From calypso to virtuoso Indian music, the festival showcased some astonishing acts, with punters to match.

Otara teenager Sipa Deidoe had never been inside a theatre until he came into the Aotea Centre for a first meeting about a new arts project late last year.

There will be a doctor in the house when the NZ Symphony Orchestra play a tribute to Doctor Who in a musical spectacular.

Most Kiwis have probably not heard of Hannah O'Neill. The 20-year-old is one of the brightest young stars in the ballet world, who also happens to be a Kiwi.

There's an immediate frisson of friction between the two characters - a teacher and a mother - in this hour-long, real-time conversation.

We profile stars of Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson show about to open in NZ. Today: Leeco Kosmidis.

The first in a series profiling stars of the Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson show about to open in Auckland.

Does he like peeling onions? Michael Hurst looks bemused by the question - he is eating a home-made salad of piquant appearance - so he pauses, fork in mid-air, and tilts his head.

Take a look at some of the acts that will be performing at the 2014 NZ Festival.

The Mozart Requiem may have made for an almost full house on Thursday night as Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's 2013 Choral Masterpiece, but the concert's inclusion of two Haydn works was very much appreciated.

You could just be mesmerised by the sheer physical beauty of the Royal New Zealand Ballet's Swan Lake. It is the stunning production's fourth season, its best ever and a perfect celebration of the company's 60th anniversary year.

Some of Bollywood's top stars are heading to Auckland.

There's a tantalising connection between Jazz Age performance legend Josephine Baker and the Old Folks Ass.

Dionne Christian previews a school holiday course of film-making fun for youngsters with ambitions.

I first saw this clowning classic several years ago, and remembered it fondly enough to want to take the resident 8-year-old this time around.

Sir Humphrey Appleby, the consummate civil servant with a patrician disdain for the delusions of democratic government, is an almost perfect comic creation.