• 

  A Midsummer Night's Dream

  A joint venture between CSO and the Christchurch Arts Festival, this performance presents an abridged version of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream accompanied by Felix Mendelssohn’s complete incidental music.

  Read more »

  When

  24 July, 8.00pm

  Where

  Town Hall Auditorium

  Categories:

  Music, Theatre

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Ariana Tikao: Ōhākī

  Mixing whānau, whakapapa and whenua, Ariana Tikao's (Kāi Tahu) brand new show Ōhākī explores through music, the dying words of her ancestor, Tamati Tikao. His Ōhākī was spoken to his family at Opukutahi, on Banks Peninsula on September 27, 1885.

  Read more »

  When

  Sun 26 Jul 2009 5:30p.m.

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Book Launch: Bernadette Hall 'The Lustre Jug'

  Bernadette Hall is a well-known, award-winning Canterbury poet. In 2007 she spent six months in County Cork on the Rathcoola Fellowship. The Lustre Jug, her 9th collection of poetry, arises from this Irish experience.

  Read more »

  When

  3 August, 5.30pm

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Free

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  CSO Battleship Potemkin

  The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra performs Arnim Brunner’s adaptation of the score from works by Shostakovich.

  Read more »

  When

  1 August, 8.00pm

  Where

  Town Hall Auditorium

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Dave Dobbyn: Harmony House

  Dave Dobbyn reflects on some of his favourite songs, reinterprets them and offers fresh new versions, in this intimate night of musical celebration.

  Read more »

  When

  Saturday 1 August, 8.30pm
  Sunday 2 August, 8.30pm

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Festival Fringe Club

  Christchurch’s late night variety cabaret presented in the TelstraClear Club. Featuring some of the most diverse performing artists from Christchurch and beyond, Fringe Club goes up after the sensible audiences have gone home to bed.

  Read more »

  When

  Wed 29 July: 10:00 pm
  Thurs 30 July: 10:00 pm
  Fri 31 July: 10:00 pm
  Sat 1 Aug: 11:00 pm
  Sun 2 Aug: 11:00 pm
  Wed 5 Aug: 10:00 pm
  Thu 6 Aug: 10:00 pm
  Fri 7 Aug: 11:30 pm
  Sat 8 Aug: 11:30 pm

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Comedy, Quirky

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Finders Keepers

  Raewyn Hill returns from Hong Kong with a new dance work inspired by the extraordinary Yuen Po bird market where centuries of tradition remain alongside rapid modernisation.

  Read more »

  When

  23 - 25 July, 7.30pm

  26 July, 6.00pm

  Where

  The Great Hall

  Categories:

  Dance

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Happy Home Road

  Circus, dance, music and drama collide. The result is a Pinteresque-world that combines the exuberance of madness with the exhaustion of reality. Visually breathtaking, it melds desolate romanticism with zany comic zest. Happy Home Road is circus for a new century.

  Read more »

  When

  6 & 7 August, 7.30pm
  8 August, 1.00pm & 7.30pm

  Where

  James Hay Theatre

  Categories:

  Circus, Dance, Theatre

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Illumina, Music of Light

  The Jubilate Singers, Christchurch’s noted 26-voice chamber choir directed by Grant Hutchinson, presents Illumina, Music of Light.

  Read more »

  When

  Saturday, 8 August, 8.00pm

  Where

  Christchurch Cathedral

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  International Organ Concert

  International organist Christopher Herrick, the top UK organist of “Organ Fireworks” fame, who gave the three inaugural concerts on the Rieger Organ in the Town Hall in May 1997, returns to Christchurch for this much-anticipated concert.

  Read more »

  When

  2 August, 2.30pm

  Where

  Town Hall Auditorium

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Julia Deans

  Julia Deans is known primarily as frontwoman of Fur Patrol. The possessor of one of modern rock's most interesting voices, Deans is able to shift elegantly between soaring falsetto and assured growl.

   

   

  Read more »

  When

   

  Thurs 30 July 5.30pm

  Sat 1 August 2.00pm 

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  L A Mitchell

  LA Mitchell has firmly established herself in the New Zealand music scene, having recently toured Europe with music legend Dave Dobbyn – as his keyboardist and backing vocalist. Back in Christchurch, you can hear her original music spliced with new tracks and reinterpretations of classics.

  Read more »

  When

  Fri 31 Jul 2009 5:30p.m.

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Le Sud

  Le Sud is a rollicking political satire that warmly pokes fun at three cultures, two islands and one country.

  Read more »

  When

  28 - 31 July, 7.30pm

  Where

  James Hay Theatre

  Categories:

  Theatre

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Lindon Puffin

   

  Incredibly entertaining, Lindon Puffin's quirky heartfelt songs and quick witted humour secured him support slots with Billy Bragg and Tenacious D. Famous for his acclaimed road trip movie Figure 8000 and his recent Auckland celebrity sendup song along, 'We are Forth', this is a must see show!

  
  

   

  Read more »

  When

  Tue 04 Aug 2009 5:30p.m.

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music, Quirky

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Love Letters in the Margin

  Words powered by music, songs powered by poetry, this session of live poetry & music features The Eastern, Ragamuffin Children, Le Mot Café, Ben Brown, Marissa Johnpillai and Ciarán Fox.

  Read more »

  When

  Sat 25 July, 5.30p.m.

   

   

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Love You Approximately

  After a successful premiere in Europe, award-winning NZ theatre collective the clinic presents a visually rich and dramatically compelling multimedia performance.

  Read more »

  When

  28 – 31 July, 7.00pm
  1 August, 2.00pm & 7.00pm

  Where

  CoCA

  Categories:

  Theatre

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Naomi Ferguson: Songs My Mother Taught Me

  Dark humour prevails as Naomi Ferguson relives the sights and sounds of her mother’s world in 1970s Christchurch with Songs My Mother Taught Me.

  Read more »

  When

  5 August, 5.30pm
  6 August, 5.30pm

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music, Theatre

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

  The NZSO return to the Christchurch Arts Festival with top flight international artists and a programme that mixes French impressionism with resonant Russian passion.

  Read more »

  When

  29 July, 6.30pm

  Where

  Town Hall Auditorium

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  NZCT Chamber Music Contest National Final

  The New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest is in it 44th year and boasts 541 entries involving over 2,000 young musicians. The National Final showcases the top eight groups selected from across the country.

  Read more »

  When

  1 August, 7.00pm

  Where

  James Hay Theatre

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Pacific Underground

  Pacific Underground presents PU Soul Me. Pacific Underground will once again warm up your soul with original funk, soul, rhythm and blues in the Festival Club, joined by some of their flashest friends.

  Read more »

  When

  26 July, 12.00pm

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Ragamuffin Children

  Ragamuffin Children liken their sound to something written in a graveyard whilst holding a tea party and singing nursery rhymes.

  Read more »

  When

  Fri 07 Aug 2009 5:30p.m.

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Ritmo Latino

  A Retrospective of Cubano Music and Dance.

  Read more »

  When

  Sat 25 Jul 2009 12:00p.m.

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Sunnyside

  At this time Messrs McCaffrey and McCaffrey wish to announce that due to matters and circumstances beyond their control ‘Sunnyside’ will not be appearing during the 2009 Christchurch Arts Festival as hoped.

  Read more »

  When

  Where

  Sunnyside

  Categories:

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  The Eastern

  Adam McGrath and Jess Shanks aka The Eastern bring backpacks full of road songs, battered acoustics and no name electrics, banjo and glockenspiel, mandolin, harmonica, foot stomps and old time singing, straight from the gut, the fist and the heart.

  Read more »

  When

  Sat 08 Aug 2009 5:30p.m.

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  The Great Gatsby

  This stunning adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story of love, longing and loss in a society teetering on the edge of its own excess captures the spirit of one of the great novels of the twentieth century.

  Read more »

  When

  25th July – 22nd August.
  Mon & Thurs 6pm. Tues, Wed, Fri & Sat 7.30pm

  Where

  The Court Theatre

  Categories:

  Theatre

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  The Intricate Art of Actually Caring by Eli Kent

  It’s a comedy about apathy, a slacker road trip story, a journey of joyous pessimism.

  Read more »

  When

  23 July, 8.00pm
  24 July, 8.00pm
  25 July, 8.00pm

  Where

  CoCA

  Categories:

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  The Kreutzer

  A theatrical tour de force, The Kreutzer combines dance-theatre, live classical music and an interactive audio-visual feast.

  Read more »

  When

  6 & 7 August, 7.30pm
  8 August, 1.00pm & 7.30pm
  9 August, 6.00pm

  Where

  The Great Hall

  Categories:

  Music, Theatre

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  The Meridian Season of La Sylphide

  In a tribute to the founding father of the Royal
  New Zealand Ballet, Poul Gnatt, the company
  will present two outstanding works by the great
  Danish choreographer August Bournonville.

  Read more »

  When

  6, 7 & 8 August, 7.30pm
  9 August, 6.30pm

  Where

  Isaac Theatre Royal

  Categories:

  Dance

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  The Pioneers

  The Pioneers is the remarkable true story of the journey undertaken by the early settlers to New Zealand, told through a mesmerizing musical performance.

  Read more »

  When

  1-2 August, 12.00pm

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  The Woolshed Sessions

  The Woolshed Sessions was borne when eight well-known Wellington musicians got together in an old woolshed to record some songs.

  Echoes of folk, country, 1920s swing jazz and hillbilly blues wash over the assortment of songs that were written by various members of the collective.

  Read more »

  When

  Saturday 8 August, 7.30pm
  Sunday 9 August, 12.00pm

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  TV One Ice Dome

  Step with us inside the TV ONE Ice Dome and be transported to a world of winter wonderment in this high-energy highlight of the Christchurch Arts Festival 2009.

  Read more »

  When

  23 July – 23 August

  Hourly sessions beginning:
  10.00am, 11.30am, 1.00pm, 2.30pm, 4.00pm, 6.00pm and 7.30pm.

  Where

  WinterGarden

  Categories:

  Family Entertainment, Spectacle

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra

  Commanding the four-string like you’ve never heard it before, the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra has become New Zealand’s hottest music/comedy ensemble.

  Read more »

  When

  Thursday 6 August, 7.30pm
  Friday 7 August, 7.30pm
  Saturday 8 August,12.00pm

  Where

  TelstraClear Club

  Categories:

  Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Winded

  Fleur de Thier’s latest work for Scrambled Legs explores the relationship between the human form and the elements. Uniting dance, film, sculpture and sound, Winded is a journey of exploration as the venue itself becomes a wind tunnel as the dancers and audiences respond to the vortex at the heart of this work.

  Read more »

  When

  5, 6 & 7 August, 7.00pm
  8 August, 2.00pm & 7.00pm

  Where

  CoCA

  Categories:

  Dance

  Country:

  New Zealand

• 

  Angels

  Eleven years ago Stevie and Sing – cousins and best friends since Sunday school – had talent, a band and dreams of stardom. But just before they hit the big time, Sing left the band to dedicate her talent to God and the church.

  Read more »

  When

  22 July – 15 August
  Mon & Thur 6.30pm
  Tue, Wed, Fri & Sat, 8.00pm

  Where

  The Court Theatre

  Categories:

  Theatre

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Animation Substation

  A survey of outstanding animation and film from New Zealand and the world will be screened in the Waharoa at the entrances to the WinterGarden, creating an intimate arena
  to showcase this contemporary medium.

  Read more »

  When

  Thu 23 July - Sun 9 August:
  10.00am - 6.00pm

  Where

  WinterGarden

  Categories:

  Animation, Free, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Assume Nothing

  Assume Nothing is a challenging and sensitive exploration and celebration of the intimacies, complexities and nuances of gender diversity.

  Read more »

  When

  4 July – 6 September
  Open Daily 9.00am – 5.00pm

  Where

  Canterbury Museum

  Categories:

  Free, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Creative Day

  Sample the skills of the students and staff from the freshly minted Creative Industries Faculty at CPIT in a day long programme of performance on Friday July 24.

  Read more »

  When

  Fri 24 July: 10.00am - 5.00pm

  Where

  WinterGarden

  Categories:

  Circus, Free

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Drape

  Subversive textile works by Katharina Jaeger, Sandra Thomson and Michael Reed.

  Read more »

  When

  23 July – 9 August
  Tuesday – Friday
  10.00am – 5.00pm
  Saturday & Sunday
  12.00 – 4.00pm

  Where

  CoCA

  Categories:

  Free, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  et al.: That’s obvious! That’s right! That’s true!

  The collective et al. have exhibited widely both nationally and internationally and, with their critically acclaimed installation the fundamental practice, were New Zealand’s representatives at the 2005 Venice Biennale.

  Read more »

  When

  23 July – 22 November
  Open daily 10.00am – 5.00pm (Wed till 9.00pm)

  Where

  Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu

  Categories:

  Free, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Frank Martin Mass

  The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament Choir presents a Solemn Mass at 10:30 am every Sunday, exploring a wide repertoire through orchestral, contemporary, polyphonic and plainsong Mass settings.

  Read more »

  When

  Sunday 9 August, 10.30am

  Where

  Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament Barbadoes Street

  Categories:

  Free, Music

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Inner Landscapes

  Inner Landscapes celebrates the work of 15 highly-acclaimed New Zealand artists.

  Read more »

  When

  30 July – 30 August
  Mon – Fri, 11.00am – 5.00pm
  Sat & Sun, 12.00 – 4.00pm

  Where

  SoFA Gallery

  Categories:

  Free, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  My Heart is a Beast

  MY HEART IS A BEAST is a series of performances evoking the enigmatic presence of the wild spirit of humanity bursting to exist within the confines of the city. HERNE the Hunter, ancient pagan deity, invites us to enter a world of dreams, senses and myth.

  Read more »

  When

  23 July – 9 August
  12 - 2pm & 7 - 9pm

  Where

  WinterGarden

  Categories:

  Free, Quirky, Theatre, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Ronnie van Hout: Who goes there

  A twisting journey through new and recent works by Ronnie van Hout.

  Read more »

  When

  4 July – 18 October
  Open daily 10.00am – 5.00pm (Wed till 9.00pm)

  Where

  Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu

  Categories:

  Free, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Séraphine Pick

  Séraphine Pick’s original and imaginative practice has made her one of New Zealand’s most highly-regarded painters.

  Read more »

  When

  23 July – 22 November
  Open daily 10.00am – 5.00pm (Wed till 9.00pm)

  Where

  Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu

  Categories:

  Free, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Snare/māhanga

  Using the Canterbury Museum’s ornithological collection as inspiration, contemporary artists address issues of extinction, conservation, collecting and preservation in this exhibition combining the old and the new.

  Read more »

  When

  Where

  Robert McDougall Gallery

  Categories:

  Free, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Snow Orchids

  In 2007, the Festival commissioned an animated television commercial that encapsulated everything the WinterGarden was about. The result was a visually-engaging product that inspired the creation of the colossal Snow Orchids, which return for 2009 by popular demand!

  Read more »

  When

  Where

  WinterGarden

  Categories:

  Free, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Specimen Contemporary jewellery by Lynn Kelly

  After visiting the pressed plants in the herbarium and botanical drawings at the Natural History Museum in London, Lynn Kelly has based Specimen on these collections.

  Read more »

  When

  29 July – 28 August
  Mon – Sun, 10.00am – 5.00pm
  Late night Wed until 7.00pm

  Where

  Form Gallery, Christchurch Art Gallery

  Categories:

  Free, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  The Multitude

  The Multitude is an exhibition highlighting contemporary jewellery practice in New Zealand.

  Read more »

  When

  22 July – 9 August
  Mon – Fri, 11.00am – 5.00pm
  Sat & Sun, 12.00pm – 4.00pm

  Where

  SoFA Basement

  Categories:

  Free, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Waharoa: Storybox: celebrating people & place

  Waharoa: Storybox: celebrating people
  & place is a site specific video installation documentary project that explores layers of history and the connections of themes through time.

  Read more »

  When

  Thu 23 July - Sun 9 August:
  FROM 6.00pm

  Where

  WinterGarden

  Categories:

  Free, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

• FREE Entry
  

  Whitebaiters Never Lie

  A photographic exhibition developed by Murray Hedwig and Anita Peters over the last eighteen months as they documented whitebaiters through photographs and interviews.

  Read more »

  When

  Where

  WinterGarden

  Categories:

  Free, Visual Arts

  Country:

  New Zealand

Keep me informed!

Join up to receive CAF eNews including the latest Festival information, exclusive offers and access to artist and performance insights.

Subscribe +

CAF Friends 09

Download your CAF Friends 09 application form here:

Application Form »

Send me a copy of the Christchurch Arts Festival brochure

Send us an email with your name and address and the words "Christchurch Arts Festival Brochure" in the subject line and we'll post you a copy of the festival brochure!