Opera

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa receives a British Queen’s Birthday honour, Renee Fleming is up for a Tony, the APO goes disco and we celebrate rising stars for the start of Matariki.

Perhaps the most enduringly successful of the many operatic settings of the world’s greatest love story. Video

World famous Kiwi tenor Simon O’Neill is back with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra for his debut orchestral performance of Richard Wagner’s song cycle the Wesendonck Lieder, based on poems written… Audio

Tenor Simon O’Neill is back performing with the NZSO, Wellington is getting hot with the Jazz Festival & we continue to acknowledge important musical patrons.

The French composer’s sumptuous take on the classic Cinderella fairy-tale Video

Husband and wife tenor Pene Pati and soprano Amina Edris brought their real-life love to the stage for New Zealand Opera’s performance of Donizetti’s bel canto comedy The Elixir of Love. Peter Hoar… Audio

The world premiere of Corey Baker’s The Last Dance with the RNZB, NZO’s The Elixir of Love opens in Auckland, City Choir Dunedin members jet to London to perform a New Zealand oratorio and we round…

We discover what listening to soft music does to your waistline, Classic Brits nominees the Ayoub Sisters speak out against music education funding cuts and Pene Pati & Amina Edris on love and opera.

NZ Tenor Thomas Atkins gains international artistic representation; we explore the international language of music with a focus on Ethio-jazz and music to warm you up on this chilly day.

A surreal fantasy about a dinner party from which the guests can’t escape. Video

Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love opens next week in Auckland. The charming, funny opera is being performed by New Zealand Opera. Conductor and Musical Director Wyn Davies, and baritone Morgan Pearse… Audio

The Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage gives her first speech about the importance of art in NZ, we get the lowdown on The Elixir of Love and RNZB’s new show Dancing with Mozart exploring the…

This heart-wrenching tragedy of fatherly love is a rarely performed gem from Verdi’s early period. Video

Pene Pati is one third of the smash-hit pop opera family group Sol3 Mio. Pene, his brother Amitai and cousin Moses Mackay have taken a break from Sol3 to further their operatic studies. Now he's home… Audio

Australian based ensemble The Ten Tenors are on the road in NZ, visiting 16 destinations up and down the country. The tenors, including Kiwi Cameron Barclay, popped into the Auckland studio to perform… Video, Audio

The Ten Tenors answer 10 quick questions, we celebrate Dame Gillian Whitehead’s icon award, we find out who the BBC young musician of the year is and we celebrate great violinists.

The character of Lucia has become an icon in opera and beyond, an archetype of the constrained woman asserting herself in society. The insanity that overtakes and destroys Lucia, depicted in opera’s… Video

Pasquale Orchard and Declan Cudd are two of the soloists for Orchestra Wellington's Symphony in the Hutt next week: a popular concert for the Taita community. The pair talk about their addiction to… Audio

We discover that young people do like classical music, we meet two rising stars in opera, we mark NZ Sign Language week by exploring the intricacies of interpreting music into NZSL and we continue…

A frothy comedy of manners with an intensely dark take on human nature. Video