Spotlight - REforms: Shayne P. Carter and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Lōemis Festival 2026

Hosting a galaxy of international and local musical giants in venues / hotspots throughout Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Lōemis returns next month with the annual midwinter arts festival's most ambitious programme to date. A jewel in the festival's crown for 2026 is indubitably the premiere of REforms: Shayne P. Carter and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, a one-night collaborative performance between New Zealand Music Hall of Fame inductee and 2020 Arts Foundation Laureate recipient Shayne P. Carter (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Shayne P. Carter and the NZSO will unite at Michael Fowler Centre on 19th June for the first time since the late 2025 release of REforms on vinyl LP and digitally. An orchestral "reform"-ing of highlights from Carter's multi-award-winning songbook, REforms spans classics from Straitjacket Fits, Dimmer, his 1990 collaboration with Peter Jefferies 'Randolph’s Going Home' and lots more — featuring arrangements by Tane Upjohn Beatson and conducted by Hamish McKeich.

Subject of director Margaret Gordon's must-see documentary feature film Life In One Chord (2025) — itself based on Shayne P. Carter's award-winning 2019 memoir Dead People I Have Known — UTR interviewer Oscar Toy recently chatted with the Aotearoa music icon HERE. Here's the official lowdown for this extraordinarily special event, secure your spot while you can...

"The heft and glory of the NZSO collides with the Shayne P. Carter songbook for the world premiere of this formidable work. Ten tracks ‘reformed’ in orchestral technicolour while maintaining the integrity of the originals.

Classic songs like Randolph’s Going Home and If I Were You spar with new numbers like Left To Defend. Guitar and orchestra do battle on the mighty Crystalator. Songs from Carter’s solo Offsider album expand from their original two finger piano primitivism into widescreen epicness. Other songs glower with the drama of orchestral restraint.

With arrangements by Tane Upjohn Beatson and conducted by Hamish McKeich, REforms is a singular and purposeful artistic statement; an immersive and all encompassing performance from a world-class orchestra and one of Aotearoa’s greatest singer/songwriters."

REforms: Shayne P. Carter and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Friday 19th June - Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington (8pm)
Tickets on sale via loemis.nz