What happens to your body when you fall in love? Is the reaction stronger than a drug? That’s the basis of The Effect at Auckland’s Q Theatre. A duo meet and fall in love while part of an anti-depressant clinical trial. Director Ben Henson discusses how the play questions who we really are and asks if our emotions can be controlled by chemicals.

Conductors are polygamous, according to Englishman Alexander Shelley, who is about to begin his fourth tour with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. This time he’s conducting Spanish classical guitarist soloist Pablo Sainz Villegas. He discusses Bartok, growing up in a musical family and how conducting the NZSO stands out for him as a very rewarding experience musically.

European star violinist Alina Ibragimova gave a blistering account of the Bartok 2nd violin concerto last night with the APO and Giordano Bellincampi. Her Shostakovich was electrifying when the young violinist made her debut here five years ago so her return visit has been eagerly anticipated. Peter Hoar gives his gut reaction to her Bartok, a work not for the faint hearted. It was followed by a crisp and joyful performance of Schubert’s 5th Symphony.

Kiwi young gun Filipe Manu has scooped the pool at the Australian Singing Competition, winning the Marianne Mathy Scholarship, and the Audience Prize. The twenty-four year old Auckland tenor receives the Mathy Scholarship worth $30,000 and a scholarship to attend the International Vocal Arts Institute New York after receiving the most votes on the night to win the Audience Prize as well.

Star violinist Alina Ibragimova is back to play with Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra tonight after her memorable debut with the orchestra playing Shostakovich five years ago. This time she takes on another demanding twentieth century work: Bartok’s second Violin Concerto. Alina has become one of the most sought after violinists in Europe. She talks about her rich heritage, being successful at such a young age and why Bartok sits close to her heart.

RNZ presenter Lloyd Scott is hanging up the headphones in August. He joins colleague Eva Radich to talk about his long and illustrious career in musicals, theatre productions, television, radio and beyond.

American composer John Adams’ work has been a heard a lot by local audiences thanks to his long friendship with NZSO Music Director Edo de Waart. Adams discusses the role de Waart played in establishing his career, the challenges of being a career composer, his poor opinion of Frank Zappa, writing a new opera, and today’s divided American political landscape.

Scottish tenor horn player Sheona White is in New Zealand as a guest soloist for Wellington Brass Band this weekend. Known as the ‘Voice of the Tenor Horn’, Sheona took the brass band world by storm when she became the first tenor horn player, first Scot and first female to be declared British Open Solo Champion. She talks about her rapid rise to the top of what once was a male only preserve.

Aspiring Wellington opera singer soprano Imogen Thirlwall is off to study in Berlin after being awarded a language scholarship from the Goethe-Institut New Zealand. To raise funds she is bringing a group of friends together for a special one off concert, performing some of her favourite music from Sondheim to Schumann and Bernstein to Britten.

The combination of decomposition (pun intended), deadpan humour and death is all part of a day’s work for up and coming conductor David Kay. He’s carrying the baton for Lemony Snicket: The Composer is Dead: a fun, family friendly musical by Nathaniel Stookey that reads like a whodunit of crimes against classical music. Who killed the composer? Why is the conductor carrying a suspicious black case? And why should we be suspecting the violins?