People seeking ''silliness'' should watch Auckland composer and performer Robbie Ellis at St Paul's Cathedral at 1pm today, as part of Arts Festival Dunedin.
''I write humorous songs and they poke fun at what's happening now. They are absurd, they're silly, they're fun and just a bit kooky.''
A song in the concert was about Dunedin, he said.
''A third is the voice of a stern Presbyterian, a third in the voice of a landlord and a third in the voice of a student.''
Kim Dotcom appeared in another song, Jacques Brel in another.
The performance was titled ''a concert of self-deprecation'' because he regularly worked with master musicians who had studied for years and practised for several hours each day.
''I'm coming to terms with this, but I feel like a little bit of a fraud every time I perform in front of these people, because my piano skills are functional, but not virtuosic, and my singing technique is certainly not operatically trained.''
His ''wordsmithery'' and an ability to ''match comic timing with music'' were his strengths and an uncommon skill set in the classical music scene.
Although he was only performing today, he planned to stay in Dunedin until Monday to see as many festival performances as possible, including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, This Other Eden and Promise and Promiscuity.
Ellis was the Mozart Fellow at the University of Otago in 2012.
''It was the most amazing year of my life. It was the first time I could call myself a professional musician. Dunedin is a city that has always fascinated me.''
