From Sad but True to NZ Guitar Quartet: AOTNZ 2014 programme

From Sad but True to The New Zealand Guitar Quartet – AOTNZ 2014 programme

Another year of touring top New Zealand performers throughout the country – Arts On Tour NZ launches its 2014 musical and theatrical programme with a flourish. Award-winning artists Delaney Davidson and Marlon Williams tour the country in February, playing from their eagerly awaited and still to be released, Sad but True album.

Next up in March is Too Far from Heaven, an original play based on the life and death of the notorious Southland baby farmer, Minnie Dean, the only woman ever hanged in NZ, and Victor Spencer who was shot for desertion in World War 1. Too Far from Heaven was nominated in the Best Theatre Category, Best Newcomer and Stand–out Performer awards in the 2013 NZ Fringe Festival.

April has AOTNZ favourite, violinist Fiona Pears touring Swing Driven Thing with gypsy-jazz guitar duo, La Petite Manouche and UK pianist Ian Tilley – followed in May by Wheel of Experience, a show of epic original songs and stories unearthed from the ‘wild west’ of NZ history. Wheel of Experience is performed by David Ward (Krishnan’s Dairy, Guru of Chai), Peter Daube (Stories Told To Me By Girls) and Dave Kahn (Don McGlashan Band).

June brings hilarity in the form of Penny Ashton performing Promise and Promiscuity, July features Nick, An Accidental Hero, based on a true story of a young man who overcomes ‘locked in syndrome’ after a stroke on the rugby field. Written and performed by Renee Lyons, Nick, An Accidental Hero was performed in the prestigious Assembly Theatre in the 2013 Edinburgh Festival.

Munted, a verbatim documentary response to the February 2011 Canterbury earthquake, relies entirely on interviews with people caught up in the quake. Three performers bring the words of 15 people to life on stage for this AOTNZ August offering.

Next up, in September, in A Cabaret, country singer songwriter Mel Parsons teams up with Samoan/Welsh stand-up comic James Nokise, who draws on his experience of being kicked out of a youth gang to perform his uproarious take on NZ gang culture, Soso Gangster.

Guitar performers Loren and Mark (Loren Barrigar and Mark Mazengarb) Best Instrumental winners in the recent International Acoustic Music Awards, tour the country in October, followed in November by The New Zealand Guitar Quartet - Owen Moriarty, Jane Curry, Christopher Hill and Tim Watanabe – each member dedicated to bringing the beauty of classical guitar music to the New Zealand public.

About Arts On Tour New Zealand
Arts On Tour New Zealand (AOTNZ) organises tours of outstanding New Zealand performers to rural and smaller centres in New Zealand. The trust receives funding from Creative New Zealand and liaises with local arts councils, repertory theatres and community groups to bring the best of musical and other talent to country districts. The AOTNZ programme is environmentally sustainable – artists travel to audiences, rather than rural dwellers clocking up kilometres to travel to the big towns.

For more information visit www.aotnz.co.nz

ENDS

© Scoop Media