Now, she feels “extremely excited and nervous and encouraged” to be bringing those songs home.
“To be able to come back and play any of these songs in any context is amazing,” the Grammy-winner tells the Herald. “But to be able to bring them to expression for the first time with a whole orchestra feels quite remarkable.”
“I’m just thrilled that people are even interested in that being a thing - I feel very, very honoured by the opportunity.”
This time, she’ll be bringing both her daughters, aged 9 and 6, and her husband Scott Ligertwood with her, and confesses she already has a shopping list in her notes app of all the Kiwi snacks she misses most. The Ligertwoods are “big foodies”, she says, but when they’re not dining out in Auckland, they’ll be stocking up on some classic treats.
“I love Jelly Tip iceblocks, and Frujus, and kūmara chips as well ... all of the good things,” the singer laughs.
The concert with the APO promises to showcase her solo albums in a whole new light, and Fraser adds it’s “going to be a whole different experience” for her as a performer as well.
“I’m accustomed to having clicks in my ears, and everybody’s playing to clicks, but that’s not the case with orchestra,” she explains.
“It’s all very fluid and live in the room, all these kinds of meshings and meldings of the multiple worlds ... I think it’s going to be quite an exhilarating experience.”
Fans can expect to hear their favourite singles from albums like What To Do With Daylight and Flags, as well as some “deep cuts”.
“I have an old one from my album Flags called Ice On Her Lashes - where that song goes harmonically, I think hearing it with an orchestra will be really special. There’s a song called C.S. Lewis Song, which I think will feel even more emotive with that kind of orchestral expression,” she says.
Brooke Fraser is returning to New Zealand for a single show at Spark Arena.
Fraser is yet to get into a room with the orchestra itself, but when she does, she hopes to be able to record the songs for an album. “We’re working out the details.”
On the night, she hopes people will experience the songs they know and love “in a completely different way”.
“I know for me, how I feel when there’s songs that are nostalgic and I hear them for a first time in a long time - you know, they take me back to moments in my life in such a visceral sense. I know that a lot of these songs will be really nostalgic for people,” she says.
“I’m honoured when I hear about people having songs at their weddings or at funerals of loved ones, or in really important seasons of their lives when maybe some of these songs could have been of service to them.
“I’m looking forward to playing these songs in this way, and hopefully surrounding people with a big musical hug.”
It’s that feeling of that nostalgia that triggered a deep emotional reaction for Fraser herself when she first came across the music video for award-winning Māori artist Rob Ruha’s song That’s Where I’ll Be.
“I was just in tears, he’s amazing,” she says of the Arts Foundation Laureate.
The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, pictured performing here at the Auckland Town Hall in November 2023, will perform alongside Fraser on June 22 at Spark Arena. Photo / Adrian Malloch
“Because I think New Zealand is such a special place to grow up and it’s very unique, and there’s things about it that are almost impossible to translate to other people about what it’s like to grow up in New Zealand.
“So I think that music video for me, so many parts of it - the cooking and the regional rugby games and washing dishes - that music video just got me.”
Alongside Ruha, she names Georgia Lines and Ngaio - whose sound she compares to “Joni Mitchell in her early years”- among her favourite Kiwi artists making music today.
Ahead of the June show, she’s heading to New Zealand in March to curate this year’s A Songhubs alongside award-winning musicians Matt Hales, known as Aqualung, and Shungudzo Kuyimba. The five-day songwriting retreat is designed to help artists hone their craft, and Fraser is already excited about the “breadth and diversity and depth of the talent” of the applicants.
“Just to see that there is a culture in which creativity is celebrated in New Zealand, and the support for artists, it’s pretty amazing,” she enthuses.
“There’s a bunch of artists who I’m going to get to spend a lot of time with, and that feels really exciting.”
Looking back at her own journey as a musician - which has crossed genres from indie to folk-pop, mainstream and contemporary worship music - Fraser says, “I’m just really grateful to be able to make music that I mean.”
“That’s in all forms, whether it’s the Brooke Fraser albums in the past, or being able to write songs that hopefully can serve people in their own lives of faith.”
It hasn’t always been a straightforward journey, she admits.
“In the early years when there was, and perhaps still is, a lot of misunderstanding about being able to write music across multiple genres with different audiences, I remember being so confused as to why I couldn’t just make all of the art that came out of my heart,” she recalls.
“Like, why were people wanting me so desperately to stick in one lane? So I think with age, you take the misunderstanding less personally.”
Despite that, Fraser says she’s always felt able to be authentically herself.
“I’m myself when I’m singing or making Brooke Fraser music, and I’m completely and fully myself also when I’m getting to lead people in a congregation or write songs that might be used in a church, or just for someone in their car just listening. I feel just really honoured to serve all people with music, and the music comes from my own heart, my own life.
“I still sometimes pinch myself,” she admits. “I can’t believe that I’ve been able to do this with my life for 21 years now. it’s no small miracle.”
Brooke Fraser will perform with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra at Auckland’s Spark Arena on Saturday, June 22. Members can access the Live Nation pre-sale at 10am on Wednesday, February 21. General tickets go on sale at 10am on Thursday, February 22.
