Music in Early Auckland Homes: From DIY to Radio

Leys Orchestra presents a programme exploring music and theatre in the home and in the local community during the early days of Auckland city. In a time without diversions like radio, television, movies and the internet, households had to amuse themselves.

They turned to imaginative musical and theatrical entertainment (and board games, dice, cards, and parlour games). Drawing on material from the Leys Orchestra heritage collection, this programme reminds us of the simple pleasures of music and theatre from a bygone Auckland, before electricity - and radio - changed everything.

The programme includes evocative music of faraway lands, fantastical pieces conjuring enchanted places, haunting poems, a cheeky song-and-dance number, and an amusing 'scene' penned by children's author AA Milne. Admission is free.