New Zealand International Arts Festival Wellington 2010
From legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar to acclaimed conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy, the New Zealand International Arts Festival present the best arts the world has to offer from 26 February to 21 March 2010.
See our picks for this week, the full programme and how to book tickets lower down the page.
The 2010 New Zealand International Arts Festival runs throughout varied venues in Wellington with the central hub located on the picturesque Wellington waterfront.
The 2010 New Zealand International Arts Festival programme is as wide-ranging as ever, embracing a broad range of styles and encompasses compelling theatre, enchanting music, irresistible dance, the crème de la crème of writers and captivating visual arts.
The NZ International Arts Festival has built a new 500-seat performance venue with hospitality lounge, Pacific Blue Festival Club, on the Wellington waterfront (in Shed 6) that offers music performance and award-winning cabaret theatre each night.
The Festival has also launched the Tix for Twenty deal, which sees 10 seats for most Festival shows made available on the day for $20 each - even for the sold out shows. Tix for Twenty tickets go on sale at 12:30pm every day during the Festival from the Festival Box Office in Midland Park, Lambton Quay.
Wotzon.com has been covering this annual event since 2000 and this year we once again feature full information on every listing. This year the 2010 New Zealand International Arts Festival programme is extensive and we will provide up-to-date information as it comes to hand in the lead-up and during the festival.
This week's NZ Arts Festival picks:
- Inside Out, the seductive and exhilarating show from Sweden's Circus Cirkor, is on at The Opera House from 1-8 March
- The Michael Fowler Centre hosts Simon O'Neill and the NZSO in the magnificent Wagner Gala on Friday night, followed by the Nina Simone tribute Sing The Truth on Saturday night.
- Can you bring them home? Three astronauts are in trouble in Apollo 13: Mission Control and they are relying on you in this interactive show at Downstage until 9 March
- If you only see one show this Festival, make it Sutra, the impressive dance work with Shaolin Monks. At the St James Theatre from Friday til Saturday 6 March
- Keep an eye out for the Revolt of the Mannequins as their stories unfold in shop windows in downtown Wellington from 6 til 14 March.
- Incorporating great music, dance and invention, Echoa is the perfect family show. On from 2-7 March at Soundings Theatre in Te Papa
- At the Pacific Blue Festival Club (Shed 6, Queens Wharf) this week we have The Yellowjackets on Tuesday, Djan Djan on Wednesday, Ship Songs (performed by Ian Hughes with music by Don McGlashan) from Thursday to Saturday, and Swedish indie rock ensemble Irya's Playground on Sunday.
- There are also late night shows in the Pacific Blue Festival Club starting at 10:15pm with Dancing on Your Grave from 3-5 March, followed by Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea from 6-13 March.
NZ Arts Festival Programme Highlights
A total of 930 artists from 30 countries bring the latest in international theatre, music, dance and visual arts to the New Zealand International Arts Festival in 2010. 18 of the works are Australasian premieres.
Renowned conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, eight of the world’s great vocal soloists and five choirs. This musical feast will also be relayed live to a big screen in Civic Square for people to enjoy for free.
In a special Wagner Gala, New Zealand’s internationally celebrated tenor Simon O’Neill returns from the world’s finest opera houses to perform with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in a concert that features highlights from the Ring Cycle, Parsifal and Lohengrin.
The 2010 Festival opens its special Chamber Music Weekend with the celebrated Borodin Quartet and their signature Russian repertoire. The Chamber Music Weekend offers two days of the finest chamber music including free recitals, films, pre-concert talks and an exhibition.
The theatre programme features Eleven and Twelve, the New Zealand debut by legendary theatre director Peter Brook. We are only the third country, after the Barbican Theatre in London, to experience Brook’s latest work.
Ground-breaking theatre T.E.O.R.E.M.A.T., Sound Of Silence, and The Walworth Farce line up with Sweden’s high-flying cult circus Cirkus Cirkör performing Inside Out. Major dance works include the box office standout Sutra featuring monks from the original Shaolin Temple in China; Good Morning, Mr. Gershwin and Echoa.
The Festival has launched a new initiative called RESTAGE that supports productions previously seen on New Zealand stages at their next phase of development. New Zealand productions that have evolved through RESTAGE include The Arrival, He Reo Aroha, Ship Songs and Apollo 13: Mission Control that since premiering at BATS in STAB 2008 has grown to include 96 consoles for audience to use during the rescue of three astronauts back to Earth.
The music in the programme includes Ravi and Anoushka Shankar, contemporary Jazz greats - vocalists Dianne Reeves, Patti Austin, Lizz Wright and Simone - paying homage to the high priestess of soul, Nina Simone; and Branford Marsalis and his quartet with their driving jazz mixed with romantic streaks.
The Festival programme also includes an incredible array of free events including France’s street theatre maestros Royal de Luxe and their Revolt of the Mannequins, where shop fronts in Wellington CBD will be overtaken by the comic strip scenes where 40 mannequins play out scenes from their lives. Also from France is the free event Transports Exceptionnels at Waitangi Park, where dancer Philippe Priasso performs a duet with a mechanical digger to the voice of Maria Callas.
New Zealand Post Writers and Readers Week features 19 international and 3 New Zealand writers that include some of literature’s luminaries as well as some of tomorrow’s stars. The 2010 line-up includes literary superstars Neil Gaiman, Simon Schama and Richard Dawkins.
The visual arts programme features 15 exhibitions in eight galleries in Wellington city and the region including world renowned light sculptor Anthony McCall, pioneer video artist Bill Viola and sound sculptor Janet Cardiff.
The SchoolFest educational programme that offers performances and behind the scenes workshops returns, and the Art On The Move programme represents the most extensive international theatre programme ever with performances and exhibitions held in Porirua, the Kapiti Coast, Upper and Lower Hutt and the Wairarapa.
Rufus Wainwright Cancellation
It is with deep regret that Chugg Entertainment and Gaynor Crawford Presents announced that Rufus Wainwright’s upcoming tour will be cancelled due to an illness in the family, but the artist has confirmed that he will return to tour Australia and New Zealand before the end of the year.
Ticket holders for the New Zealand International Arts Festival performance by Rufus Wainwright at the Michael Fowler Centre on Saturday 27 February at 8pm will be able to exchange their tickets for tickets to other performances in the New Zealand International Arts Festival or alternatively receive refunds on the ticket price from the point of sale, excluding the service fee.
See the full 2010 New Zealand International Arts Festival programme listings below.
Here's the programme:
Bamiyan: In The Heart Of Afganistan - 06 Feb 2010 (Sat) - 23 May 2010 (Sun)
The Messenger: Bill Viola - 20 Feb 2010 (Sat) - 04 Jul 2010 (Sun)
City Gallery Wellington's Festival Season: Seraphine Pick, Janet Cardiff & Milan Mrkusich - 20 Feb 2010 (Sat) - 16 May 2010 (Sun)
West Africa - Rhythm and Spirit - 21 Feb 2010 (Sun) - 18 Apr 2010 (Sun)
Vessels: Daniel Brown - 23 Feb 2010 (Tue) - 21 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Anthony McCall Drawing with Light - 24 Feb 2010 (Wed) - 21 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Adam Portraiture Award Exhibition - 25 Feb 2010 (Thu) - 11 Apr 2010 (Sun)
The 4 Plinths Sculpture Project: Mimetic Brotherhood by Peter Trevelyan - 26 Feb 2010 (Fri) - 26 Feb 2012 (Sun)
Shapeshifter 2010: Essential New Zealand Sculpture - 26 Feb 2010 (Fri) - 21 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Sutra: A Sadler’s Wells Production - 26 Feb 2010 (Fri) - 06 Mar 2010 (Sat)
NZ at Venice Biennale 2009: Judy Millar and Francis Upritchard - 27 Feb 2010 (Sat) - 21 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Frances Hodgkins: Kapiti Treasures - 27 Feb 2010 (Sat) - 02 May 2010 (Sun)
Apollo 13: Mission Control - 27 Feb 2010 (Sat) - 09 Mar 2010 (Tue)
Mary Stuart - 27 Feb 2010 (Sat) - 03 Apr 2010 (Sat)
Art Talks - 27 Feb 2010 (Sat) - 19 Mar 2010 (Fri)
Festival Exhibition 2010 – Academy Galleries - 27 Feb 2010 (Sat) - 21 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Inside out: Cirkus Cirkor - 01 Mar 2010 (Mon) - 08 Mar 2010 (Mon)
Echoa: Arcosm Company / France - 02 Mar 2010 (Tue) - 07 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Ship Songs: Auckland Theatre Company - 04 Mar 2010 (Thu) - 06 Mar 2010 (Sat)
Sing the Truth: Nina Simone Remembered - 06 Mar 2010 (Sat)
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - 06 Mar 2010 (Sat) - 14 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Revolt of the Mannequins - 06 Mar 2010 (Sat) - 14 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Stockhausen: Helicopter String Quartet - 06 Mar 2010 (Sat)
Music in the Eye - 06 Mar 2010 (Sat) - 07 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Breath of Wind - 06 Mar 2010 (Sat) - 07 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Organ Recital: John Wells - 06 Mar 2010 (Sat)
NZTrio: Movement - 06 Mar 2010 (Sat)
Borodin Quartet: Russian Legacy - 06 Mar 2010 (Sat)
Happy As Larry - 07 Mar 2010 (Sun) - 10 Mar 2010 (Wed)
Irya’s Playground: Sweden - 07 Mar 2010 (Sun)
The Letter Writer - 07 Mar 2010 (Sun) - 21 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Peaks of Cloud: Keith Lewis & Michael Houstoun - 07 Mar 2010 (Sun)
New Zealand String Quartet: Ten - 07 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Dirty Beasts & Other Stories - 07 Mar 2010 (Sun)
New Zealand Post Writers and Readers Week - 09 Mar 2010 (Tue) - 14 Mar 2010 (Sun)
He Reo Aroha - 09 Mar 2010 (Tue) - 10 Mar 2010 (Wed)
Mark Twain and Me In Maoriland at Expressions - 09 Mar 2010 (Tue)
Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra - 09 Mar 2010 (Tue)
Don McGlashan and Friends - 10 Mar 2010 (Wed)
Eleven and Twelve - 10 Mar 2010 (Wed) - 14 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Town Hall Talk: Richard Dawkins - 10 Mar 2010 (Wed)
The Arrival - 11 Mar 2010 (Thu) - 14 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Calexico - 11 Mar 2010 (Thu) - 12 Mar 2010 (Fri)
360 - 12 Mar 2010 (Fri) - 19 Mar 2010 (Fri)
Ravi Shankar with Anoushka Shankar and group - 12 Mar 2010 (Fri)
Town Hall Talk: Simon Schama - 12 Mar 2010 (Fri)
TEOREMAT - 13 Mar 2010 (Sat) - 19 Mar 2010 (Fri)
Mark Twain & Me in Māoriland - 13 Mar 2010 (Sat) - 21 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Jenny Morris - 13 Mar 2010 (Sat)
Town Hall Talk: Neil Gaiman - 13 Mar 2010 (Sat)
Afternoon Tea with Jenny Pattrick - 14 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Kids on Sunday - 14 Mar 2010 (Sun) - 21 Mar 2010 (Sun)
The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy - 14 Mar 2010 (Sun) - 21 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Enter the Dragon with Karsh Kale and Midval Punditz - 16 Mar 2010 (Tue) - 17 Mar 2010 (Wed)
Good Morning, Mr. Gershwin - 17 Mar 2010 (Wed) - 21 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra: Germany - 17 Mar 2010 (Wed) - 18 Mar 2010 (Thu)
The Walworth Farce - 17 Mar 2010 (Wed) - 21 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Frisky and Mannish - 18 Mar 2010 (Thu) - 20 Mar 2010 (Sat)
St Vincent - 18 Mar 2010 (Thu)
Branford Marsalis Quartet - 20 Mar 2010 (Sat)
The Swell Season - 21 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Date 26 Feb 2010 (Fri) - 21 Mar 2010 (Sun)
Time Various. See individual events for times.
Venue Various Wellington venues
Address All Wellington Region
Cost Various. Please note: Ticketek booking fees apply.
Bookings Book online at www.ticketek.co.nz or www.nzfestival.nzpost.co.nz, by phone from 19 Nov Ticketek 0800 TICKETEK, in person at Ticketek outlets or by mail. Pick up a programme for full ticketing details.
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