The Line brings together the human, the lines of time and the uselessness of pigeonholes, from Debussy's footprints through snow in Des pas sur la neige and Berio's Violin Duos, through Michael Norris's The Spaces in Between and Webern's Langsamer Satz, to Korngold's Piano Quintet, with a good measure of joy and unity along the way.

Unbroken traces histories and identities that cross, transform and endure across centuries and borders, from Hildegard von Bingen and the story of Alexander Aitken's own violin, through Rafael Hosking's new work drawing on riroriro field recordings and Michael Norris's Time Dance, to Gideon Klein's String Trio, written in the Terezín ghetto shortly before his death in Auschwitz, closing in the warmth of Dvořák's Piano Quartet in E-flat major.

Radiance began with a conversation about Central Otago's Dark Sky status and the astronomer behind it, and grew into a programme about cosmic lines and what looking up at them stirs in us. From Michael Norris's Hubble-inspired Deep Field II to Schubert's quiet Notturno, Penderecki's late-life reflections, Pärt's spiritual Summa and Caroline Shaw's Entr'acte, it's a journey outward into the unknown and back again to ourselves.

As we head over the hill to Queenstown, Strung welcomes a new voice into AWE's string conversations: the piano. Joining our AWE artists for this third programme of 2026 is Australian pianist David Fung, based in the United States, whose presence draws a new line through the weekend, across the keys and strings, across continents, and across time.

As AWE prepares for its sixth festival and this year's theme, Bounds and Bridges: Beyond the Lines, Festival Director Justine Cormack reflects on the lines that drew AWE together, and the living web of connection they have become.

Our second programme of AWE 2026, Between, closes our opening weekend in Wānaka. It is a programme that moves, between art forms, between artists, between perspectives, exploring what lies beneath the surface of music through the hidden structures and human connections that live there.  Beneath the defined lines of Rippon Hall, the line of chorale that runs through AWE extends beyond music into visual art, architecture and design.

AWE 2026 launches in Wānaka under the timber trusses of Rippon Hall. In this wonderful space, we begin our exploration of lines with Crossed, a programme that takes us through time into moments where moral, political and spiritual lines are tested, crossed and redrawn. 

AWE Artistic Director Benjamin Baker on AWE 2026’s theme. A good idea can take time. It can grow slowly, out of years of conversation, programming, and the gradual realisation that a cluster of ideas has been circling each other for some time, waiting for the moment to connect. AWE 2026's theme: Lines as boundaries and bridges came to life in this way. 

Nestled beside its glittering lake and framed by snow-dusted mountains, Wānaka offers a slower, more contemplative pace than Queenstown, making it an ideal town to explore before, during and after the chamber music festival. For those who prefer to discover a place on foot, there’s plenty to explore in the town’s galleries, cafes, and along the lakeside walks. If you’re keen to head out a little further, the world’s your oyster!

The 2025 AWE Festival is brought to a close with Horizon, a programme that traces the delicate line between the natural and the human: the music of birds, flowers, and light refracted through the imagination of composers at moments of both calm and crisis. 

Our Friday night programme, Reverie, lingers on the question of form: how to honour it, how to resist it, and when to let it dissolve into something entirely new.

From chamber music and visual arts to contemporary theatre and local festivals, Queenstown is a hub for far more than just mountains and adrenaline. We’re also home to a vibrant arts, culture and creativity scene, with many high-quality events taking place throughout the year right across the Southern Lakes.