Spring is mere days away, and Auckland’s cultural calendar is blossoming accordingly. From gripping theatre and grand-scale opera to imaginative family adventures and enthralling exhibitions, here’s everything worth booking, seeing and doing this September.
Botanical Correspondents
Where: Sanderson Contemporary
When: Until 14th September
Julia Holderness looks back to move art history forward in Botanical Correspondents, responding to the life and work of Emily Cumming Harris, one of Aotearoa’s earliest professional women artists. Harris produced hundreds of paintings of indigenous flora from her Whakatū studio; a century after her death, Holderness reconfigures fragments of that botanical imagery alongside her own. Three installations — Bush, Studio and Exhibitions — trace an imaginative correspondence between two artists separated by time but connected through close observation and creative inquiry.
The Pearl Fishers
Where: Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre
When: 23rd–27th September
Bizet’s early operatic masterpiece returns to New Zealand stages for the first time in 24 years, reimagined within the rarefied world of an exclusive luxury resort. As friendship, loyalty and forbidden desire collide, director Stephen Barlow strips away the opera’s traditional setting to reveal its emotionally charged human core. Madison Nonoa, Filipe Manu, Phillip Rhodes and Anthony Robin Schneider lead an exceptional Aotearoa cast, joined by the Freemasons Foundation New Zealand Opera Chorus and Auckland Philharmonia. The production is sung in French with English surtitles.
Cabaret
Where: ASB Waterfront Theatre
When: 22nd September–18th October
The eight-time Tony Award-winning musical Cabaret returns in a new production from Auckland Theatre Company and Auckland Live. Set in Berlin in 1929, it follows nightclub singer Sally Bowles as the carefree world of the Kit Kat Club is overtaken by the rise of the Third Reich. Directed by Benjamin Kilby-Henson, the production stars Nomi Cohen as Sally Bowles and Matu Ngaropo as the Emcee. Book ahead for what promises to be one of the year’s major musical-theatre events.
Job
Where: Q Theatre, Loft
When: 3rd–20th September
The less you know, the better. Max Wolf Friedlich’s acclaimed Broadway thriller Job begins with an apparently routine psychological assessment between a tech worker and the therapist charged with deciding whether she is ready to return to work. From there, certainty rapidly begins to fracture. Directed by Shane Bosher and starring Stephen Lovatt, this unique production is funny, unnerving and fiendishly constructed, and well worth a booking.
We The Young
Where: Aotea Centre, Auckland Town Hall, Aotea Square and venues across the city centre
When: 25th September–11th October
Auckland Live’s festival for tamariki and their whānau returns with more than 25 performances, activities and interactive experiences spanning theatre, music, circus, puppetry and creative play. Highlights include the gleefully inventive Mario the Maker Magician, Suzy Cato’s musical Animal Antics, Patch Theatre’s immersive Wonderverse and the civic-minded Kids’ Election. More than half of the programme is free, while relaxed, audio-described, language-free and NZSL-interpreted events help ensure that children can join the adventure in the way that suits them best.
House Style
Where: Gow Langsford
When: 16th September–10th October
In James Cousins’ latest exhibition, the familiar becomes quietly unstable. Layers of paint, residual marks and stencil processes allow images to emerge and disappear, disrupting the boundary between surface and representation. Many of the works draw on photographs of Ōtautahi Christchurch’s early-20th-century electrical substations — civic structures whose grand façades once projected ideals of permanence, public service and collective ownership — as Cousins considers how architecture carries histories.
Te Ripo o te Moana: Taonga Through Time
Where: Auckland Museum
When: On now
Customary taonga and contemporary works enter into a powerful dialogue in Auckland Museum’s major new exhibition. Meaning “The Whirlpool of the Sea”, Te Ripo o te Moana explores the continuity of Māori art through time. Highlights include the only known customary Māori sail, Te Rā; Te Ūmanui Te Whanoa’s monumental waharoa Tiki; and work by Areta Wilkinson, Te Rongo Kirkwood, Saffronn Te Ratana and Ngataiharuru Taepa. Entry is free with Museum admission.
Every Time The Sun Comes Up
Where: Föenander Galleries
When: Until 15th September
Roadside landscapes, familiar terrain and reductive abstractions form the basis of Michael Dell’s quietly contemplative new exhibition. While the scenes initially appear unremarkable, sustained observation reveals subtle shifts in atmosphere, surface and perception. Taking its title from the daily cycle of repetition and renewal, Every Time The Sun Comes Up considers how ordinary places change through the act of looking, and how familiarity itself can become a source of mystery.
Kōanga Festival
Where: Te Pou Theatre
When: 10th–20th September
Te Pou Theatre welcomes spring with the 12th edition of Kōanga Festival, its annual celebration of Māori and Pacific storytelling. Theatre, opera, waiata, comedy, spoken word, workshops and new play readings fill the programme, beginning with the te reo Māori showcase Tākiritia! and concluding with the homecoming of acclaimed theatrical work UPU.
The Studio and the City
Where: Gow Langsford
When: 12th September–17th October
For generations, New York’s warehouses, lofts and private workrooms have functioned as both sites of production and stages for artistic identity. The Studio and the City brings together works by artists shaped by this singular creative landscape, accompanied by photographs of the spaces in which their ideas developed. Moving across generations and practices — with Andy Warhol among the figures represented — the exhibition considers the intimate relationship between artist, workspace, artwork and the restless city beyond.
Jiaoying Summers — The Lucky Pony Tour
Where: SkyCity Theatre
When: 25th September
Chinese-born, Texas-based comedian Jiaoying Summers brings her fearless dark humour and deeply personal storytelling to Auckland for one night only. Named one of Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch in 2025, Summers finds sharp comedy in cultural clashes, immigrant identity, marriage and motherhood.
Titanic: The Human Story
Where: Smith & Caughey’s Building
When: On now
More than a century after its ill-fated maiden voyage, the story of the Titanic comes to Auckland in a major immersive exhibition. More than 200 original objects and personal possessions are presented alongside life-size recreations of the ship’s interiors, moving from first-class luxury to the comparative simplicity of third class. An included audio guide draws on testimony from passengers and crew, placing the human stories behind the tragedy at the centre of the experience.
Cirque Alice
Where: The Civic
When: Until 6th September
Lewis Carroll’s fantastical world is reimagined through circus, magic, music and theatrical spectacle in the New Zealand premiere of Cirque Alice. Created by the team behind The Illusionists and Cirque du Soleil’s Mad Apple, the production assembles world-class aerialists, acrobats, contortionists, puppeteers and magicians for a suitably surreal journey down the rabbit hole. The Civic provides a fittingly opulent backdrop, with on-stage seating available for those wanting to get particularly close to the action.
Conan Gray — Wishbone World Tour
Where: Spark Arena
When: 26th September
Conan Gray brings his Wishbone World Tour to Auckland, pairing emotionally candid hits like Heather with the arena-sized pop of his chart-topping fourth album. Expect striking visuals, theatrical flourishes and plenty of cathartic singalongs.
The Aotearoa Festival of Architecture
Where: Various locations across Auckland
When: 2nd–25th September
The annual festival returns with talks, exhibitions, open studios and guided tours exploring how architecture shapes Tāmaki Makaurau. Highlights include Auckland Archi-Tours, In the Image of the City, the Futuna Lecture Series and the 10th-anniversary Great Debate. Many events are free, with bookings required for selected sessions.
First Light — The Lightship
Where: The Lightship, Bledisloe Wharf
When: From 1st September, nightly from dusk until dawn
Australasia’s largest public art lightwall returns with First Light, a year-long programme of six new commissions exploring arrival, welcome and belonging. Nova Paul opens the programme, followed by Ana Iti and Ashleigh Taupaki. Spanning 110 metres of the working port, the free outdoor exhibition transforms Bledisloe Wharf into a large-scale digital canvas.
Te Wiki o te Reo Māori Hīkoi
Where: Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and the central city
When: 19th–20th September
Celebrate Te Wiki o te Reo Māori with a free guided hīkoi through the city centre. Following the historic branches of Waihorotiu, the tour visits significant Māori artworks while introducing kupu connected to the places and stories shaping Tāmaki Makaurau. Spaces are limited, so booking is required.
