Music

A glittering cast of local talent will perform in a farewell concert for Dunedin mezzo-soprano Claire Barton this weekend.

Dunedin music just got retro.

Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi were among the musicians whose work was shared with pupils at Tainui School yesterday, as part of the Southern Sinfonia's annual schools tour.

The Dunedin sound has helped Australian bands win Oceania's top two brass-band prizes.

Queenstown psychedelic rock trio the Skitzofrantiks sets off on its debut tour of the South Island with top billing at the Dux de Lux next Thursday at 9pm.

Omarama has its own giant guitar, 2.4m high, in the centre of town at the intersection of State Highways 83 and 8.

Canadian pop-country superstar Shania Twain, a sometime Central Otago resident, says she is ready to talk about her recent divorce and she'll do it in her autobiography.

Some would argue that Rock Band's migration from honouring The Beatles to honouring Green Day now is akin to Ken Burns following up his Civil War documentary with a 15-hour look at Wrestlemania.

A music retailer of 38 years says she has been forced to close the last dedicated record shop in the Southern Lakes district because of consumers downloading music and rents being too high for small business owners in central Queenstown.

When you are accepted to study for a master's degree in three of the world's top music schools, how do you pick one? For Dunedin viola player Helen Bevin, the job prospects tipped her in favour of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Nearly 600 pupils forming 22 choirs from 17 secondary schools in Otago and South Canterbury, add up to the largest secondary schools choral festival the region has hosted.

Invercargill singer Saelyn Guyton won the 2010 New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards in Gore on Sunday night with her performance in the senior women's vocal solo section.

Die! Die! Die! brought life to the ambitions of about 130 Dunedin secondary school pupils yesterday by offering tips on how to become high-profile rock musicians.

"I have the best job in the world," music teacher Mike Jackson told Queenstown Primary School pupils on Friday, when he visited the school to share an appreciation for music.

Science came not only in talks to delegates but also in some unusual sounds played by Wellington musician Nic McGowan yesterday at the start of an Asia Pacific science centre network conference, at the Otago Museum.

It was Perfect in Dunedin for Scottish songstress Eddi Reader MBE yesterday.

The installation of a state-of-the-art music console at the University of Otago's Albany St studio is a "fantastic" move which will help Dunedin strengthen its place as a force in music production, the university says.