Music is at the heart of any celebration, and the perfect way to kick off the holiday season. The amazing Awhimai Fraser and Nic Kyle together with The Graduate Choir will lift your spirits with a fantastic festive blend of orchestral classics, modern Christmas favourites and traditional seasonal carols.

Christmas Cheer

Auckland Town Hall

All Tickets are Mobile Ticket Only. Mobile Tickets are like Print-at-Home tickets but instead of having to print off the tickets yourself, you can just show the barcode on your mobile phone. It is the easiest way to access tickets to your events. For more information visit Ticketmaster.co.nz/mobileticket Child Policy: This performance is not suitable for children under six years old. Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult at all APO events. Auckland Philharmonia is bringing the joy of Christmas to the Auckland Town Hall in 2025. Music is at the heart of any celebration, and the perfect way to kick off the holiday season. The amazing Awhimai Fraser and Nic Kyle together with The Graduate Choir will lift your spirits with a fantastic festive blend of orchestral classics, modern Christmas favourites and traditional seasonal carols. Join Auckland Philharmonia, share the music and (even) sing-along with wh?nau and friends at this special time of year.

Auckland Philharmonia: Christmas Cheer

In addition to the evening concerts, Setting Up Camp also presents an exciting selection of free daytime performances and events for schools and communities: Schools Concerts, education workshops, Side-by Side sessions and Relaxed Concerts for neurodivergent children and adults to enjoy the NZSO in a sensory-friendly environment.

EPSG:4326

Masterworks

Due Drop Events Centre

ASB Theatre Marlborough

Turner Centre

Nelson Centre of Musical Arts

Michael Fowler Centre

The first night of the 2025 Rumakina Immerse Festival is an evening of enchantment, with three of the best-loved pieces in the repertoire.

Enchanted

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/4hagYvrYbuM

The Artelize Podcast and Kasper Holten - Pedefining Opera for the modern world

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36M5Hi6O80

The Artelize Podcast - A legacy of innovation in Opera: Celebrating Marc A. Scorca

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59E40S_EQSY

The Artelize Podcast: A love letter that was never sent

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THv6htilWtI

The Artelize Podcast and Adolfo Corrado: Mediterranean flavors, opera and social media

According to Māori tradition, Papatūānuku is the Earth Mother, from which all living things are created. In this concert we celebrate nature with Papatūānuku, a work co-created by Kiwi composer Salina Fisher and Grammy Award-winning taonga puoro artist Jerome Kavanagh.

Ascension

It’s a bug’s life in Roussel’s The Spider’s Feast, a suite depicting the insects found in a garden. This special performance moves from the garden to the Aotearoa New Zealand native bush with Giant Wetas, Huhu Grubs and all the fluttering life found in the forest. One thing is always clear, the spider is always looking for lunch. This work is guaranteed to make the kids laugh, smile, and squirm!

Creepy-Crawly Carnival

The NZSO, Choirs Aotearoa and four extraordinary singers present Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Kiwi composer Victoria Kelly’s response to that work.

Stabat Mater

Child Policy: Children aged under 1 will be permitted free. Provided they do not occupy a seat. Samantha Harvey's slim book about a single day in the life of six astronauts and cosmonauts orbiting the earth beat a year's worth of literary fiction to be crowned the winner of The 2024 Booker Prize. She joins us to discuss it.

91. The 2024 Booker Prize Winner: Samantha Harvey

Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre

The brilliant Simone Young and cellist Kian Soltani present a programme rich in Romanticism.

Affirmation

Joyce DiDonato has been described as “an American treasure” (Operawire), “increasingly incomparable” (New Yorker) and “a great, brave and inspiring artist – one of the finest singers of our time” (Gramophone). She brings her voice, described by NPR as “luminous, silken, flexible, full of colours and expressive shadings” to Hector Berlioz’s equally luminous song cycle Les nuits d’été (Summer Nights). Berlioz’s gorgeously intimate orchestrations embody the sound of love, both new and long lost.

Joyce DiDonato

Child Policy: Children aged under 1 will be permitted free. Provided they do not occupy a seat. Crime writers Ian Rankin, Chris Whitaker and Dervla McTiernan join our very own Michael Bennett - whose Maori detective-led Better the Blood series is set in Aotearoa and has enjoyed a strong international reception. This globe-spanning panel chats about how place and culture are reflected in their books, the universal appeal of crime writing to appeal beyond borders and the art of conveying place, from thousands of miles away.

13. The Scene of the Crime

Child Policy: Children aged under 1 will be permitted free. Provided they do not occupy a seat. International bestseller The Bookseller at the End of the World brought together stories of running tiny bookshops in remote Fiordland with tales of owner Ruth Shaw's remarkable life. Now approaching 80, Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World continues the story of Shaw's brave and fascinating life. She shares her extraordinary story, and discusses the highs and lows of a life lived to the full.

14. Ruth Shaw: A Life at the End of the World

Hunua Room, Level 1, Aotea Centre

Child Policy: Children aged under 1 will be permitted free. Provided they do not occupy a seat. When AWF '25 opens its doors, it will mark six months since Donald Trump's historic political comeback to be announced as the 47th US president. Here to help make sense of Trump's second term's dizzying start, and offer their thoughts on what lies ahead for both Aotearoa New Zealand and the world in an expert panel ft New York Times diplomatic correspondent Edward Wong and top international lawyer Philippe Sands.

64. Trump: The Next Four Years

Child Policy: Children aged under 1 will be permitted free. Provided they do not occupy a seat. In the Festival's major opening night event hosted by Miriama McDowell (Ngati Hine, Ngapuhi), eight stellar writers from the programme speak to the theme "The Moment I Knew".

6. Festival Gala Night: The Moment I Knew

Child Policy: Children aged under 1 will be permitted free. Provided they do not occupy a seat. The House Within - Joshua Prendeville's documentary of one of Aotearoa NZ's literary treasures, Fiona Kidman - sold out all its screenings in the 2024 New Zealand International Film Festival, and was listed as one of the best films of the year by critics. Kidman and Prendeville reflect on their successful creative relationship and - with Prendeville now at work on an adaptation of Kidman's 2018 novel This Mortal Boy -- discuss what's to come.

84. Fiona Kidman: The Writer Within

Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre

Maestra New continues NZSO’s cycle of Mahler symphonies with his Sixth Symphony, nicknamed 'Tragic'.

Mahler 6

All Tickets are Mobile Ticket Only. Mobile Tickets are like Print-at-Home tickets but instead of having to print off the tickets yourself, you can just show the barcode on your mobile phone. It is the easiest way to access tickets to your events. For more information visit Ticketmaster.co.nz/mobileticket Please note: This show is recommended for audiences aged 18+, all patrons require a ticket for entry. Running time: 75 minutes

AAF: SMASHED - The Nightcap

Auckland Arts Festival Spiegeltent, Aotea Square

All Tickets are Mobile Ticket Only. Mobile Tickets are like Print-at-Home tickets but instead of having to print off the tickets yourself, you can just show the barcode on your mobile phone. It is the easiest way to access tickets to your events. For more information visit Ticketmaster.co.nz/mobileticket Child Policy: Children under 3 years of age will be admitted free if they are seated on a caregiver's knee. A lap ticket is required for entry, please collect from the Box Office prior to entry.

Auckland Choral: O Fortuna

All Tickets are Mobile Ticket Only. Mobile Tickets are like Print-at-Home tickets but instead of having to print off the tickets yourself, you can just show the barcode on your mobile phone. It is the easiest way to access tickets to your events. For more information visit Ticketmaster.co.nz/mobileticket Join us for a heartwarming evening of festive music, featuring Christmas and summery works by Chris Artley, John Rutter, and David Hamilton. Enjoy traditional carols, including Gaudete, the haunting Coventry Carol, and the jubilant For Unto Us a Child is Born from Handels Messiah. Sing along with your favourite traditional carols, making this concert a true community celebration. Auckland Choral will be joined by organist Edmond Wong and tenor Chris McRae for a joyful concert programme that promises to delight and inspire. Perfect for a summer evening, this concert is a celebration of the holiday spirit and Aucklands rich choral tradition

Auckland Choral Presents Sing Christmas!

St Matthew-in-the City

The NZSO National Youth Orchestra presents an adventurous programme of works by pillars of the Romantic era alongside a new work by this year's NYO Composer-in-Residence.

Events in Auckland

Christmas Cheer

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Marcus Performing Arts Center

Masterworks

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Enchanted

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Ascension

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Creepy-Crawly Carnival

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Stabat Mater

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

91. The 2024 Booker Prize...

National Arts Centre

Affirmation

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Joyce DiDonato

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

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National Arts Centre

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Manurewa High School

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BBC Studios

6. Festival Gala Night: T...

National Arts Centre

84. Fiona Kidman: The Wri...

WIFT NZ

Mahler 6

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

AAF: SMASHED - The Nightc...

Altogether Autism

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Dragon Con

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Mac-Haydn Theatre

NYO Adventure

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra