Upcoming Events
Box Office Hours:
Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm & 1 hour before events
ph 03- 307 2010
Tickets can be purchased through Ticket Direct. The link will take you directly to the Ashburton events.http://www.ticketdirect.co.nz/Search/Events?searchText=
If you would like to be added to our email updates and specials please contact admin@ateventcentre.co.nz
24 - 31 May
Miss Saigon - Variety Theatre Ashburton
From the writers of Les Miserables, Miss Saigon is a stunning, intense love story loosely based on Madame Butterfly.
Set during occupied Saigon and the Vietnam War in 1975, it is essentially a tragic tale of love between a young and innocent Vietnamese girl and a handsome, sensitive American GI who are cruelly separated by circumstances. The GI must later face the consequences of his actions in Saigon, and like the war itself, no one wins.
Musical Hits: The Movie in my Mind, Last Night of the World, Bui-Doi, The American Dream, Sun and Moon, I Still Believe and more!
All tickets: $50 (incl fees)
Performances: Fri + Sat, Tue-Fri 7.30pm; Sunday 2pm
On Sale
Thu, 13 June
DAVE UPFOLD – Hypnotist
A Fundraiser event for Manio-O-Roto Kea Scouts
Dave Upfold, a world renowned Comedy Stage Hypnotist is one of the busiest hypnotists, one of the most copied and one of the biggest crowd pulling hypnotists in the world today. His show appeals to audiences of all ages. Dave on stage, together with his subjects (all volunteers from the audience), will keep the audience in fits of laughter for hours, and have them talking about the event for years to come. Cameras and Videos are allowed at his Shows, so the people watching can record the event and show the “Subject” what STARS they have become.
Tickets: Adult $25; Child under 12 $15 (incl fees)
Show: 7pm
Sat, 22 June
Mid Canterbury Choir
Join the Mid Canterbury Choir to celebrate its 10th birthday concert “10 years of song”. You will hear some of your favourites, some of our favourites, and something new.
From our versions of the Beatles’ favourites, Yesterday and If I Fell, to Feeling the Spirit with Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho and When the Saints Go Marching In; from Bach to contemporary NZ music – you will enjoy them all.
We welcome back Michael and Angela Petrus as soloists. Angela (soprano) and Michael (tenor) live in Ashburton with their young family. They have both performed in numerous operas, operettas, oratorios, concerts and recitals around New Zealand. Angela is a singing, speech and drama teacher and Michael teaches music at Ashburton College.
We look forward to sharing our celebration of “10 years of song” with you, our audience.
Tickets: $21.99; Seniors $17 (incl fees)
Concert: 7pm
Tue-Thu, 25-27 June
Heartland Bank Schools' Music Festival 2013
Tuesday: Hinds, Tinwald, Fairton, Netherby, Intermediate - Choir 1
Wednesday: Longbeach, Methven, St Josephs, Ashburton Christian, Ashburton Borough, Intermediate - Choir 2
Thursday: Chertsey, Wakanui, Allenton, Mayfield, Hampstead, Intermediate - Choir 3
All Tickets: $12 (incl fees) Children under 1 year are free sitting on a parents lap. (incl fees)
Concert: 7.30pm
Sat, 6 July
Dame Malvina Major and the Rising Stars
A fundraising concert organised by the Rotary Clubs for the Youth Institute of Ashburton.
The concert features emerging artists supported by the Dame Malvina Major Foundation, and Dame Malvina Major. Along with these artists are Rising Stars of Mid Canterbury including our own Liam Kennedy-Clark, The Phoenix Chorus, Ocean Waitokia, Joy Sun and Olivia Pike. Ex-Ashburtonian Bridget King, who now performs in Perth, will also perform.
This is a rare opportunity to hear Dame Malvina Major, one of the world’s leading operatic sopranos, and some very talented performers of the future.
Tickets: Adults $37, Student $22 (incl fees)
Performance: 6pm
Tue, 23 July
Dora the Explorer – Dora’s Pirate Adventure
Dora, her best buddy Boots the Monkey, and the rest of their friends embark on an exciting trip to Treasure Island. The audience helps them navigate over Dancing Mountain, through Silly Singing Bridge to confront the Pirate Piggies. Along the way, the audience will use their map-reading, counting, musical and language skills to successfully help Dora reach the treasure. All ends happily onstage with a "yo-ho-ho!"
Featuring JCD Entertainment’s talented cast of young entertainers aged 7-24.
All Tickets $27 (incl fees) On sale from Friday 17 May.
Show: 2pm
Fri, 16 Aug
Playing Miss Havisham
With Helen Moulder as Claudia, Directed by Sue Rider, With piano music played by Richard Mapp
Claudia lives an hour and five out of Christchurch. Her husband is a farm accountant and her son Ben plays in a band. When an eccentric Irish film-maker comes to New Zealand to make a film of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, Claudia is keen to audition for the role of Miss Havisham as she sees it as a way out of her humdrum existence. As she prepares for the role, Claudia finds her own life takes on the twists and turns of a Dickens novel.
A work of unexpected visual richness, Playing Miss Havisham unfolds with mystery, music and surprise.
Music by Bach, Chopin, Schubert, Granados, Debussy & Gareth Farr
One hour 30 minutes, no interval
On Sale from 1 June; Tickets $25 each; $22.50 each for 2 or 3; $20 each for 4 or more;
All Door Sales $25
Performance time: tbc
Sat, 24 Aug
The Pirates of Penzance
Gilbert & Sullivan’s Musical Comedy PIRATES OF PENZANCE follows the fortunes of Frederic, a young lad who is mistakenly apprenticed to the Pirate King. When Frederic falls for the lovely Mabel, whose father is the very model of a modern Major General, a tempest brews on the sea of love.
Full of roving rogues and dazzling damsels in distress, it's a treasure chest full of mischievous musical mayhem. A topsy-turvy tale of love and duty highlighted by the famous strains of "Poor Wandering One," "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General," "Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast" and more.
Funny, flirty and filled with bumbling pirates it's no wonder the Gilbert and Sullivan was such a hit when it premiered in 1879 - and why, decades later, it remains a favorite on stages throughout the world.
"It's so completely accessible. It's one of their funniest. And it has some of the most terrific musical moments ever in their work. It's a very bright, filled with sunshine, moonlight and romance kind of show, with completely silly people," says producer Ben McDonald.
"It's something I've had in my mind for a long time," he says. "The music and the libretto are completely intact and the way we do the music is completely intact, but there are diversions from the traditional way of doing things. It's a very physical production. It's very energetic and approached from a musical theatre point of view."
All Tickets: only $69.90 for the first 100 customers (plus fees);
A Reserve $89.99; B Reserve $79.90; Child $55; Groups 10 plus $69.99 (plus fees)
Performance: 8pm
Sun, 15 Sept
NZ Trio (Arts on Tour NZ)
Justine Cormack (violin), Ashley Brown (cello) and Sarah Watkins (piano), design refreshing programmes that match classical masterpieces with brilliant contemporary works.
Their works by Australasian composers inspire people of all walks of life to see classical music as approachable, essential and meaningful.
On Sale from 1 July; Tickets $25 each; $22.50 each for 2 or 3; $20 each for 4 or more;
All Door Sales $25;
Performance time: tbc
Sat, 21 Sept
‘Pop-Opera’ Mid Canterbury Choir
More details soon
Sun, 27 Oct
Bella Kalolo Band (Arts on Tour NZ)
Combining her Samoan, Tongan and Maori heritage, the songstress delivers a rich tapestry of soul that has seen her spend the last decade working with Kiwi icons Don McGlashan, Dave Dobbyn, Hollie Smith, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Tina Cross and Nathan Haines.
Bella has earned three nominations for Best Female Vocalist at the Pacific Music Awards and travelled the globe, performing at the world famous Glastonbury Festival and the City of London Festival. She will make you laugh, cry and long for more.
Tickets $25 each; $22.50 each for 2 or 3; $20 each for 4 or more; All Door Sales $25;
Performance time: tbc
Fri, 29 Nov
Beyondsemble (Arts on Tour NZ)
“These four talented musicians have the skills to make music of the highest quality look easy. They play together with complete trust...This concert was exhilarating and seemingly faultless”
On Sale from Oct: Tickets $25 each; $22.50 each for 2 or 3; $20 each for 4 or more;
All Door Sales $25;
Performance time: tbc