The annual SOUNDSTAGE variety concert is here again and this year you will join us on a trip down 42nd street, through Times Square and direct to Broadway! Celebrate with our performers as they recognise excellence for plays and musicals at the Phoney Awards.
See the best singers, dancers and actors and musicians from SOUNDSTAGE perform recent hit Broadway musical production numbers, just for you!
The students of Soundstage will transport you to "The Great White Way", and present performances from shows that have been nominated at the Tony Awards. These moments in musical time have inspired our young performers to tread the boards and ignited a desire to give their regards to Broadway!
Feet tapping, toe tapping and live at Nelson's historic Theatre Royal, the 27 Categories of the Tony awards will be emulated in 27 numbers presented at the Phoney awards.
Support these young students by coming to see their annual show, for some it is the first time they have set foot on stage and for others it is the end of a long journey in training for the professional world that awaits them.
See you at our glorious Theatre Royal in Nelson and be prepared to be transported to BROADWAY.
New Zealand's only traditional Irish music festival presents the showcase concert for 2015. Headlined by the talented Aoife Granville and Niall Ó Beaglaoich (Niall Begley) direct from Ireland (exclusively for this festival), the concert features all the guest tutors for the festival.
Aoife Granville, from Dingle is highly regarded as a multi-instrumentalist and singer. She has performed, toured and recorded extensively and released her second solo album, SáimhÃn Só, in April 2014. Aoife is regarded as an influential figure in the contemporary Irish fluting tradition and holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology University College Cork.  Aoife was awarded a Bene Merenti from UCC for her contribution to traditional music. She has won numerous prizes at Oireachtas and Fleadhanna Cheoil, including the prestigious Senior Flute title in 2003. Aoife teaches, lectures and researches in Irish traditional music, festival musics and popular music culture.
Niall comes from a well-known West Kerry musical family and has been playing since he was a young boy. His playing is influenced by accordion greats like Seamus Begley, Tony MacMahon, Jackie Daly and Joe Burke. NÃall was a finalist in the Seán Ó Riada Gold Medal Competition (Reeds) in 2014 and performs regularly in his native Corca Dhuibhne (West Kerry) as well as festivals throughout Ireland.
Joining Aoife and Niall on stage are Louise Phelan on Fiddle and Liam O'Brien on Banjo, both from Ireland but currently living in Australia. Australian born multi instrumentals Ben Stephenson and New Zealand folk Music "Tui" award winning musician Brendyn Montgomery on Whistle round out this years concert lineup.
A night not to be missed for lovers of Irish music. Expect a delightful night of "craic" and toe tapping tunes from all the artists and some great traditional songs from Aoife.
Last years concert sold out so be in quick to avoid disappointment.
More information about the festival and the musicians can be found on www.irishmusic.org.nz.
Nelson City Brass warmly invites you to celebrate and commemorate the spirit of ANZAC through music.
This entertaining ANZAC variety concert featuring Sophie Ricketts is for people of all ages and will include wartime melodies, traditional sing a long tunes and will feature New Zealand composer Dwayne Bloomfield's Behold the Narrows from the Hill which tells the moving story of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade's capture of Chanuk Bair on Gallipoli in 1915.
Scotlands legendary singer/songwriter Isla Grant returns to New Zealand for her "Farewell Concert Tour".
Isla is an internationally acclaimed recording artist, her beautiful voice combining country folk songs to easy listening, presenting an unforgettable evening.
Isla's spellbinding concert features her wonderful hit songs and takes a nostalgic look at her long and successful career.
Al Grant, Isla's genial and talented husband will join her on stage to bring his irrepressible humor to the show, also featuring his tribute to Jim Reeves.
Isla's farewell concert performance will be a 'Grand' international concert not be missed.
Evening Show now sold out, but Isla has added a special Nelson Matinee.
This is going to be an event you will not want to miss. We are very excited to have Jackie Thomas and Tom Batchelor from X-Factor New Zealand headlining this awesome Youth Event at Morrison Square.
There will be a Fashion Show and we have decided to reinvent Project Funway with a Cultural Theme. Coinciding with this will be the Youth Fest Market Zone where retailers and young entrepreneurs will be able to sell creations, clothes, food and drinks to the audience.
The Youth Fest 'Music Zone' will feature a mixture of performances from musicians, local youth DJ's and the night will wrap up with a main stage act.
Local cultural groups will perform throughout the event, including Nelson Youth Theatre performing some scenes from their upcoming musical Hairspray.
Thank You to our funders, Nelson City Council, Ministry of Youth Development and The YMCA.
We are fortunate to have the wonderful Helene Pohl from the New Zealand String Quartet as our soloist performing the Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor.
Also featuring on the programme :
Our end of season concert comes from under the northern lights, with much loved music from the following:
Neilson: Helios Overture
Sibelius: Karelia Suite
Sibelius: Valse Triste
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A min, Op 16
Returning to play with us is Louis Lucas–Perry from Nelson, who is currently studying at the New Zealand School of Music.
Cathedral choirs and their choir schools are among some of the oldest European musical traditions.
Denmark's Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir brings their glorious voices to New Zealand in April and May for a five-centre tour 'Ascension - Nielsen, Lauridsen & Palestrina'.
The 46-strong choir including 30 boys aged 13-16 years, is rated as one of the finest in Europe with Le Figaro placing them alongside the Vienna Boys Choir and Kings College Choir.
In Denmark the choir performs at major state and royal occasions and featured at the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary in 2004, and at the christening of their children.
Directed and conducted by Ebbe Munk, the choir's repertoire consists of classical, contemporary and modern music. The award-winning choir tours to concert halls, cathedrals and festivals around the world.
"Magic across many seas…" - Sydney Morning Herald
The "Songbook and Six String" tour will feature the two well-traveled performers Paul Ubana Jones and Bryce Wastney collaborating on each other’s songs and sharing tales from their combined 50 years as professional musicians.
"We are really looking forward to performing for audiences in this exciting new format, "says Paul Ubana Jones. "People often ask me about the stories behind the songs and enjoy tales from the road. Sometimes when it’s your own journey you forget how unusual the life of a touring musician is for most people. I’m also looking forward to performing with Bryce. It really opens up different aspects to your songs when you have someone of his calibre playing them with you and I know the audience will really love his music."
Ubana Jones is well known to New Zealand audiences, having chosen to live in New Zealand in the late 1980s. His illustrious international career has seen him touring with Taj Mahal, Keb Mo’, Crowded House and Norah Jones and opening for Bob Dylan and Patti Smith.
Wastney returned to New Zealand last year after establishing his reputation on the indie music scene in Melbourne, Australia. He recently signed with major US label Musik and Film and his first single with the label, "Dead Man Walking" reached number 2 on New Zealand’s country music chart on iTunes in May 2014.
"I am honoured to be sharing a stage with Paul," says Wastney. "He is a genuine New Zealand icon and I think the "Songbook and Six String" format will offer a unique insight into his career and a great concert experience for our audiences."
The voice of Ultravox, Midge Ure will perform four New Zealand shows in April 2015 - remarkably his first concerts here since electro-pop legends Ultravox visited our shores for the Sweetwaters festival in 1982.
Fans can look forward to intimate solo acoustic performances from Midge Ure (UK), with a concert at the Theatre Royal.
Special guest on the tour is Boh Runga performing songs from her solo and stellar* albums.
Scottish-born Midge Ure has been fearlessly innovative over the years - through creative production and songs like Fade to Grey (Visage) Vienna and Dancing With Tears in My Eyes (Ultravox) and solo gems like If I Was, and No Regrets.
Indeed Ultravox was a major influence on the new romantic and electro-pop movements of the early '80s, and continue to be so today. Their successful trademark was combining Midge's powerful guitar riffs with sweeping synthesiser motifs and state-of-the-art visuals.
Ure's 1984 songwriting collaboration with Bob Geldof, 'Do They Know It's Christmas' was a heartfelt contribution to Ethiopian famine relief. Through Band Aid it sold more than three million copies world-wide, returned to the of the charts in 1989, 2004 and again this Christmas (2014). The song has raised a remarkable $230m for aid to Africa, and the 2014 version with its revised lyrics is helping fund the fight against the Ebola virus.
