Hopes of adding a Grammy to the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's awards cabinet have been dashed after the accolade was handed to the Boston orchestra instead.

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.

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

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.

Last week, in conversation, the Vienna Piano Trio's Stefan Mendl confessed his intense admiration for Beethoven's Opus 70 no 2.