Every act that ends up on a big stage had to play a small one first, and a second round of the Spark Arena Community Events Fund is backing exactly those rooms. $60,000 is heading to three all-ages venues that give young Aucklanders somewhere to rehearse, record and perform: Big Fan in Morningside, Shore Junction in Takapuna, and Henderson’s Zeal, one of the few genuinely alcohol-free live spaces in the city. The money goes on professional gear, studio and stage infrastructure, and the programmes that put it in rangatahi hands. It follows a first round that split $100,000 across five CBD venues. Not flashy, but all-ages spaces are the grassroots of the whole ecosystem, and keeping them properly kitted out is how the next generation of NZ music actually gets made.

Auckland Philharmonia’s Music Director Giordano Bellincampi will step down at the end of the 2027 season, taking up the honorary title of Music Director Laureate on the way out. The Italian-Danish conductor’s 12-year run is the longest anyone has held the role, and 2027 will be a proper farewell lap, built around his signature repertoire and a run of standout soloists before he leads the orchestra as Music Director for the last time in late November. His legacy runs deeper than the programme, though. On his watch the Auckland Phil shifted from a pool of freelance professionals to a salaried ensemble, a change that puts it in genuinely respected international company. The 2027 season launches in October, and the search for his successor is already underway.

Epson has shifted its New Zealand base into larger premises, with a new office and experience centre at 25 College Hill in Freemans Bay, Auckland. The bit that matters for locals is the showroom: a bigger space to see Epson’s projectors, printers and other kit demoed live, with specialists on hand for product and application sessions. It’s part of a wider A/NZ expansion that also adds sites in Adelaide and Brisbane, plus fresh hires across sales and service. Not exactly headline drama, but if you’ve been weighing up an Epson projector, there’s now somewhere to go and eyeball one before you buy.

The country’s premier composition honour, the SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha, has its four 2026 finalists, and the field leans right into the experimental. Reigning winner Ihlara McIndoe returns with “curio”, a piece imagining the act of holding your own heart in a specimen jar. Dylan Lardelli’s “Light Lines”, his first work for string trio, takes its cue from a Heraclitus fragment. Michael Norris and Nicholas Denton Protsack go long with “Partial Forms”, an hour of cello and live electronics tracing the landscapes and soundscapes of Aotearoa and Canada. Samuel Holloway makes his finalist debut with “Soft Logic”, written for pianist Stephen De Pledge. The winner is announced alongside the Silver Scrolls on 14 October.

The finalists for the 2026 APRA Silver Scroll | Kaitito Kaiaka are out, and the peer-voted songwriting honour lands in a milestone year: APRA’s centenary, with winners crowned at Auckland’s Aotea Centre on 14 October. The Top Five sets past winners against first-timers. Troy Kingi is back with “Afters”, co-written with M? off his Night Lords album, up against Aldous Harding’s “One Stop”, a first-ever finalist nod for Deva Mahal, and newcomer Fazed on a Pony. The history-maker is LEAO’s “LALELEI”, the first song written and performed entirely in gagana Samoa to reach the top five. Alongside the Scroll, the te reo M?ori Maioha award and a brand-new Kapa Haka Songwriting Award round out a field that keeps stretching what Aotearoa songwriting sounds like.

Xbox has locked in its Tokyo Game Show 2026 plans, and while the FanFest and show-floor fun stays in Tokyo, the main event streams to the rest of us. The Xbox TGS 2026 Broadcast airs on 17 September at 10pm NZ time across Xbox’s official channels, as the brand marks its 25th anniversary and 20 years in Japan. On the floor, the drawcards are the first-ever hands-on with Minecraft Dungeons II, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 multiplayer, and Xbox FanFest Tokyo. If you just want the reveals without the airfare, park in front of the broadcast.

New Zealand’s biggest folk festival is back, more than half a century into its run, and the 2027 bill mixes local roots with serious global reach. It lands at the Kumeu Showgrounds over Auckland Anniversary Weekend, Friday 29 January to Monday 1 February, spreading music, dance, workshops and food trucks across five covered stages, with a dedicated kids’ stage in the mix. Headlining is Ny Oh, fresh off touring with Harry Styles and a Best Folk Album win at the 2026 Aotearoa Music Awards, alongside Christchurch dancefloor-fillers Yurt Party. The international contingent runs deep, with acts from Australia, Ireland and Ghana joining a strong Aotearoa roster. It’s a proper family weekend, and early-bird tickets close 31 December. Grab them now via aucklandfolkfestival.co.nz or Moshtix.

LG walked away as Best Brand at IFA 2026, and behind the usual awards-season back-patting sit a couple of genuinely interesting sets. Best in Home & Entertainment went to the OLED evo AI W6 Wallpaper TV, a wireless OLED slim enough to sit against the wall like a poster, beaming picture and sound across the room with no cable snake behind it. In audio, the Sound Suite AI took Best in Audio for its Dolby Atmos FlexConnect system, which lets you scatter speakers around a room rather than bolt them to fixed spots. The G6 OLED, Micro RGB evo, Mini RGB evo, StanbyME 2 Max and xboom Stage 501 all collected honours too. No NZ pricing or dates yet, but for a sense of where LG’s current OLED panels sit, Pat Pilcher’s G5 review is the real-world read.

JBL has landed the PartyBox 330 and 130 in New Zealand, and both want to be more than a backyard boombox. The larger 330 ($899.95) pushes 280W through dual 6.5-inch woofers, with up to 18 hours of playtime and a replaceable battery. The 130 ($599.95) does 200W and 15 hours. Both come in black or white, take mic and guitar inputs, and, tellingly, run an optical input so you can wire them straight to the telly for karaoke nights or the rugby. Bluetooth 6.0 and Auracast let you chain several JBL units together, and there’s the expected beat-synced lighting. You’ll find them at most big NZ retailers, from PB Tech to Noel Leeming. Pat Pilcher gave the original PartyBox On The Go a straight 10/10, so the pedigree runs deep.