Features

For Steven Osborne, who’s in Aotearoa to play Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with the Auckland Philharmonia tonight, the performer’s ultimate responsibility is to trust their instincts and not be a slave to the score. Audio

Wellington PhD student Hayden Scott Thorne was idly Googling himself last month when he came across a book he’d apparently written for sale online. Audio

Asteroid City is an all-star oddity from Wes Anderson that rolls just about every mid-'50s element into one package, Simon Morris enjoyed it rather more than many full-time Anderson fans did, he writes. Video, Audio

Modern children and teenagers are less free than their counterparts have ever been, according to a leading psychologist. Audio

"The fundamental thing about performing music is your passion for it and your sense of ownership of it, and that you're really expressing something that feels very true to you." Scottish pianist Steven Osborne is performing Ravel's Piano Concerto in G with the Auckland Philharmonia. Audio

Think the world is in a mess, with growing climate problems and inequality? Humans designed it this way - and we're the only ones who can fix it, Professor Don Norman says. Audio

The Detail - The government has a goal to grow aquaculture to a $3 billion-a-year industry. But red tape - and red flags - stand in the way. Audio

Smart Talk - MasterChef UK judge and restaurant critic William Sitwell joins the ABC's Richard Fidler for a conversation about a life in food. A highlight of the 2023 Auckland Writers Festival. Audio

Martin Baron was editor of the Boston Globe and its award-winning Spotlight investigative team, which tenaciously uncovered widespread sexual abuse by priests, now retired, he joined Nine to Noon to tell his story. Audio

While completing his literature degree, Gabriel Krauze was involved in London gang life and living on a notorious estate in South Kilburn. His gritty, Booker long-listed debut novel, Who They Was, captures this double life. Audio

In 2016, one of Aotearoa's largest-ever meth busts, was delivered into the laps of some bewildered Northland cops. Video, Audio

The Detail - After leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses, Brad Miller and Cassie Dean were cut off from almost everyone they'd ever known. Audio

The Sampler - Tony Stamp reviews a cracking collection of covers from 1971 - Rosinha de Valença's A Guitar in the Foreground. Audio

Finalists in four sections - the Maioha Award, SOUNZ Contemporary Award, Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award, and Best Original Music in a Series Award - have been announced ahead of the awards night on 4 October.

The Women's World Cup being co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia is showcasing the two countries to the world. But with no Oceania team having managed to qualify it's hard to see what benefits there could be for the Pacific in the wider sense.

New Zealand-adopted Fiji journalist, sports writer, national news agency reporter, anti-coup activist, media freedom advocate, storyteller and mentor Sri Krishnamurthi has died. He was just two weeks shy of his 60th birthday.

Analysis - There are suggestions that Chinese aid to some Pacific nations is making their debt situation worse.

Aunty's House has been founded as a collective focused on celebrating and uplifting the South Asian diaspora in New Zealand, and launched with its first event, the Chai Session, Jogai Bhatt reports.

Analysis: If NZ is such a great food producer, why are so many of us going hungry, or eating lower-grade food, asks food systems expert Emily King.

Classical crossover violinist David Garrett is coming to New Zealand in September as part of his Iconic tour. Video, Audio

Country Life - The paddocks on James Thompson's city-limits sheep farm are starting to look like the arrivals lounge at Christchurch Airport. Audio

To celebrate 50 years of hip hop, Sam Wicks looks back at Aotearoa's take on the art form.

Chevalier tells the incredible-but-true story of 18th-century swordsman, composer, virtuoso violinist and lover Joseph Bologne. Video, Audio

LISTEN: The NZSO with tenor Simon O'Neill on stage with symphony and songs from two of the greatest romantic composers, Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss, live at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington.