Taonga Moana - A love letter to the oceans

Note: Rescheduling...

*Auckland Arts Festival/Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki (AAF) is sadly unable to open this Thursday 4 March as planned, due to Auckland being at Alert Level 3. We are working hard to hopefully reschedule much of the activity from the first part of our programme including Taonga Moana. If you hold tickets to this show, we will inform you of the new date and time as soon as details are confirmed. The full list for 4-7 March updates can be found here: www.aaf.co.nz/about/news/aaf-2021-covid-19-response AAF's COVID-19 Ticketing Terms & Conditions here: http://www.aaf.co.nz/your-visit/your-tickets...*

Auckland Premiere

Celebrating our moana as precious taonga with uplifting music from around the globe, this beautiful concert accompanies the flight of the kuaka/godwit, from icy northern seas all the way down to a fragile sanctuary in Antarctica.

Starting in the North with a new work by eclectic Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi about the Arctic Ocean, we encounter whales, turtles and mysterious serpents on this musical journey following the great Māori navigator Ui-Te-Rangiora on his quest to save the oceans. Travelling through Latvia, Canada, the US and Indonesia, we arrive at a sanctuary, the majestic Antarctic captured in a new work by New Zealand’s Warren Maxwell, inspired by his own, personal experiences on the ice.

Conducted by Dr Karen Grylls, with elegant direction and choreography by Arts Foundation Laureate Sara Brodie, Taonga Moana is set to a stunning landscape of projected moving images.

This spectacular theatrical event is an ode to the power and poetry of oceans – essential, now more than ever, to survival on our planet.

March 6
Auckland Town Hall
1hr 15mins, no interval

“Moving, uplifting, and thought-provoking. A very special evening of music indeed.” — Otago Daily Times

“Impressions.... ranged from full blown despair to total joy and delight.” — The Hook

Conductor: Dr Karen Grylls
Director/Storyboard: Sara Brodie
Script Development: Briar Grace-Smith
Audio Visuals: Tim Gruchy, Mic Gruchy
Composers: David Hamilton (Aotearoa); James Gordon Arr. Diane Loomer (Canada); Jaakko Mäntyjärvi (Finland); Jeff Enns (Canada); Warren Maxwell (Aotearoa); Ken Steven (Indonesia); Eriks Esenvalds (Latvia); Mason Bates (USA)

Image: Tim Mossholder