NZSO’s Enchanting And Spellbinding Music Festival Begins This Week

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra presents a spellbinding festival of music from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and The Lark Ascending to Carnival of the Animals and an assortment of creepy-crawlies in Wellington and Auckland from this week.

Led by the NZSO’s Music Director Designate, acclaimed German conductor André de Ridder, the Rumakina Immerse Festival features Oscar-winner Bret McKenzie, NZSO Concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppänen and Grammy Award-winning taonga pūroro player and composer Jerome Kavanagh Poutama.

The festival (Wellington 8-10 Aug and Auckland 15-17 Aug) promises an unforgettable musical journey through enchantment, aspiration, and the natural world.

Maestro de Ridder, NZSO Music Director from 2027, brings his visionary artistry to all three performances.

For Enchanted: Stravinsky, Dukas & Mussorgsky audiences will experience the magic of music with Modest Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain and Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, both immortalised in Disney’s Fantasia. The concert culminates with Igor Stravinsky’s dazzling ballet score Petrushka, a tale of puppets brought to life through vibrant orchestration and irresistible rhythms.

Ascension: Schumann & Vaughan Williams is a celebration of the natural world. Ralph Vaughan Williams’ beloved The Lark Ascending, features Leppänen as solo violinist. The British composer’s masterpiece regularly makes the top five listener favourites, including RNZ Concert (No.3 in 2024) and the UK’s Classic FM (No.3 in 2025).

Papatūānuku is a powerful collaboration between Aotearoa New Zealand composer Salina Fisher and Kavanagh Poutama, who will perform throughout this haunting work on a variety of taonga pūroro.

Ascension concludes with the joyful renewal of spring in Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1.

Perfect for whānau, the Sunday matinee concert Creepy-Crawly Carnival: Saint-Saëns & Roussel opens with Albert Roussel’s The Spider’s Feast, a musical exploration of garden insects and native Aotearoa creatures, including giant wētā and huhu grubs.

The musical menagerie continues with Camille Saint-Saëns’ timeless Carnival of the Animals, narrated by songwriter and comedian McKenzie, returning to the stage with the NZSO after his hit 2018 Muppets collaboration The Jim Henson Retrospectacle.

Known for bringing humour and heart to every performance, McKenzie will guide audiences through a symphonic safari filled with hopping kangaroos, stately swans, and bumbling elephants. The suite, a cornerstone of children’s classical repertoire, becomes a laugh-out-loud journey with McKenzie’s storytelling magic at the helm.

During the concert, acclaimed illustrator Stephen Templer will draw live, using the music as his muse to craft a series of whimsical and captivating artworks—each created from scratch and projected in real time on a giant screen.

On 9 and 16 August the festival also has Open Doors—a thrilling selection of whānau-friendly free daytime performances and events from 10am. More information is available at nzso.co.nz.

COMING UP

Mahler 6 – conductor Gemma New, Wellington (5 Sep) & Auckland (6 Sep)

Stabat Mater – conductor Valentina Peleggi, Soprano Madison Nonoa, Mezzo-Soprano Anna Pierard, Tenor Filipe Manu, Voices New Zealand Wellington (2 Oct) & Auckland (3 Oct).

Four Seasons – conductor and violinist Pekka Kuusisto, Wellington (9 Oct) & Christchurch (11 Oct).

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