Direct from Australia...one show only

A tribute to three legendary Oz bands, one amazing night!!.... and not just any bands ..three of the most incredibly energetic and dynamic rock bands ever to grace the live stage, The Angels, Midnight Oil and The Divinyls.

The show consists of hits galore, including Beds are Burning, Blue Sky Mine, Power and the Passion and everything else you expect from the Oils and then get ready to Touch Yourself and rage with the Boys in Town and or take a little trip into the world of Science Fiction with Chrissy and the Divinyls.

No chance to take a break because the evening will wrap up with a non stop trip into Aussie rock history with the incredible Angels. Everything from Take a Long Line, Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again, Marseilles to Coming Down, We Gotta Get Outta This Place and more.

A night of amazing music not to be missed! Early bird tickets are available until the end of January - hurry book today!

Support Act: Trials in Modern Emotion

Starring Giles Taylor

Queen - It's a Kinda Magic recreates Queen's 1986 World Tour concert, featuring over 20 of the band's greatest hits such as 'We Will Rock You', 'Bohemian Rhapsody', 'We Are the Champions', 'Under Pressure' and 'Fat-Bottomed Girls'.

Painstaking attention has been paid to all the music - the iconic voice of Mercury, the amazing guitar solos of May and the groundbreaking Rock harmonies. And with state-of-the-art sound and lighting and authentic costumes, this is as close as you'll ever get to the real thing!

Plus1 proudly presents UK legend Midge Ure performing seven shows around New Zealand in March 2017 as part of his retrospective Something From Everything Tour - covering 40 years of his influential music.

The former Ultravox frontman will be accompanied by the India Electric Company - multi-instrumentalists Cole Stacey and Joseph O'Keefe - with Ure and co performing at least one song from each album.

Midge Ure's Something From Everything Tour features concerts in Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Nelson, Queenstown, Christchurch and Dunedin between March 16-23. The setlist stretches right back to 1977 with punk supergroup the Rich Kids, through to Visage (Fade to Grey), and the many hits of Ultravox - gems like Vienna, Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, Reap The Wild Wind and many more. Plus key songs from his acclaimed solo albums like The Gift (with the infectious 'If I Was'), Pure, and Answers to Nothing.

Ure says the three-piece approach is a lot of fun and adds colour, texture and depth to each song's essential elements - a distinctly different approach to his solo tour here in April 2015.
"We've played some wonderful shows around Europe and the United States, and I can't wait to bring the band Downunder for our Kiwi friends."

Join the Royal Over-Seas League and Save the Children for an evening of exceptional chamber music featuring the international Dolmen Ensemble*. These exciting young musicians, all prize winners of the Royal Over-Seas League music competitions, will perform some of the world's finest chamber works. Thanks to generous local sponsors and volunteers all proceeds from this concert will go to support the work of Save the Children.

Programme:
Johannes Brahms - Clarinet trio Op.14
Lewis Coenen-Rowe - More or Less from Clarinet Trio
Max Bruch - Movements 2 and 7 from Eight Pieces Op.83
Vincent D'Indy - Clarinet Trio in Bflat Op.29

* Dolmen Ensemble: Carson Becke, piano (Canada), Som Howie, clarinet (Australia), Edward King, cello (New Zealand).

Argentinian Golijov’s poignant marimba/cello duo, written as a requiem for a friend, and young American composer Andy Akiho's thrilling LigNEous surround Brahms' masterful clarinet quintet, which James Campbell has played with illustrious groups such as the Guaneri, Vermeer, Allegri and Amadeus Quartets. And what better way to celebrate the end of the 2017 festival than with our 3 string quartets taking the stage together for Dvorak's cheerful, melody-filled Serenade for Strings.

Goldner Quartet, New Zealand String Quartet, the Troubadours, Ian Rosenbaum (marimba), James Campbell (clarinet), Matthew Barley (cello), Joan Perarnau Garriga (double Bass)

Akiho - LigNEous
Brahms - Clarinet quintet
Golijov - Duo for marimba and cello
Dvorak - Serenade in E for Strings op. 22

An exciting programme featuring a brand new marimba quintet (marimba and string quartet - not 5 marimbas!) by New York-based NZ composer, Ed Ware, along with Beethoven's "Eyeglass" Duo, performed by the same musicians (Gillian Ansell and James Tennant) who played it in the first Festival in 1992. And don't miss the final Beethoven cello sonata played by the brilliant musicians Andrew Joyce, NZSO principal cellist, and Denes Varjon.

New Zealand String Quartet, Ian Rosenbaum (marimba), James Tennant (cello), Andrew Joyce (cello), Dénes Varjon (piano)

Beethoven - Duo for Viola and Cello with Eyeglasses Obbligato
Edward Ware - Cavernous Ruins (World Premiere)
Beethoven - Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Major op. 102/2

Bringing to a climax this Festival day on 'Planet Cello' is a glorious feast of repertoire for up to 12 cellos. NZ's top cellists, along with Julian Smiles and Matthew Barley will create a night to remember with their favourite pieces from Pachelbel, Bach, and Rossini to Villa-Lobos and Piazzola. Special guest, soprano Jenny Wollerman, will join the ensemble for the mesmerising Bachianas Brasilieras #5.

Matthew Barley, Julian Smiles, Rolf Gjelsten, Ashley Brown, Inbal Megiddo, Ken Ichinose, Andrew Joyce, Eliah Sakakushev-von Bismarck, James Tennant, Helen du Plessis, Edith Salzmann, Frances Yoon (cellists), Jenny Wollerman (soprano)

Pachelbel - Canon
Rossini - William Tell
Villa Lobos - Bachianas Brasilieras #1
Casals - Song of the Birds
Casals - Sardana
Villa Lobos - Bachianas Brasilieras
Da Falla - Suite Populaire Espagnol
Klengel - Consecration Hymn
Piazzola - Oblivion and Tango

Prepared to be transported to 'Planet Cello' by the burnished sounds of an ensemble of 4-6 cellos, indulging in music from the heavenly Bach Air to the romantic Rachmaninov Vocalise.

Matthew Barley, Julian Smiles, Rolf Gjelsten, Ashley Brown, Inbal Megiddo, Andrew Joyce, Eliah Sakakushev-von Bismarck, James Tennant, Helen du Plessis, Edith Salzmann, Frances Yoon (cellists)

Bach - Air from Orchestral Suite #3
Bach - Organ Toccata
Bach - Gamba Sonata #1 in G major (arr. William Cowdery)
Dvorak - Silent Woods
Bartok - Rumanian Dances
Rachmaninov - Vocalise (arr. Rolf Gjelsten)

This unique collaboration of Festival artists who combine invention with interpretation in their performing careers gives us a once-off opportunity to share in their new perspectives on some of the great repertoire we have heard elsewhere in the Festival. Don't miss hearing their playful communication as they stretch the form and improvise on music by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann and others. Sure to be a memorable event!

Ian Rosenbaum (marimba), Edward Ware (drums), Jeoff Henderson (saxophone), Matthew Barley (cello), Helene Pohl (violin)

Clara Schumann described the young Brahms' music as "so masterly that one cannot but think that the good God sent him into the world ready-made." And Robert Schumann was equally enthusiastic, citing Brahms as "springing forth like Minerva fully armed from the head of Jove". Clara's 3 whimsical Romances begin this extraordinary concert, followed by Robert's compelling settings of Heine's poems of "Poet's Love" and ending with Brahms' powerful piano quintet, originally for string quintet but revised upon his beloved Clara's recommendation.

Helene Pohl (violin), Dénes Varjon (piano), Andrew Goodwin (tenor), Isabella Simon (piano), New Zealand String Quartet

Clara Schumann - 3 Romances opus 22
Robert Schumann - Dichterliebe
Johannes Brahms - Piano Quintet in f minor opus 35