Wagner
Musical scholar Alex Ross
Alex Ross is the music critic for The New Yorker and the author of The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century. He will appear at the Auckland Writers Festival and talk about his latest work, on… Audio
Tannhäuser by Richard Wagner
In medieval Germany, the minnesinger Tannhäuser, having spent a year in the magical underground realm of Venus, the goddess of love, longs to return to the human world. Video
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Das Rheingold by Richard Wagner
The Prologue opera of Wagner's Ring Cycle is performed in Chicago in a new production by David Pountney Video
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The Wagner Tuba
Erica Challis takes a look at the instrument Wagner invented especially for his orchestra. Audio
WAGNER: The Mastersingers of Nuremburg
Walther falls in love with Eva and when he discovers that she will marry the winner of the Mastersingers’ song competition, he determines to be that man. Video
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Der Fliegende Holländer by Wagner
A mysterious sea-captain sails the oceans under a curse, allowed ashore only once every seven years to look for the true love which can redeem him Video
Wagner's Tristan and Isolde
Based on a medieval legend, this epic tragedy of love and death changed the course of music history Video
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Interrupted Cadences - Falling on their feet
John Drummond explores critical moments in the history of Western music when things might well have turned out differently. Falling on their feet. From the sixteenth century to the nineteenth… Audio
Wagner and Hotels - Stuttgart
In Stuttgart, Wagner's debts were catching up with him. Audio
Wagner and Hotels - La Spezia
In La Spezia a walk by the harbour may have inspired the opening of the Ring Cycle Audio
Wagner and Hotels - Chemnitz
In Chemnitz the composer narrowly avoids arrest after his involvement in the Dresden Uprising Audio
Heath Lees on Wagner
Heath Lees is Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Auckland, and well-known to RNZ Concert listeners for his enlightening and entertaining radio programmes. He's also founder of the Wagner… Audio
Black Caps win first test
New Zealand has won the first cricket test against Sri Lanka in Dunedin by 122 runs.
Simon Romanos: Great Sopranos
Simon looks at three of the finest operatic sopranos in history, all named Joan. Audio
The Best of Upbeat for 12 June 2015
Upbeat broadcasts from Queenstown's Michael Hill International Violin Competition, before Eva speaks to playwright Jamie McCaskill and American Wagnerian soprano Christine Goerke. Audio
Christine Goerke: Soprano
American dramatic soprano Christine Goerke is fast becoming one of the world's most in-demand singers. She's in back in the country for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's Wagner Gala, alongside… Audio
Wagner: Das Rheingold - Scene 2
Performed by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Eckehard Stier.
Recorded on Friday 29th July 2011 at the Westpac Opera in Concert. Audio
Wagner: Das Rheingold - Scene 3
Performed by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Eckehard Stier.
Recorded on Friday 29th July 2011 at the Westpac Opera in Concert. Audio
Nietzsche
Barry Empson explores the life and work of the controversial German philosopher. Audio