KEY POINTS:
Not every orchestral event comes with advice to take along sunblock, a hat, water, a blanket and a low beach-style chair. Later this month, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra patrons will be taking to the Auckland Town Hall for this year's main series.
Meantime, Sunday afternoon's Mazda Summer Matinee, held
in the sylvan glades of Mangere's Villa Maria Estate, provides an al fresco launch for a busy year.
Talk about anticipation. How can a programme fail when it has not one but three overtures, including the mock-military jollities of Suppe's Light Cavalry?
The irrepressible Marc Taddei wielding the baton seems further insurance that enjoyment is guaranteed, and the APO's own Victor Silverstone will be dashing through the Finale from Haydn's Trumpet Concerto.
Sunday is a very much a day for singers too, with a handful of arias from two young singers with the NBR New Zealand Opera's emerging artists scheme.
Mezzo Rachelle Pike and soprano Sarah-Ann Walker both hail from Christchurch and will sing popular favourites by Puccini, Delibes and Donizetti.
The opera company is justifiably proud of its young talent. Some of the emerging artists have gone on to acquit themselves magnificently in professional productions. Last year, Phillip Rhodes was a suitably malevolent Monostatos in The Magic Flute and Kristen Darragh an assured Siebel in Faust.
I can still remember, from 2003, exemplary arias from Elaine Wogan and Carla Parry in the generally disastrous Acis and Galatea.
The company emphasises that 85 per cent of the many who have passed through the scheme are still committed to operatic careers. Pike and Walker will be understudying leading roles in this year's Lucia di Lammermoor and Turandot.
And what could be more timely? NBR New Zealand Opera is now accepting applications for this year's intake.
While one could mutter at the absence of local composers on Sunday's programme - especially when the APO has commissioned, played and recorded so many attractive small-scale pieces - another guest is bringing his own songs with him. A few weeks ago, Don McGlashan was doing his turn on Takapuna Reserve as part of Shore Sounds Anniversary weekend concert. This Sunday he is topping the bill with the biggest band in town offering full-scale workouts of the classic Anchor Me and the Silver-Scroll winning Bathe in the River.
* Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Mazda Summer Matinee, Villa Maria Estate, 118 Montgomerie Rd, Mangere, Sunday at noon