Forest and Bird celebrate 100 years with music at Wānaka's Festival of Colour

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Otago News

A musical celebration of 100 years of Forest and Bird in Wānaka and Christchurch will mark the beginning of the organisation’s centennial year in 2023.

The performance will make its South Island debut at the Wānaka Festival of Colour, a week-long celebration of the arts, from March 26.

The Force of Nature is an acoustic chamber music performance featuring eight world premieres, with visual designs capturing native species and environments unique to Aotearoa.

Forest and Bird chief executive Nicola Toki said she was excited to hear how the eight Kiwi composers expressed their feelings about flora and fauna through their music.


“Some are expressing they joy they feel when in the wilderness, some are demanding action to save endangered species, all are deeply personal,” she said.


Conservationist Captain Ernest “Val” Sanderson established the Native Bird Protection Society in 1923 after seeing the destruction of native bush, extensive soil erosion and the implications for native flora and fauna in New Zealand after World War I.

That organisation became the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand, which has fought for environmental causes for more than 100 years.


Notable campaigns have included cleaner water-ways, more sustainable fishing, the protection and expansion of wetlands and a solution to kauri die-back.

The performance is on April 2 in Wānaka, followed by a Christchurch performance on April 3.

It will be one of 45 events during the Wānaka festival which will feature music, dance, comedy, drama and topical conversations.

Artistic director Sophie Kelly said in 2023 the festival was about reconnecting communities after a very fractured few years under Covid-19 restrictions.

She was looking forward to welcoming back international artists after a long absence and the return of local favourites.

The Royal New Zealand Ballet will perform the world premiere of a piece co-commissioned by the festival to mark the centenary of Katherine Mansfield’s death.

Woman of Words is based on moments remembered in Mansfield’s letters to friends and family.


Internationally renowned and Grammy award-winning tenor Simon O’Neill is joining the NZTrio - Amalia Hall, Ashley Brown and Somi Kim - for an intimate concert featuring works of Mahler and Strauss.


Australian Jonny Hawkins will perform his one-man show Maureen: Harbinger of Death to Wānaka, telling the poignantly funny tale of razor-tongued doyenne of Kings Cross in its heyday.


Celebrated choreographer Michael Parmenter, Balfolk Dunedin director Kate Grace and Southern musicians Catgut and Steel will present participatory dance events including the Bannockburn Ball.

“Comfortable shoes are a must,” organisers say.


Musicians who will perform during the festival include Reb Fountain, Adam Page, Whirimako Black, Jenny Mitchell and The Phoenix Foundation who will close the festival with a performance blending pop, rock, and psychedelic prog rock.

Comedians include The Modern Māori Quartet Ngā 80s and dysfunctional German siblings Otto & Astrid from the cult band Die Roten Punkte.

Conversations include Chris Finlayson on treaty settlements, Chloe Swarbrick and Rod Oram on global heating, Carmen Parahi on media and race, Dame Valerie Adams on women in sport and Charlotte Grimshaw on family dynamics.

The Wānaka Festival of Colour runs from March 26 to April 2, 2023 and includes free events.