This weekend we want to go to ...

Contemporary meets historical at Te Hono, part of this winter's Elemental Festival.

Auckland Town Hall: Who doesn't want to transport themselves to another world from time to time? Opportunities abound this month thanks to Elemental Festival – Auckland's brand new winter event under way across the city right now – which aims to be a veritable banquet for the senses. Think winter feasts, light shows, theatre and, of course, festivities to mark Matariki. This Saturday, event producers extraordinaire Inside Out Productions join forces with orators Rewi Spraggon (Te Kawerau a Maki), Taiaha Hawke (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei), and Pita Turei (Ngāti Paoa) for Te Hono, contemporary storytelling complete with state-of-the-art mapping on to the ceiling of the Town Hall's historic Concert Chamber. It's a free event but pre-booking is advised.
Te Hono, Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall, Saturday & Sunday, every two hours from midday-6pm.

During the past 60 years, thousands of our finest orchestral players, soloists, chamber musicians and music teachers have started their careers with the National Youth Orchestra and a fair percentage have gone on to join the NZ Symphony Orchestra. This year, the NYO is joining forces with the New Zealand Youth Choir, which turns 40, for a grand celebration and concert. They'll premiere a work by 2019 NZSO National Youth Orchestra Composer-in-Residence as well as perform Elgar's The Music Makers because they are the music makers now and tomorrow.
NYO Celebrates, Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall, Saturday.

Jan Hellriegel is back and performing in Auckland on Friday night.

The Powerstation: Good things take time – so it is with Jan Hellriegel's fourth studio album, Sportsman of the Year – A Suburban Philosophy which has been seven years in the making. Hellriegel, one of the biggest names of the '90s, says it's about finally arriving at a place where she looks back at failures, disappointments and rejections with a sense of accomplishment and pride, knowing that without them she wouldn't be doing what she is today. Now she performs her stunning new songs at a new venue, CompactStation, within the Powerstation. It promises to be an uplifting evening of songs, stories and suburban philosophy.
Jan Hellriegel, CompactStation at the Powerstation, Friday (R18), doors open 8pm.

Bob the flamingo, a rescue bird, has become a conservation advocate visiting schools and organisations. His photo features in this year's World Press Photo exhibition. Photo / Jasper Doest

Smith & Caughey's: Oh, how we regularly crave an afternoon wandering round Auckland's oldest department store ... As if we needed one, there's an extra incentive to visit this month. The World Press Photo Exhibition has returned to the store's Level 6 with a selection of the most compelling images seen in the media in the past year. Some 4738 photographers from 129 countries submitted 78,801 images; what's displayed here is the best of the best. These are moving, at times harrowing photographs which remind us what photojournalism at its finest looks like and, also, that there's a world outside our comfortable confines.
World Press Photo Exhibition, Smith & Caughey's, until Sunday, July 28.

Simon O'Neill comes home for a one-off concert while New Zealand's next generation of opera stars are on stage this weekend.

Opera Factory: And sticking with the musicians of the future, we produce a surprising number of talented young opera singers who are following in the footsteps of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Dame Malvina Major and Simon O'Neill and being heard in the world's great opera houses. Sunday provides an opportunity to hear sopranos Meghan Carppe, Jacqui Moloney and Sophia Yang with baritones Aidan Phillips and Timothy Burrell, accompanied by well-known Auckland pianist Juan Kim, as part of Opera Factory's commitment to nurturing the next generation. Its winter series of vocal recitals starts this weekend and you're guaranteed a warm welcome. And while it's not the weekend, opera fans might like to note: international star tenor Simon O'Neill performs arias and duets at a Monday night concert in the Auckland Town Hall.
Opera Factory, Winter Vocal Recitals, St Marks Centre, Newmarket, Sunday at 4.30pm.