A $500,000 project to send the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, soloists and 20 Tainui members to Sydney for the Olympics arts festival is being funded mostly by Australians.
About 150 New Zealanders will perform at the Opera House next month. The NZSO-Tainui joint venture, known as Taaua, involves two concerts, joining a lineup that is said to be one of the most ambitious for a Games arts festival.
Last month, the orchestra was warned to tighten its belt after receiving a multimillion-dollar Government funding package.
An orchestra spokeswoman said funding for the Sydney trip, believed to be a mix of private and public money, was coming from the festival coordinators, who invited the NZSO.
Air New Zealand was helping with flights.
The orchestra will showcase two works by Kiwi composer Gareth Farr, and present Vaughan Williams' Sinfonia Antarctica, narrated by Sir Edmund Hillary. Solo artists include soprano Deborah Wai Kapohe and bass Jonathan Lemalu.
Orchestra travels on Australian cash
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