Ara Music

06/09/2026

Another year, another Ara Music 03 Sessions takeover to immortalise in an instagram post 🥹
This is the third year running that we have hijacked the 03 Sessions roster for the month of August to celebrate our students’ hard work and export them into the Ōtautahi scene. We were lucky to have 6 acts feature across the month, ranging from curated D&B to Miles Davis to Franz Ferdinand; truly a charcuterie board of everything.
Massive thanks to 03 Sessions for allowing so many artists a platform and investing in the Ōtautahi music scene, and Space Academy for being the hosts with the most in your beautiful venue.

Featured here is the SMJ Quartet (Sam McKay William Kao James Bennet Finley Tressler)
Conrad MS - (Conrad Moemoe-Seiuli Hannah Baard 🎵 Noah Sam McKay )
Le Butin - (alex boot )
Lachlan Platt - (Lachlan Platt Ethan Walter James Bennet Wonu Park & Alex Gibson)

24/08/2026

Grads being great!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HAWk1sYRX/

11/06/2026

Hannah Baard’s Texas Blues gig is tonight!!
Kicking off this year’s Capstone performances with an absolute bang, Hannah is a third year contemporary guitarist, who has assembled an A team to bring you the most foot-stomping, hard-driving Texas Blues sound.

Featuring the ever charismatic Cam Mills 🫠 and cass , powered by Darren Pickering Nigel Burgess and Noah and of course, the woman of the hour Hannah Baard 🎵

🗓️ Friday 12th of June
📍A Rolling Stone
🕓 4pm doors open, 5pm start time, koha entry

See you there, yeehaw 🤠🐎⭐️🌵🏜️🪨

07/06/2026

Every Thursday at Ara Music we have performance forum, where anyone can play anything they’ve been working on. Last Thursday’s menu was a diverse one: Mozart’s Symphony no.40 in G minor by and and a drum clinic by
Never a dull moment 📈📈📈

03/06/2026

Grads being great!
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GhS5jpyM3/

02/06/2026

Grads being great!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18Pg4wVDd6/

31/05/2026

One band - four desks. Here’s what our Sound 1 students have been up to: exploring mixing live sound in real time with real musicians (thanks, Contemporary 2 and 😇)

27/05/2026

https://www.ara.ac.nz/news-and-events/news-stories/mainz-at-ara/

MAINZ makes a sound transition to new spaces and new opportunities at Ara.

24/05/2026

As a part of terms 2 and 3, we at Ara Music take to the road and play at different high schools around Te Waipounamu. Here is a sample of 3 of the 5 bands that were out sharing the joys of studying at Ara Music.
Music featured: “Autumn Leaves” - Joseph Kosma, “Ride Like the Wind” - “Strasbourg/St. Denis” - and “Lover Girl” - 🥰

BTS footage courtesy of .wa1ter 🤩

17/05/2026

“How Deep is Your Love” by the à la courtesy of .wa1ter and 🤩
Which subdivision are YOU: the Sam, The Ethan, or the Lachlan? 👀