Upbeat Podcast Options

12:06 PM.Opus Orchestra and Scholars Baroque Aotearoa Chamber Choir join forces this weekend to perform Handel's oratorio, Israel in Egypt. Read more Audio

1:58 PM.Adjudicator Richard Mapp was "utterly blown away" by the quality of the young pianists in this year's New Zealand Junior Piano Competition. Read more Audio

12:30 PM.Singer Jared Holt takes the tenor role in Orchestra Wellington's performance of The Bells by Sergei Rachmaninov. Read more Audio

1:33 PM.Kiwi conductor Holly Mathieson returns home to conduct two of our major orchestras – the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra – as they both finally welcome audiences… Read more Audio

1:41 PM.Auckland pianist Lorelle McNaughton opens the NZ Junior Piano Competition with a solo recital tomorrow night at the Lewis Eady Showroom in Aucklan. She talks about how living in Spain has helped her… Read more Audio

5:02 PM.Wellington Youth Orchestra finally has a chance to perform this COVID year with two concerts this weekend. Orchestra manager Anne French and soloist Ben van Leuven discuss the highs and lows of 2020. 

4:30 PM.Artistic Director Tama Waipara on Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival opening this weekend and celebrating the vast creativity of the East Coast and its people. Read more Audio

2:46 PM.Former Aucklander Tianyi Lu who has won the 2020 Premio Cantelli International Conducting Competition in Italy.

Tianyi cut her teeth as a young conductor working with the Auckland Philharmonia… Read more Audio

2:34 PM.Chamber Music from the heady days of the '20s' is coming to a concert hall near you over the next few weeks. 

Andrew Beer and Sarah Watkins, and composer Ben Hoadley, whose new work Cave Dances is… Read more Audio

1:50 PM.Pianist Stephen de Pledge discusses his surprising 50th year when the closest he can get to an audience is through his live-streamed performance with the APO tonight. While he'll miss having people… Read more Audio

2:40 PM.Tenor Amitai Pati talks about making his Parisian debut earlier this year, his upcoming NZ Opera performances playing Jupiter in Handel’s opera Semele and giving a recital with Emma Pearson tonight in… Read more Audio

2:30 PM.Sarah Castle and Paul Whelan have shared many early musical experiences, flatting together as students, singing in the National Youth Choir. Now they are both home from their respective international… Read more Audio

9:26 AM.In contrast to the anger and violence you would expect from a film about gangs, Arli Liberman’s soundtrack to Sam Kelly's Savage is moving and intensely sad. Read more Audio

3:00 PM.Miguel Harth-Bedoya talks lockdowns, music education, and whether there's such a thing as classical music. Read more Audio

8:00 PM.This year the Wellington Jazz Festival will highlight the achievements of New Zealand musicians. Read more Audio

3:20 PM.Wellington chamber choir Nota Bene conductor Shawn Condon seizes the moment to create a show finding light in the darkness.  Read more Audio

3:30 PM.Anthony Ritchie discusses the premiere of his fifth symphony 'Childhood' by the DSO this Saturday. The Dunedin composer talks about the theme of regeneration and growth in his new work.  Read more Audio

12:30 PM.Little Andromeda is a Christchurch venue that plays host to all sorts of events from live music to fringe theatre. Since it was set up it’s had to change location twice, each time starting from… Read more Audio

6:13 PM.Composer, arranger and music educator Laughton Pattrick brought out the best in people, encouraging them to believe in themselves. Read more Audio

2:30 PM.Arts Festival Director Pitsch Leiser has thrown down a wero (a challenge), to the people of Hawke’s Bay to support the October event which is going ahead despite the present pandemic restrictions.  Read more Audio

12:05 PM.Dr Hannah Darroch is the new Principal flute for Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. Read more Audio

12:30 PM.Before she passes the baton to a new owner, Marsden Books' Anna Hunt talks about the perils of being an independent bookshop owner, the nearly 40-year history of the 'little bookshop that could' and… Read more Audio

12:30 PM.Prize-winning pianist ​Tony Yan Tong Chen​ is continuing his Eastman School of Music studies long-distance while he's home in New Zealand. Read more Audio