Celebrate with Nelson City Brass as the oldest brass band in NZ.

Celebration Brass is a concert to celebrate the 160th Anniversary of the Nelson's own band - Nelson City Brass. Musical Director Nigel Weeks will conduct the band playing bright entertaining brass music that all will enjoy.

This year the band's Special Guest Artist is Jackie Clarke. Entertainer, singer and comedian, Jackie was named 2016 Top Female Artist by the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand. Jackie has performed with everyone from Dave Dobbyn to the NZSO, has been a judge on TV's NZ Idol and was part of the successful group When The Cats Been Spayed.

The band will also feature champion euphonium player, Steve Miles. Regarded as one of the finest Euphonium players of his generation, Steve has held principal positions with some of the world's finest Brass Bands including the National Band of New Zealand, Brighouse & Rastrick, Black Dyke and Williams Fairey with whom he has produced many commercial recordings and toured as a featured soloist.

Rockshop Bandquest is a new platform for the next generation of contemporary musicians to step out and perform in a supportive and encouraging competition format, with a focus on education, inspiration and entertainment.

This event is the Nelson Regional Final of the Nationwide Intermediate school band competition.

by Die Roten Punkte (Germany)

Dysfunctional siblings Otto & Astrid are back with their latest show Eurosmash!, one of the most irreverent and funny gigs you are ever likely to see!

Otto & Astrid are Berlin's (self-appointed) Prince and Princess of Art Rock and Europop. They are unparalleled performers of stellar proportions - gigantic and explosive. Tragically orphaned as children, they ran away from their small rural hometown to Berlin, and knew instantly they had found a place among the counterculture and the solace and saviour of rock 'n' roll music.

A lipstick-smeared, tantrum-loving, sonic collision between the B52s, Kraftwerk and the early Ramones, Die Roten Punkte are truly one of a kind. Astrid's avant-garde style and legendary antics inspire both reverence and fear, while Otto's dynamic stage presence brings to mind a whirling dervish on meth.

Fans of Spinal Tap and Flight of the Conchords, say 'Hallo!' to your new favourite band!

"Orgasmic rock-und-roll experience." MONDAY MAGAZINE, CANADA
"Pitch-perfect pop parody." THE SCOTSMAN, UK
"Wild cabaret rock!" HERALD SUN, AUSTRALIA

Awards
Best Cabaret production - Melbourne Greenroom Awards 2015
Most Outstanding Show - London Fringe 2015
Best in Fest - Winnipeg Fringe 2008 & 2010

A musical imagining of Shakespeare's great soliloquies.

After a stunning sold-out show at Auckland's Pop-Up Globe, we are thrilled to have Play On in Nelson.

From Tui-nominated songwriter and award-winning composer Paul McLaney, and the producers behind Fly My Pretties, Play On is a celebration of Shakespeare set to contemporary music with an amazing New Zealand cast. McLaney has enlisted the help of high-profile musicians to perform a number of Shakespeare's most well-loved soliloquies as a song cycle.

Play On features performances from McLaney himself, alongside Julia Deans and Mara TK (Electric Wire Hustle), with accompaniment from the EDIN string section, featuring Rachel Wells, Jessica Hindin and Mahuia Bridgeman-Cooper.

The brainchild of McLaney along with actor/directors Ian Mune and Peter Elliot, Play On combines the best in acting and music for an unforgettable experience.

"If music be the food of love, play on." WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Please note the venue has changed to Old St John's Church (320 Hardy Street).

The very best of Nayland College Performing Arts will be on stage at the Theatre Royal in celebration of our students and their talents and achievements in 2017. The evening will feature performances from Dance Company, Concert Band, Jazz Band, our three Choirs and songs from our 2017 musical production 'Bye Bye Birdie'.

Nayland College presents one of Broadway's biggest hit musicals Bye Bye Birdie!

This loving send-up of the late 1950s in small town America centres around an Elvis Presley type rock and roll superstar (Conrad Birdie) who is drafted into the army. His agent and song writer (Albert Peterson) and Albert's secretary and love interest (Rosie Alvarez) plan a farewell performance for Birdie on the Ed Sullivan television show and they hope the performance will provide the publicity to sell Albert's new song 'One Last Kiss' and bring Albert's company out of debt. At the conclusion of the performance, Birdie will give a real kiss to a lucky girl from his fan club!

Bye Bye Birdie continues to thrill audiences around the world with its tuneful high-energy score, hilarious script and hit songs include 'Put on a Happy Face', 'One Last Kiss', 'One Boy', 'A Lot of Livin' to Do', 'Kids!, and 'Rose'. Not to be missed!

Following their highly successful season of Fiddler on the Roof, Nelson Theatrix is delighted to present Love in the Spotlight - songs of love and heartbreak from some of the world's greatest musicals! If you loved Wicked Women of the Stage then Love in the Spotlight is the perfect 'winter' feel good show you can't miss!

Join us for some love - 'in love' heartbroken, quirky longs songs and the most important unrequited love!

Join the New Zealand String Quartet on their 30th anniversary tour for a concert filled with passion, yearning, joy and heartache. Their Dangerous Liaisons programme explores themes of love and desire and will take you on an emotional journey through some of the great works of the repertoire.

Mendelsohn's first love and Janacek's obsession with a woman half his age were both doomed to failure yet inspired some of their most beautiful works. Jack Body's Saetas takes its inspiration from the fire and passion of flamenco songs and reveals Rolf Gjelsten's secret talent as an accomplished accordionist.

Music and art harmonise in this concert at the Suter Gallery. A word of warning: it'll be an intimate affair and the music may steal your heart!

Programme
Janacek: String Quartet no 2, Intimate Letters
Jack Body: Saetas
Mendelssohn: String Quartet no 2 in A minor, op 13

The Nelson Civic Choir opens their 2017 season with Rossini's sparkling Petite Messe Solennelle, in the wonderful setting of Nelson Cathedral.

The choir is complemented by four accomplished local soloists: Zoe Bennett (Soprano), Erica Sim (Contralto), Ewen Griffiths (Tenor) and Graham O'Brien (Bass), and conducted by their musical director, Chris Lukies. They are accompanied by James Thomas (Organ) and Lizzie Peacock (Piano).

Rossini is well known for his lively comic operas. The Petite Messe, written 30 years after his last opera, is a serious piece (Solennelle), yet it lacks none of his earlier vivacity, with some of the passages sounding as though they might have come from light opera.  The structure of this late masterpiece is that of the Catholic Mass, with major solo parts intertwined with substantial passages for chorus. Compared with Rossini's operas, this work is not often performed, and this concert gives audiences a rare chance to hear a sacred (but not too solemn) work by Rossini in a glorious Cathedral setting.