Kimbra on Why Women in Music Are Seen as Sex Symbols
From Grammy winner to production whizz, Kimbra is breaking new ground. Kimbra Lee Johnson turned 24 in March this year, and while she didn’t have a party she still had a good time, spending the…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Must-See for Those after Palpable Taste of Unique Adventure
What sets docudrama Beyond The Edge apart from hundreds of other accounts of Edmund Hillary and Norgay Tenzing’s Mount Everest ascent is the intimate footage of the small group that set off from base…
NZ’s Finest Underground Acts Partner with US Labels
PopMatters has selected a sampling of essential tracks by 15 of New Zealand’s finest underground pop acts in anticipation of a forthcoming Bats reissue and a Clean anthology – and with hopes for additional…
Star of Petals on the Wind Captivating
Star of television’s steamy Petals on the Wind, New Zealand actor Rose McIver, who plays Cathy Sheffield, “emerges as a captivating and surprisingly shrewd leading lady”, Variety reviewer Geoff Berkshire writes. “ up 10…
Sound Artist Releases Ground of Being
Christchurch-born composer and sound artist Annea Lockwood, who is perhaps best known for her Glass Concerts, in which she made use of the sonic and physical characteristics of glass, as well as her Piano…
Sorceress Releases Another Dose of Soul
Among New Zealand’s fervent soul underground, which has produced such musicians as Ladi6, Electric Wire Hustle and Benny Tone, is another contemporary soul outfit, Sorceress. “ Dose, which updates their take on…
Lorde Compares Notes with Conor Oberst
Teenage pop star Lorde, who has just won two Billboard music awards at a ceremony in Las Vegas and is in the midst of a sold-out world tour, talks to solo artist and Bright…
Cutting Edge Authors This Way Up at London Festival
New Zealand and Australian artists will be showcased in This Way Up, “a festival of seriously good literature, film, music and performance from two countries at the (cutting) edge of the world”, in London…
Performance Pays Tribute to Soldier and Wimbledon Champ
Performers of a musical play featuring WWI soldier Wilfred Owen’s poems will pay tribute to New Zealand Wimbledon tennis champion Anthony Wilding who was killed in action in France. One hundred years since the outbreak…
An Album of Quiet Devastating Beauty
Originally conceived as a solo project for New Zealander Hollie Fullbrook, Tiny Ruins has with their second album Brightly Painted One become a proper band, with Cass Basil and Alexander Freer joining…
Director Firmly Back in the Game
As Jane Campion returns to the Riviera chairing the jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the Palm d’Or-winning filmmaker tells the Guardian’s Andrew Pulver about surviving as a woman director. Campion was the first…
Special Night for Dubai’s Neil Finn Fans
Neil Finn thrilled fans in the United Arab Emirates on stage at the Dubai Tennis Stadium last week “demonstrating why he is regarded as the songwriters’ songwriter”, according to Gulf News senior writer Leslie…
Lorde Visits Helen in New York
Lorde has visited former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark in New York – all in between winning Billboard awards and launching her own make-up line with M.A.C Cosmetics. Ms Clark posted a…
Four Prestigious US Music Schools Excited about Sylvia
Eighteen-year-old Auckland pianist Sylvia Jiang has been offered full scholarships to four prestigious American music school: Juilliard School, Yale School of Music, Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and New England Conservatory. Jiang started learning…
What It’s Like to Play Every Ethnicity Hollywood Throws Your Way
Over the course of his career, Cliff Curtis, “a Maori from New Zealand”, has played just about every non-white ethnicity: African-American, Arab, Latino, Indian – anything from Pablo Escobar to a lord of the…
New Release Incredibly Impressive Mix of Genres
Grammy award-winning Kimbra, 24, is “no flash in the pan”, says Slate blogger Sharan Shetty. The Hamilton-born singer is currently working on the follow-up to her 2011 album, Vows, and the first single “90s…
Pulp a Fascinating Piece of Work on All Levels
New Zealand director Florian Habicht’s documentary on British rock band Pulp screens at the Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival in Tel Aviv on from 8-17 May. “Habicht’s portrayal of British rock band Pulp is a…
Cannes Is a Mythical and Exciting Place, Says Campion
Head of this year’s Cannes jury, Wellington-born director Jane Campion made her name portraying complex, strong-willed female protagonists and knows from first-hand experience that the festival is a place where careers are made. Campion, the…
Broods Embark on a Dream Adventure
From New York on the eve of Broods’ first full tour of the United States, the Nelson-born brother sister act, Georgia and Caleb Nott, talk with Vancouver’s Straight about trading in university for the…
Mr Adventure Heads to Base Camp
New Zealand comedian Rhys Darby is taking part in charity event Stand Up on Everest in October, performing at Base Camp on a purpose built stage for climbers awaiting their turn to…
Kiwi Bach Takes Top Architecture Award
A small Kiwi-designed bach has won a prestigious award at a ceremony dubbed the “Oscars of architecture” in New York. The “sled hut”, which measures a mere 40sq m over two storeys, sits on a…
Julie Rafter Part of the Australian Conscience
“Vivacious, unpretentious, warm and chatty, Gibney could easily be mistaken for the down-to-earth, caring and protective mother and wife she played on Seven’s popular picket-fence drama Packed to the Rafters, Paul…
All the World Is a Stage for Paratene in Hamlet
Over the next two years, Rawiri Paratene, actor and environmental activist (best known for his role in the Oscar-nominated film Whale Rider), will play Polonius, Claudius, and other roles in the Shakespeare’s Globe
Right at Home in Manchester
Now on a UK and European tour promoting his third solo album Dizzy Heights, Neil Finn, 55, talks with the Manchester Evening News about why the British city has always been a very homely…
Explosive Photographs Part of a Cinematic Language
Auckland-based photographer Geoffrey Short’s photographs – on show in Melbourne this month – of high-powered fossil fuel and gunpowder explosions tread a precarious path between terror and the transcendent, Dan Rule writes for the…
Young Conductor Earns Place at Royal Academy of Music
Aucklander Ray Chan, 23, has become one of only two students in the world to be accepted into a prestigious conducting programme at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Chan beat about 30 international…
Texas-Based Photographer’s Fairy Tale Career Move
New Zealander Suzy Taylor spent most of her adult life living the life of a business woman, working in real estate and finance. In the wake of the worldwide financial crisis Taylor immigrated to…
Singer Is Just a Well-Adjusted Non-Jaded Teen
Yet another magazine cover for Lorde; this time the 17-year-old singer graces the front of Teen Vogue, sporting a giant Marc Jacobs bowtie. The Aucklander admits that her life is pretty wild right now. While…
Lorde Gives Foo-Fighter Dave Grohl Hope for Music
Music legend Dave Grohl, founder of the Foo Fighters and member of Nirvana, has told Rolling Stone magazine that Lorde gives him hope for the future of music. Dismissing most music on the radio…
Short Western to Screen in Cannes
A 15-minute film by Aucklanders Luke Thornborough and Lisa Fothergill, called Jess, will screen at Cannes International Film Festival in the Short Film Corner of the event, in May. Its makers are trying…
Burn up the Road Premieres on Billboard
Liam Finn’s new album The Nihilist navigates “through deliciously chilly soundscapes that oscillate tantalizingly into the warmth of big semi-processed drumbeats and his fuzzy guitars,” Jessica Letkemann writes for Billboard.com. “But while the New Zealander…
New York Dogs Make Good Subjects
New Zealand photographer Rachael Hale McKenna is using her creativity to help dogs and cats living in New York’s shelters, with a new book The New York Dog, which is filled with pictures of…
Saville and De Lautour Star in Only in HelLA
Hit American web series Only in HelLA’s most recent episode, “LA Coffee Shops”, which captured moments in a Los Angeles café, featured New Zealand actors Fleur Saville and David de Lautour. Ironically, the setting…
Lynskey Honoured for Early Mastery of Her Craft
New Zealand actress Melanie Lynskey has earned herself an Emerging Master award from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) School of Filmmaking in Winston-Salem, one of the major events of the…
Conductor Gives It All for Canadian Music Director Role
New York-based conductor New Zealander Gemma New, 27, makes her debut conducting Canada’s Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra on 26 April, her “one and only shot” for the position of HPO music director, according to Leonard…
Hammond Features in Pictures of the Year Exhibit
New Zealand-born freelance photographer Robin Hammond is one of 49 photographers featuring in The Newseum’s highly anticipated Pictures of the Year exhibition, which runs through 1 September in Washington DC. Hammond…
Vision West a Pioneering New Housing Project
Strachan Group Architects in Auckland is one of four innovative companies “from London to Tokyo” to feature in a Monocle special on social housing projects, with developments “showing how good design and…
Cooking up a Supervillain in TV Series Arrow
New Zealand-born actor Manu Bennett, 44, has become an overnight sensation starring as Slade Wilson – and his DC Comics’ alter ego Deathstroke – in recently renewed superhero series Arrow. Bennett, who played the Gallic…
Operatic Trio Performs Exclusively Live for the Telegraph
In an exclusive live session for Britain’s Telegraph, New Zealand operatic trio Sol3 Mio performed their hit Yellow Bird from their self-titled debut album. The song was recorded in London, and was the best-selling album…
Artist Transforms Car Wrecks into Giant Kangaroo
New Zealand artist Michel Tuffery is building a 4.5m high sculpture of a kangaroo from car body parts as part of a community project with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. In…
On a Whirlwind of Promotion in the UK
Author Eleanor Catton, who is currently on a book tour in the UK, tells the Scotsman that when she won the Man Booker prize last October with The Luminaries, fellow winner, Life of Pi…
Nirvana Collaboration Masterful Stroke of Musicianship
Lorde, who performed Nirvana’s All Apologies at the band’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, may not have seemed like an immediate choice for the evening, but then Ella Yelich-O’Connor is not your…
Darby’s Sexy Leg Confuses Variety
Rhys Darby’s new eight-episode mockumentary Short Poppies is being praised for its “whimsical and winsome” charms ahead of its debut on American screens on Netflix. The LA Times’ Robert Lloyd describes the series as…
Novel Inspired by a Real Woman’s Escape
New Zealand author Dixie Carlton’s first novel Margaret – A Song out of Time was inspired by a real woman Carlton first met as Elsie Margaret May McKenzie. She was then in her mid-70s…
Hargreaves Is Still Playing with His Food
14 April 2014 – New Zealand-born photographer Henry Hargreaves’ images of “deep fried gadgets (yep, iPhones in batter), bacon alphabet and rainbow-coloured food” are “marvelled” over in the Skinny this month. “Jelly becomes a series…
Indie Star Moves Cross Country to LA
Musician (and occasional actor) New Zealand-born Dean Wareham moved to Los Angeles last year after nearly a quarter-century in New York. Wareham, a permanent fixture in the indie rock scene, “informed a generation of…
New Zealand’s Meteorites a Worthy Subject
Fine art photographer Casey Moore travels the world documenting meteorites using his large-format Sinar camera, with much of his work centring around reconnecting with New Zealand, his country of origin. In the course of his…
Cardboard Cathedral Architect Wins Pritzker Prize
The designer of Christchurch’s Cardboard Cathedral, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, has been named the winner of this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize, largely because of his work designing shelters after natural disasters in…
Interior Designer Joins NY’s Fabergé Egg Hunt
New Zealand-born interior designer Sandra Nunnerley is participating in this year’s Fabergé Big Egg Hunt held throughout New York’s five boroughs through April 26. The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt is a fundraising initiative…
Baritone Thriving in San Francisco Opera Scene
Baritone Hadleigh Adams, New Zealand’s first San Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship recipient, talks with the Huffington Post’s cultural critic Sean Martinfield about his latest performance, in American composer Gabriel Kahane’s The Memory Palace, an…
Crowe Impressively Grounded as Enigmatic Noah
Russell Crowe’s performance in Noah alongside Jennifer Connelly in Darren Aronofsky’s “audacious adaptation of one of the Bible’s best-known but still enigmatic chapters,” is “impressively grounded” and “powerful,” according to Washington Post reviewer Ann…
Star-Studded Everest Film Re-Treks Fatal Expedition
The story of Christchurch mountaineer Rob Hall’s tragic 1996 Everest expedition in which he, a fellow guide, and two clients perished, is being made into a film by director Baltasar Kormakur, and will star…
Music Man Reunites with the Muppets
Having worked on the 2011 film The Muppets (winning an Oscar for his soul-searching power ballad Man or Muppet), 37-year-old New Zealander Bret McKenzie was signed up for the follow-up, a crime caper called…
On the Hippie Trail with Lonely Planet’s Founders
The journey that spawned publishing empire, Lonely Planet founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler’s trek from London to Australia via the hippy trail in 1972, has taken the first step on a new odyssey –…
Teen Environmental Animation Premiers at US Festival
A short film by 16-year-old Nastasha Bishop has had its US premier at the prestigious Environmental Film Festival in Washington DC at the weekend. As the Washington Post notes, the festival is misnamed. These…
Guess What Al Pitcher Saw on the Way to His Show
New Zealand comedian Al Pitcher performs his improvised stand-up slide show, the Al Pitcher Picture Show, as part of the Format Photographic Festival on 29 March in Derby. Now based in Stockholm,
