Michael Hurst, ONZM — actor, director, stage and screen veteran — is starring in Trees Beneath the Lake at Auckland’s Maidment Theatre.

Auckland opera audiences have become accustomed to having Verdi and Puccini presented through the eyes of female directors from across the Tasman.

Goethe was outraged by the suggestion that Mozart merely composed Don Giovanni "as if it were a piece of cake or biscuits stirred together out of eggs, flour and sugar!"

Thousands of Kiwis will witness the dazzling performers in Cirque du Soleil's Totem in its five-week Auckland season.

After the disappointment of the NZ Symphony Orchestra's last visit, its Friday concert was a welcome return to form, writes William Dart.

Stars of stage and screen will fly in to pay tribute to the modest Kiwi vocal coach and mentor who helped put them on the map.

With a cast of 25, a live band, dancers and video projections, The Tautai of Digital Winds presents a truly epic piece of community-based theatre.

Johan Kobborg's Les Lutins, still in classical mode, cavorts and struts its sweetly saucy stuff to the live virtuoso violin of Benjamin Baker and Michael Pansters on piano.

Rising Kiwi piano star Sylvia Jiang will soon be the toast of New York - but not before she wows Kerikeri.

Claire McCall talks to an Auckland teen about her starring role as orphan Annie.

Until now, the two NZ festivals have co-existed - Auckland on the odd years, Wellington the even. But from 2016, Auckland goes annual for the first time, writes Brian Rudman.

Dionne Christian previews May's big fat helping of music for Auckland's children.

Almost 600 children were at The Civic in Auckland to vie for the roles of the von Trapp kids in the Lloyd Webber production.

Indian Ink Theatre's Jacob Rajan returns to Southern India and is thrilled by his company's historic first.

What's a bit Dumpy, a bit Grumpy but has a real Buzz about it?

The first instalment of Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Remembering World War I series drew a large, appreciative audience, keen to hear Li-Wei Qin in Elgar's Cello Concerto.

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is about to take her final operatic curtain call, confirming that her cameo in a production at London's Royal Opera House will be her last role.

Rachel Bache battles aching feet to take in as much of Melbourne's White Night Festival as she can before sunrise.