Heroes don't come much kookier than Xerxes. He may be the King of Persia but he opens Handel's opera by extolling the beauties of a plane tree; a man who, as one character comments, "is aroused by a rough trunk."

Rebecca Barry talks to Kiwi opera singer Kristen Darragh about her drive to perform around the world.

Soprano Tiffany Speight shares her travelling tips.

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has paid tribute to Dame Joan Sutherland, who died in Switzerland on Sunday.

Dame Joan Sutherland, one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th- century, has died in Switzerland at the age of 83.

By day, Morag McDowell investigates death. And by night, well, she sings about it. The full-time Auckland coroner and part-time opera singer talks to Rebecca Barry.

Meg Ryan was among the celebrities at the opening of The Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Auckland's St James Theatre is part of one of five convention centre bids being considered.

NBR New Zealand Opera's The Marriage of Figaro is as engrossing a night of theatre as one could wish for.

The Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is reputed to have the world's finest acoustics.

Predictably, the star of last weekend's visit by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra was Dame Malvina Major.

Questioned about the the appeal of 'crossover' artists, Dame Kiri said: 'You insult me by even wanting to bring it into this conversation'.