C U L T U R E
THE SHOE FITS Feisty, funny and fabulous is how the Royal New Zealand Ballet is describing its new interpretation of Cinderella. Artistic director Patricia Barker says the dream team behind 2019’s Hansel and Gretel – choreographer Loughlan Prior and composer Claire Cowan – has reimagined the ballet into “a sparkly, well-styled twist on the much-loved classic, with a heroine who knows her own mind and a hero who follows his heart.” Three years in the making, Cinderella opens in the St James Theatre, Wellington, before touring four other centres.
CALIFORNIA KIWI
THRICE IS NICE
GRACEFUL DANCE
Singer songwriter Greg Johnson returns to New Zealand from his home in Santa Monica, California, for a tour of nine centres including Wellington beginning on 9 July. Johnson won a Silver Scroll in 1997, and a Tui Award in 2002 for his album ‘The Best Yet’ before moving to America. He has built a steady career making music for American television shows.
Three-time Grammy award winner Hilary Hahn will perform three concerts with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Wellington in August. The violinist last performed with the NZSO in 2010 during their European tour. Since then Hahn has continued her rise in the classical world to become a sought-after soloist. She will perform some titans of violin repertoire - Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.1, and Brahms’ Violin Concerto among them.
Now in its 27th year, contemporary dance company Black Grace is embarking on another tour, its first since the covid pandemic. The programme on the six-city jaunt across the United States and New Zealand includes two world premieres by founding artistic director and choreographer Neil Ieremia (ONZM). One of the works, ‘Fatu', is inspired by the work of Samoan artist and fellow recipient of the ONZ Fatu Akelei Feu’u.
COFFEE & GREAT READS
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