is opening its North Island tour in Wellington before heading off to Palmerston North, New Plymouth, and Auckland.

… Read more Audio

1:30 PM.Irish folk musician John Leo Carter has jumped off a plane, headed to the Upbeat studio, and is playing the Wellington Folk Festival over Labour Weekend. The Öland, Sweden-based musician’s latest… Read more Audio

1:00 PM.A cantata written to mark the 50th anniversary of a mining disaster in Wales, is about to have its New Zealand premiere.  Sir Karl Jenkins wrote Cantata Memoria - For the Children of Aberfan, to… Read more Audio

1:40 PM.Michael Houstoun is about to play a new piano concerto, written for him by Lyell Cresswell, working with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

Lyell turned 70 in 2014 and is busier than ever writing… Read more Audio

1:20 PM.Soon - depending on whether your idea of hell or heaven is hundreds of kids performing musical theatre - the Aotea Centre in Auckland will either be an incredibly joyous place to be, or the place to… Read more Audio, Gallery

1:00 PM.Each recipient receives $50,000 to be used in any way they choose. Past winners include Taika Waititi, Chris Knox,  Moana Maniapoto, Eleanor Catton and Jane Campion.  Read more Video, Audio

1:40 PM.Recently Java Dance Company violinist Tristan Carter has been travelling around the world, visiting among others places India, Georgia, and Iran. Read more Audio

1:25 PM.Pianist Jonathan Crayford is gearing up to hit the road with a Steinway D concert grand; not the usual way of doing things as a pianist but then Mr. Crayford has a fondness for being unique. And when… Read more Audio

1:00 PM.This week is the third New Zealand Chinese Language Week. Eva Radich is joined by the co-chairs of the week Jo Coughlan and Raymond Huo. Read more Audio

1:40 PM.Justin Gregory reviews Auckland’s Tempo Dance Festival shows Limbs@40, Java Dance's The Wine Project, Orchids, and "a world with your wound in it". Read more Audio

1:20 PM.Mezzo Soprano Catrin Johnsson and pianist Rachel Fuller hit the road this Labour weekend with Voices NZ for three concerts to celebrate Spring and Love. Read more Audio

1:00 PM.Maximum Minimalism is the paradoxical title of Stroma’s concert at Wellington’s City Gallery featuring the hypnotic, looping sound worlds of composers Steve Reich, Julia Wolfe, Alison Isadora and… Read more Audio

1:40 PM.GALS, the Auckland Gay and Lesbian choir is celebrating its 25th anniversary with an event that highlights an important issue for Auckland: homelessness. The choir will perform The Street Requiem… Read more Audio

1:20 PM.Tony Ryan joined the sold out crowd at Wigram Airforce Museum on Saturday for the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra’s Ode to Joy featuring Beethoven’s famous 9^th Symphony and his less well known Violin… Read more Audio

1:00 PM.Today marks the beginning of the third New Zealand Chinese Language Week. So it’s a good time to get a primer on some of the basics. Language teacher Chunxiao Lu has been helping RNZ presenters up… Read more Audio

1:25 PM.Composer Salina Fisher has won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award 2017, New Zealand's premier composition prize, for her work for string quartet 'Tōrino'. This is the second consecutive year Fisher has won… Read more Video, Audio

12:00 PM.At just 23 Wellington composer Salina Fisher has taken the SOUNZ Contemporary Award at the Silver Scrolls for the second year in a row. Her winning work, Tōrino for string quartet is based on… Read more Audio