The diary: Turn the tables

Thrill to the orchestral musicians of tomorrow when the New Zealand Secondary Schools' Symphony Orchestra plays a programme ranging from a Reinecke flute concerto, with soloist Christine Kim, to the most celebrated student symphony of all time, Shostakovich's First, written when the Russian composer was only 19.

Also on offer is the work of a young Kiwi symphonist, as the orchestra tackles a movement from Jeremy Mayall's Symphony for Turntable. Mayall, a Waikato University student and a bone fide DJ (check out onefatman.co.nz) will be doing the scratching, bringing us up to date with music which has already had impressive performances from the Auckland Philharmonia and the NZSO. Thursday, 7.30pm, Genesis Theatre, TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre, Manukau.

Inside their heads

Young actors' group Out Loud Theatre Company, of the Performing Arts School of New Zealand, will stage a new work this weekend written by tutor Rosalind Gardner. Outside Inside My Head tackles the grim subject of teenage deaths on New Zealand roads, but makes the bold claim of also being entertaining - because it is set at a party. The scenario is not hard to envisage. The actors are aged between 15-19, so talent-spotters should be on the scout. Tapac, Western Springs, Fri-Sun 7pm, plus a 2pm matinee Sat.

Here one day, gone the next

You may carry the misconception that the 26 teenagers who sing in the Vienna Boys' Choir (pictured above) are a bunch of cherubs warbling their hearts out before their voices break into a deeper adult timbre. Not so, according to some reports on the boys when they visited Australia and New Zealand three years ago. Off stage, they were as interested in Metallica and Playstation as their classical repertoire. Of course, that crop of singers has made way for a new generation; the choir is part of an ever-evolving 500-year tradition, founded to perform in Vienna's Imperial Chapel.

One thing that's different about this New Zealand tour is that local school choirs will join the VBC on stage to sing a specially commissioned work by the choir's artistic director Gerald Wirth, called We Want to Sing Together. Bruce Mason Theatre, Takapuna, Fri-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 2.30pm, then on to Hamilton, Wellington, Napier, Palmerston North, New Plymouth and Christchurch. The tour ends on Aug 3.

Max's mind

If you caught the extraordinary Artsville programme on New York-based New Zealand painter Max Gimblett, you would have seen something of the focus he puts into his singular working technique. Something about the way you hold the mouth and shout as the paint hits the canvas ...

His 45-year career means he has a great deal of insight and information to pass on, and so Gimblett, Visiting Professor of the National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries, is going to do just that in a talk and slide show called all mind no mind: current paintings 2000-2005, at the University of Auckland's Design Theatre, 22 Symonds St, tomorrow 3pm-5pm.

Gimblett is part of a terrifically engaging show at Gow Langsford, until July 30, and later this year, American writer Thomas McEvilley will publish an essay on his work in the seminal Art In America.