Chamber music festival in the Southern Alps

QUEENSTOWN LAKES 
3–16 OCTOBER 2026

AWE 2026 Festival Artist Performance Dates

  • Sat 3 Oct, 4pm & 7pm, Rippon, Wānaka

  • Sun 4 Oct, 2pm & 5pm, Rippon, Wānaka

  • Mon 5 Oct, 7:30pm, Te Atamira, Queenstown

  • Thur 8 Oct, 6pm, Cloudy Bay Shed, Cromwell

  • Fri 9 Oct, 7:30pm, Te Atamira, Queenstown

  • Sat 10 Oct, 2pm & 5pm, Coronation Hall, Bannockburn

  • Sun 11 Oct, 2pm & 5pm, Te Atamira, Queenstown

AWE+ in Schools

  • 12-16 Oct, Central Otago and Queenstown lakes

Full Programme and Festival Artists to be announced 1 May 2026

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Announcing AWE 2026
Composer in Residence

We are thrilled that Michael Norris will be joining us as this year’s AWE Composer in Residence. He will be writing two new works for premieres within AWE 2026, featured in addition to a selection of his chamber music works.

Michael Norris

Michael Norris is a composer, software developer and music theorist. He teaches composition at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and directs Stroma New Music Ensemble. He is the recipient of the 2001 Mozart Fellowship, the 2003 Douglas Lilburn Prize, the 2012 CANZ Trust Fund Award, and has won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award four times, in 2014, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

He has received premieres by performers including the Hilversum Radio Chamber Orchestra, Peter Eötvös, Ensemble Nikel, Soundinitiative, Roberto Fabbriciani, the NZSO, DSO, CSO, NZSQ, NZTrio, the Viennese Saxophonic Orchestra, Ensemble Offspring, Ensemble Reconsil, and the Ensemble Pierrot Lunaire Wien. 

  • In 2023, Michael’s work Waipounamu for solo violin and electronics was performed by the 16 semifinalists of the Michael Hill International Violin Competition, and in 2025, his piano trio The Spaces In Between, a commission from the Asian Composers League, was premiered in Tokyo. His latest piece, SoundCathedral, is a 76-minute ‘performance installation’ involving over 50 musicians, including The Tudor Consort, Stroma and the Rangatuone Ensemble, performed in the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts 2026.

    Michael's audio software SoundMagic Spectral and Spindrift is widely used in both industry and academia worldwide, by artists such as Aphex Twin and Brian Eno. Michael is also deeply committed to developing the musical ecosystems of Aotearoa: in addition to being co-founder/co-director of Stroma, he also fundraises for and manages the NZSM Composer-in-Residence schemes, serves on the board of SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music, and is the Editor of Wai-te-ata Music Press.

    Visit Michael’s websitefor more info.