Ara Music

15/10/2026

This weekend - Neill Pickard's (founder of the Christchurch Jazz School) musical hits the stage!
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1SPLZyispC/

14/10/2026

It is with great sadness that we share the news that our former colleague, Darren Pickering, has passed away.

Darren was a valued member of our Jazz School community, and we know that this news will be deeply felt by those who worked alongside him, knew him personally, and shared in his contribution to the School and the wider Christchurch Jazz scene. Darren was a prodigious composer whose work was recorded and released via 'Darren Pickering Small Worlds' - which he aptly described as a 'cinematic contemporary jazz quartet'. He will be​​ remembered as a passionate and dedicated teacher of both jazz and contemporary styles.

17/09/2026

Grads being great!

Music video by LORE filmsFilmed by Adam Hogan / assisted by Tabata...

06/09/2026

Another year, another Ara Music 03 Sessions takeover to immortalise in an instagram post 🥹
This is the third year running that we have hijacked the 03 Sessions roster for the month of August to celebrate our students’ hard work and export them into the Ōtautahi scene. We were lucky to have 6 acts feature across the month, ranging from curated D&B to Miles Davis to Franz Ferdinand; truly a charcuterie board of everything.
Massive thanks to 03 Sessions for allowing so many artists a platform and investing in the Ōtautahi music scene, and Space Academy for being the hosts with the most in your beautiful venue.

Featured here is the SMJ Quartet (Sam McKay William Kao James Bennet Finley Tressler)
Conrad MS - (Conrad Moemoe-Seiuli Hannah Baard 🎵 Noah Sam McKay )
Le Butin - (alex boot )
Lachlan Platt - (Lachlan Platt Ethan Walter James Bennet Wonu Park & Alex Gibson)

24/08/2026

Grads being great!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HAWk1sYRX/

11/06/2026

Hannah Baard’s Texas Blues gig is tonight!!
Kicking off this year’s Capstone performances with an absolute bang, Hannah is a third year contemporary guitarist, who has assembled an A team to bring you the most foot-stomping, hard-driving Texas Blues sound.

Featuring the ever charismatic Cam Mills 🫠 and cass , powered by Darren Pickering Nigel Burgess and Noah and of course, the woman of the hour Hannah Baard 🎵

🗓️ Friday 12th of June
📍A Rolling Stone
🕓 4pm doors open, 5pm start time, koha entry

See you there, yeehaw 🤠🐎⭐️🌵🏜️🪨

07/06/2026

Every Thursday at Ara Music we have performance forum, where anyone can play anything they’ve been working on. Last Thursday’s menu was a diverse one: Mozart’s Symphony no.40 in G minor by and and a drum clinic by
Never a dull moment 📈📈📈

03/06/2026

Grads being great!
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GhS5jpyM3/

02/06/2026

Grads being great!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18Pg4wVDd6/

31/05/2026

One band - four desks. Here’s what our Sound 1 students have been up to: exploring mixing live sound in real time with real musicians (thanks, Contemporary 2 and 😇)