Upbeat Podcast Options

1:40 PM.French avant-garde composer and pianist Erik Satie turns 150 tomorrow. Producers Marg Ogilvie and Amanda Brown discuss their series Satie Says which through dramatic performance shows how his… Read more Audio

1:24 PM.An art work that is a memorial to the thousands of horses that died in WWI, has been selected as one of three finalists in the Regional Art section of the New Zealand Museum Awards. Sarah McClintock… Read more Audio

1:02 PM.Peter Mechen reviews Stephen Hough plays Brahms, the NZSO's concert with the British piano giant playing Brahms' Second Concerto on tour around New Zealand this week. The concert also includes Gareth… Read more Audio

1:30 PM.Gustavo Gimeno was born to be a conductor - according to former mentor Mariss Jansons at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra where Gimeno used to be principal percussionist. The endearing young Spaniard… Read more Audio

1:00 PM.Sir David Hare has had many highlights in 45 years of writing for the stage. Here as a guest of the Auckland Writers Festival this weekend, he talks about how culture has changed since his… Read more Audio

1:40 PM.The New Zealand International Comedy festival is coming to a close this week. Some comics take weeks, months or even years to craft their set. But for improv comedian Jennifer O'Sullivan and improv… Read more Audio

1:20 PM.Our visual arts reviewer David Alsop is back, taking a look at the Auckland Art Fair, which is New Zealand premier international showcase for contemporary art. This year the Art Fair has works from… Read more Audio

1:00 PM.Scottish born Kiwi glass artist Elizabeth McClure has been busy setting up her latest works for the Auckland Art Fair. Her series Dapple includes hand blown glass that's been sandblasted then… Read more Audio

1:40 PM.Successful Dutch novelist, journalist and actor Herman Koch has the ability to create characters that do vile things, but still make them likeable. His best-selling novels include The Dinner and… Read more Audio

1:20 PM.Len Lye's work is highly creative. His sculptures dot the landscape and draw on the energy from the surrounding environment. Many of his works never eventuated, but Lye's 1960's piece called Sun, Land… Read more Audio

1:30 PM.Brass player, conductor and presenter of Brilliant Brass David Bremner on Home and Away. The celebration of Kiwi composers alongside international counterparts features the NZ premiere of the Paul… Read more Audio

1:00 PM.Eve de Castro and Callum Blackmore from The Karlheinz Company presents Turtle Time, marking the anniversary of the death of composers who created hallucinogenic classics, including NZ composer Jack… Read more Audio

1:48 PM.The arts industry is facing a $2.3 million drop in funding from the NZ Lottery Grants board this year, so what better way to raise awareness for funding in the arts than holding a bingo night… Read more Audio

1:27 PM.In Wellington on Friday, and on Auckland on Saturday, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra performed Aotearoa Plus - new music by NZ and overseas composers. Bramwell Tovey was the conductor, and one of… Read more Audio

1:05 PM.Art and science are two main elements behind Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre, New Zealand's only centre dedicated to music therapy. Carol White explains how introducing music can be a life changing… Read more Audio

1:40 PM.Dancing is an art form that can allow someone to express how they truly feel. Either alone, or in the case of documentary How to Dance in Ohio, in a social context. Documentary maker Alexandra Shiva… Read more Audio

1:20 PM.Peter Hoar reviews the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's performance of Gillian Whitehead's the improbable ordered dance, violinist Ning Feng playing Korngold's ultra lush Violin Concerto; and… Read more Audio

1:00 PM.The story of scam artist Sandy Keith, who killed dozens of people in a ship explosion in 1875, is being told by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Aotearoa Plus tonight. Composer Bramwell Tovey… Read more Audio

1:45 PM.New York based artist and film maker Alfredo Jaar has been given space in the Space to Dream: Recent art from South America exhibition on at The Auckland Gallery. His instillation art draws on wars… Read more Audio

1:30 PM.Jennifer Shennan followed the yellow brick road to the St James Theatre in Wellington last night for the world premier of the Royal New Zealand Ballet's Wizard of Oz. The ballet, about the well known… Read more Audio

1:00 PM.British oboist Gordon Hunt Gordon Hunt is a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. He's in New Zealand to direct the Christchurch… Read more Audio

1:40 PM.Berlin based, Chinese born violinist Ning Feng first experienced New Zealand in 2005 when he won the Michael Hill international violin competition. Now he's back to perform Korngold Violin Concerto… Read more Audio