Features

Wellington-born Alan Niven managed American rock band Guns N' Roses at the peak of their career in the late 1980s, and has the stories to prove it!.

On a wintry Sunday night an insect-themed classical concert for children was just the ticket. Bryan Crump reviews a special performance of The Spider's Feast and Carnival of the Animals with youthful participation.

After five decades performing at piano bars around the world - and a stint in an Italian jail - Linn Lorkin still loves making Auckland audiences smile.

Dunedin-born composer Nathaniel Otley has written a new piece inspired by the 2015 South Dunedin flood. Audio

Hymns to mark the Feast of the Transfiguration today, including Immortal, invisible, and Christ whose glory fills the skies. Audio

Nick Tipping picks the must-have jazz albums to kickstart your record collection. Audio

Young New Zealand tenor Taylor Wallbank is about to embark on two years of study and performance in Italy. Video, Audio

Conductor - and part-time park ranger - Jun Märkl is in New Zealand to conduct Ravel's massive paean to Nature: Daphnis & Chloe. Audio

Robert Ibell first worked as a teacher before becoming a full-time cellist, but in recent years he's gone back to school to help coach the next generation of musicians. Video, Audio

Composer Jack Bewley talks about his brass band work for the end of the world. Video, Audio

Arthur Sullivan was the music half of the successful theatrical partnership, Gilbert and Sullivan. Alongside those catchy songs from Pirates of Penzance and HMS Pinafore, he also wrote hymn tunes. You can hear one this week, paired with words by poet Christopher Wordsworth (nephew of William). Audio

On the eve of the 60th secondary schools' chamber music contest, violinist Miles Golding remembers when he was part of the trio that won the first competition. Video, Audio

Indian classical musician Ustad Fazal Qureshi is in New Zealand for a concert in honour of his brother and fellow tabla player, Ustad Zakir Hussain. Video, Audio

NZSO trombonist and Wellington Brass music director Dave Bremner talks about his latest project, helping to set up a National Youth Brass Band in Tonga. Audio

Brian Castles-Onion and Madeleine Pierard talk to RNZ Concert ahead of Wellington Opera's production of Verdi's "A Masked Ball". Audio

Ahead of her concert with the Auckland Philharmonia, Korean guitarist Jiji talks about being comfortable playing acoustic and electric. Video, Audio

New Zealand opera singer Felicity Tomkins talks with RNZ Concert's Andrew Clark about some of her career highlights so far, and 'Opera in the Cathedral': a showcase of outstanding young emerging operatic talents in Auckland's Holy Trinity Cathedral. Audio

Hymns inspired by Psalm 150, Praise God in his sanctuary, feature in this week’s programme. Audio

Russian-born cellist Lev Sivkov talks about his latest tour of New Zealand playing chamber music and the solo role in Britten's Cello Symphony. Audio

Icelandic composer and techno musician Ólafur Arnalds talks to RNZ Concert ahead of a one-off gig at Auckland's Power Station. Video, Audio

Kiwi bassoon player Charlotte Naden talks about her "hobby" which will soon see her playing the fiddle at this year's Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Video, Audio

The United Nations' highest court has found that countries can be held legally responsible for their greenhouse gas emissions, in a ruling highly anticipated by Pacific countries long frustrated with the pace of global action to address climate change. Audio

The Prayer of St Francis is a lovely peace prayer that came to be attributed to the saint around 1920, when somebody had it printed on the back of card with St Francis’s picture on it. When South African songwriter Sebastian Temple adapted the words of the prayer and set them to music by in the 1960s, he kept the St Francis attribution along with his own title: Make me a channel of your peace. Audio

Chris Faiumu, founder of one of Aotearoa's most successful bands, died unexpectedly this week. He leaves a rich musical legacy as a DJ, producer, and founding member of the Roots Foundation and Fat Freddy's Drop.