This year sees the return of Unwrap the Music, 3 early evening concerts where conductor Richard Gill introduce pieces coming up in later programmes.

Magdalena Kozena's new Monteverdi album makes one realise why Leo Schrade titled his 1930 study of the Italian, Monteverdi: Creator of Modern Music.

In 2000, Uri Caine's bold transformation of Bach's Goldberg Variations into a vibrant encyclopedia of styles blew welcome raspberries into complacent ears.

A good part of the excitement at Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's latest dance project was experiencing our city's favourite orchestra in the faux-Egyptian temple of The Civic.

The Black Quartet bring a contemporary touch to classical ensemble music and has played with everyone from Kanye West through to our own Six60.

Poetry and power merged as promised for Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of young Spanish conductor Antonio Mendez.

A Sunday afternoon recital by the Tennant-Austin Duo provided a stylish launch for Auckland's concert year.

Australian Stuart Maunder has led the New Zealand Opera company for the past two years. He directed Tosca, now out in cinemas nationwide, and confesses to an unhealthy obsession with Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.

Playing Gershwin with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in 2012, Freddy Kempf was a sleek cheetah on the keys, caressing moody chromaticisms into sinuous life.

John Psathas is very much at ease with big projects, as you'd expect of the man whose music opened and closed the 2004 Athens Olympics.

New Zealand concertgoers have developed a taste for the cool, yet vibrant, sound of baroque music delivered in the performing styles of its day.

Uwe Grodd's introductions to Auckland Choral's annual Messiah are becoming as much of a tradition as the musical performances that follow them.

You'll thrill early on, when Wang's massive piano cadenza capitulates into one of the composer's most searing cris de coeur.

The final concert of Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's New Zealand Herald Premier series was a night to remember.

A night of telling tales lay ahead when Eckehard Stier took the podium on Thursday for his penultimate appearance as Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's music director.