CPB RETURNS – Live in Concert Fresh from competing at the World Pipe Band Championships in Scotland, the Celtic Pipe Band is excited to present RETURNS - an afternoon of music celebrating our journey home and everything we've been working towards. Enjoy a programme featuring both new and returning performances, from powerful pipe band favourites to […]
THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT The combined Adult Orchestras present A Teddy Bear’s Picnic for our preschoolers. Bring your favourite small teddy bear and join us for a delightful musical adventure. The programme will include nursery rhyme medleys, favourite classics, and even a dance or two. Designed especially for our youngest audience members, this […]
Pianist Zeb Wulff is known for the intensity and sincerity of his sound, his style is shaped by the belief that music becomes meaningful when it speaks with unfiltered honesty. A Massey Conservatorium graduate, he opens a door for audiences to take their own path and challenge their instincts. Frédéric Chopin - A selection of […]
This special concert marks 125 years since the opening of the auditorium at the Nelson Centre of Musical Arts, celebrating the music that continues to fill the building today. The programme brings together some of the region’s leading ensembles and musicians, including performers from the Nelson Civic Choir, Nelson Symphony Orchestra, Chroma Choir, Nelson Youth […]
Enjoy a delightful programme of music by Mozart in the company of members of the Nelson Symphony Orchestra and fortepianist/conductor Andrew Ward. This concert will attempt to evoke the atmosphere of late eighteenth-century Vienna, through the use of a facsimile 1784 fortepiano built by Mozart’s favourite pianomaker, Johann Stein. The two men got on extremely […]
Programme: Francis Poulenc -Sonata for Flute and Piano Johann Sebastian Bach -Sonata for Flute and Continuo in B minor, BWV 1030 (performed in a version for flute and piano) Claude Bolling -Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano And works by:Violeta DinescuMaria SzymanowskaCécile ChaminadeNicholas SmithLeonardo Coral Bridget is Section Principal Flute of the New Zealand Symphony […]
A winning combination of expressive oboe and resonant strings from Mozart to now. This colourful program for strings and oboe from Austria, the Netherlands, Australia, Poland, New Zealand and England is played by five musicians from five different countries - music really is the universal language! We bring the oboe into vivid focus in repertoire […]
The Nelson Male Voice Choir is thrilled to host the renowned Chor-Farmer, a distinguished male voice choir from Tokyo, on their 23rd Goodwill Tour of Australia and New Zealand. This collaboration brings together the harmonious voices of two different cultures. The concert, aptly titled "Songs and Smiles," celebrates the universal language of music and aims […]
Join Witi Ihimaera for an intimate kōrero about how he reclaimed his voice, history and whakapapa by studying te reo Māori. Today a youthful 82-year old, Witi is more prolific than ever, with three books out in 2026. Witi will kōrero with filmmaker Hamish Bennett about his new memoir, Te Kaikaukau | The Swimmer, as […]
Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka discusses his life and literary adventures since winning the 2022 Booker Prize for his astonishing novel, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Set in the ‘In Between’, this supernatural murder mystery recounts photographer Maali Almeida’s attempts to navigate a bureaucratic, crowded afterlife to uncover the truth of his murder. While […]
Twelve years in the making, Night, Ma is Elizabeth Knox’s intimate account of how she and her family contended with a series of calamities in rapid succession. With Kim Hill guiding the conversation, Elizabeth will dive deep on the process of bringing this daring, revealing and compassionate memoir into the world.
Charlotte Grimshaw and Josie Shapiro discuss their latest novels, The Black Monk and Good Things Come and Go, in which they explore complex family dynamics, the lingering effects of grief and trauma, the urge to create art, and the dark shadow cast by addiction and secrets.
Kiri Allan’s Go Hard or Go Home and Charlotte Glennie’s Every Second Counts are both honest and hard-hitting memoirs that begin with accidents that dramatically changed the course of their lives. This is a rare opportunity to hear from two woman who have lived life at full speed. Chaired by Naomi Arnold
BATTLE CHORUS is heading back to Whakatū Nelson by popular demand - this time with a glittering DISCO twist! Led by musical legend Jason Te Mete and introducing the glamorous Jodes Langdon, audiences grab a drink, join a team, and boogie-on-down to the greatest Disco hits of all time. No singing experience required, just bring […]
Join 2026 Ockham New Zealand General Nonfiction Book Award winner Tina Makeriti and 2023 Adam Prize winner Joseph Trinidad as they unveil the lives of their ancestors in order to understand themselves. From the macro to the micro, this session explores how short creative nonfiction can shine the light on who we are and our […]
Tīhema Baker and Lawrence Patchett discuss their latest books, One Day a Taniwha and Have This Heart, and reflect on aspects of fatherhood and masculinity that aren’t often talked about, let alone explored in literature. This deep dive into stories about men who strive for more will be chaired by Matty Anderson.
In this solutions-focused session chaired by Kim Hill, three visionaries in the field – Kiwis in Climate contributing author Barry Coates, founder and co-CEO of Mindful Money; Trisia Farrelly ONZM, who is a Senior Research Scientist at Cawthron Institute; and Aneika Young, who is Te Ao Māori Advisor at The Nature Conservancy – will explore […]
Come along for some brilliant storytelling. Writers Write: Actors Read is a New Zealand podcast series with well-known actors reading short stories by Aotearoa’s best writers to a live audience. An episode of Writers Write: Actors Read will be recorded live at this year’s Nelson Arts Festival with Doug Brooks reading Lawrence Patchett's story, ‘Big […]
Join us to celebrate the nine interlinking tales that comprise All Her Lives, this year’s Jann Medlicott Acorn Fiction prize winner at the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Learn why Ingrid Horrocks, the author of several creative nonfiction books, turned to fiction – and the short story form, in particular – and why she […]
Joseph Trinidad's memoir-in-essays, Lucky Creatures, is a bold and playful collection about rebuilding life after his family emigrated from the Philippines. Standup comedian Pax Assadi, who grew up in a Pakistani/Iranian immigrant family, will be discussing his joyfully chaotic memoir, Mortified, which explores what we gain by embracing moments that make us cringe. Chaired by […]
Light and Shade - music to bewitch the senses Chroma Chamber Choir, conducted by Rosemary Galton, presents a concert of a cappella choral music in the atmospheric setting of Nelson Cathedral. Including works by Tallis, Purcell, Bach, Bruckner, Rachmaninov, Whitacre.
Light and Shade - music to bewitch the senses Chroma Chamber Choir, conducted by Rosemary Galton, presents a concert of a cappella choral music in the atmospheric setting of Nelson Cathedral. Including works by Tallis, Purcell, Bach, Bruckner, Rachmaninov, Whitacre.
Reverie opens with a mesmerizing, atmospheric work that gently rocks between dream and reality - Hanna Kulenty’s A Cradle Song - before entering a state of Romantic fervour with Schumann’s Piano Trio No. 3, brimming with lyrical expression. Adam Schoenberg’s Las Estrellas highlights shimmering textures and celestial inspiration, while a new commission from Karlo Margetić offers a fresh and distinctive […]
Australia’s premier bluesman returns to NZ after sold out shows in 2025! Renowned for his electrifying live shows, Ash Grunwald has inspired a generation to hit the road in an old van to ‘surf by day jam by night’. The festival favourite brings a high energy, vibrant live show with stacks of guitars and foot […]
Enjoy an uplifting concert celebrating the talents of Nelson’s young musicians. Schola Musica, NCMA’s youth string orchestra, is directed by Margarita Jackson and Lissa Cowie. Its talented young players will present a varied programme exploring the colour and expressive range of music for strings. Led by Zoe Dee, the Nelson Youth Choir will showcase the […]
Programme: Borodin - In the Steppes of Central Asia Saint-Saëns - Piano Concerto No. 5 ('The Egyptian'). Intermission Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade Conductor: Jose Aparicio Soloist: Shan Liu (Piano) For centuries, composers have looked beyond their own borders to create musical journeys. In this concert, the Nelson Symphony Orchestra invites you to travel to deserts and […]
Programme: Saint-Saëns - Piano Concerto No. 5 ('The Egyptian'). Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade Conductor: Jose Aparicio Soloist: Shan Liu (Piano) Our matinée concert opens with teenage piano sensation Shan Liu, a student at Auckland’s Westlake Boys High School and one of New Zealand’s most promising young musicians, playing Camille Saint-Saëns’ colourful Piano Concerto Number 5. Written […]
A cherished Nelson tradition, Christmas at the Cathedral unites NBS Nelson City Brass and the Nelson Youth Choir for a sparkling celebration of the season. Exceptional soloists, a lush acoustic, and a beautifully curated programme of traditional carols and modern festive favourites create event not to be missed this Christmas. Widely regarded as a highlight […]
