Arty facts

A look at what's happening in the world of art.

Artist surfs in

Raglan surfer and sculptor Aaron Kereopa will unveil an exhibition of surf-related work in Queenstown tomorrow.

Kereopa says the exhibition was inspired by "the alien-like marine beings of the deep blue sea".

The works, which are based on surfboard foam blanks, include elements of popular culture, surfing, comics and pan-Pacific culture.

The exhibition opens at Toi o Tahuna fine art gallery in Queenstown on Saturday and runs until July 29.

A preview will be held between 5.30pm and 7.30pm tomorrow.

Celebrating masters

The City of Dunedin Choir will celebrate a quartet of the world's great composers with a concert at St Paul's Cathedral this weekend.

The concert marks 200 years since the birth of Mendelssohn, 350 years since the birth of Purcell, 200 years since the death of Haydn and 250 years since the death of Handel.

Works by the composers will be performed by soprano Lois Johnston, mezzo-soprano Claire Barton, tenor Stephen Chambers and bass Andreas Hirt, accompanied by conductor David Burchell and the Southern Sinfonia.

The programme is The King Shall Rejoice and My Heart is Inditing (Handel), Come ye Sons of Art (Purcell), As the Hart Pants (Psalm 42) (Mendelssohn) and The Seasons: Spring (Haydn).

The concerts start at 7.30pm on Saturday and 3pm on Sunday, at St Paul's Cathedral.

House of Payne

Patricia Payne will lower the curtain on the Knox College centennial celebration concert series tomorrow night.

The mezzo-contralto, who is also a successful artist and the sister of Alison Holst, will sing a selection of British folk songs, spirituals and Handel and Wagner arias in the final concert.

During her international opera career, Payne sang in the major opera houses of the world with colleagues such as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Montserrat Caballe, Kiri Te Kanawa and Donald McIntyre.

She will be accompanied by Kemp English and Rachel Swindells on piano.

The final centennial concert will start at 8pm tomorrow in the Great Hall at Knox College.

Complimentary wine will be served in the main stairwell from 7.30pm.

Lucky for some

A free snippet from the latest Fortune Theatre production, Lucky Numbers, can be seen in the Dunedin City Library today.

The Ross Jolly-directed comedy follows the adventures of a family member who has a $20 million Lotto win and the fall-out that follows.

Lucky Numbers was written by English playwright Mike Yeaman in 2007 and won the Newcastle People's Play Award the same year.

The reading is on at 12.30pm today on the first floor of City Library.

A feature on Lucky Numbers will appear in Arts next week.

Painting the past

Contemporary culture artist Peata Larkin unveils her latest collection of paintings in Dunedin tomorrow.

Larkin is of Tuhourangi and Tuwharetoa descent and "Tuhourangi Revival" features works influenced by her ancestral home around the Tarawera and Rotomahana lakes, where the Tuhourangi tribe resided before the eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1886.

Larkin pushes small beads of paint through a mesh to reveal abstract compositions which simulate traditional weaving patterns.

"Tuhourangi Revival" opens at 10aA look at what's happening in the world of art.m on Saturday at Milford Galleries, Dunedin, and runs until July 22.

See `La Sylphide' . . .

The Royal New Zealand Ballet returns to Dunedin next month for an evening of romance, revenge and men in kilts.

La Sylphide was created by Danish choreographer August Bournonville in 1836 and is considered the quintessential ballet from the Romantic era of the mid- to late 19th century, when artists were turning against industrialisation and taking inspiration from nature and emotion.

The ballet opens with Bournonville's Dances from Napoli.

La Sylphide is on at the Regent Theatre on August 13 and 14.

. . . with an Otago touch

Arrowtown-based fashion designer Tamsin Cooper has joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet in a new fashion range.

Cooper was commissioned by the RNZB to design and produce a range of merchandise, including brooches, hair-ties, a compact mirror, a silk shoe bag, shoulder bag, pendant necklace, evening clutch bag and other accessories.

Cooper says she wanted to reflect the elegance of ballet.

"As many young girls do, I learnt to dance and dreamt vividly of becoming a ballerina," she said.

"This exciting design collaboration has allowed me to realise part of this dream."

The range will be available at the theatres where the RNZB performs, on the RNZB website, from Tamsin Cooper's online store and from select retailers.

Semester starting

The University of Otago programme in art history and theory semester opens next week.

Courses start on July 13 and enrolment must be completed by July 9.

For available courses and times visit www.otago.ac.nz/arthistory

LPHS band to perform

The Logan Park High School band will perform a 30-minute series of orchestral pieces in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery tomorrow.

The band performs at 2.25pm tomorrow in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery foyer.