
Ready To Bring The Ding? Spark's Public Triangle Audition Hits A High Note With Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra
Spark is turning one everyday New Zealander into the most unexpected star of Duco Events' brand-new Full Metal Orchestra, from the team behind SYNTHONY – handing them the honour of striking a single, show-stopping triangle note during their performance of the System of a Down song, Aerials at Spark Arena later this month.
This activation is part of Spark's renewed partnership with Spark Arena through to 2030 – reaffirming its commitment to bring New Zealanders closer to the music, not just through access to gigs at the country's biggest indoor venue and a decade long partnership with Spotify, but by placing one lucky winner centre stage, within the music performance itself.
Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra will debut on 26 July at Spark Arena. This will mark the first time the team behind SYNTHONY and Come Together has brought rock and metal legends alongside a 29-piece classical orchestra to the stage, and the first time Spark Arena has hosted back-to-back concerts in a single night with SYNTHONY Origins bookending the evening.
The 'Bring the ding' Experience: From Square to Stage
The journey kicks off at a one-of-a-kind triangle audition booth popping up in Auckland's Takutai Square, Britomart on 17 and 18 July. Designed to feel like a cross between a high tech recording studio and a live stage, the booth invites anyone to step inside, strike the triangle in time with the music, and get instantly scored on timing, flair and stage presence.
From these auditions, a winner will be chosen and invited to Spark's VIP hospitality suite, the S Lounge at Spark Arena, on show night. There, a video of their audition will be played to the entire arena, sharing the story of how they came to be Full Metal Orchestra's newest triangle-playing superstar.
The Finale
On the night, the winner will join the 29-piece orchestra, taking centre stage at Spark Arena to deliver a once-in-a-lifetime note in front of thousands.
With pre-sale tickets, behind-the-scenes experiences, exclusive Front Row access to see the live orchestra and rock band up close and premium entry to the S Lounge, Spark is getting New Zealanders closer than ever before to the music.
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In 1991, TVNZ closed its Dunedin studios. While the Natural History Unit escaped closure, its future was uncertain. Undeterred, Stedman began looking for new funding relationships overseas. Harraway recalls him picking up business cards from the floor and out of waste baskets at a Cannes event. 'Darwin said, it's not going to be the strongest or the most intelligent animal that survives on the planet, it's going to be the most adaptable,' says Morris. 'Michael sort of understood that intuitively, really, that adaptation was where survival of the unit rested.' And adapt they did. In 1992, in an early co-production with Discovery and Rai3, NHNZ produced the Emperors of Antarctica documentary – a pioneering film on Emperor penguins. 'I think Emperors of Antarctica sold to over 100 different territories around the world,' says Quinn, who devised a hand-made cover to insulate the moving parts of his camera in Antarctica's sub-50 degree temperatures. 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Otago Daily Times
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TV audiences were not used to seeing their own natural environment on screen; and natural history was virtually unknown. Hayden, now 76, began working for TVNZ's Natural History Unit in 1980. 'Coming down here I thought I'd better go and buy a bloody book about natural history,' he tells Frank Film. 'I went to the Heinemann's Bookshop... and there was no such thing as a natural history section. 'That reflected the knowledge of New Zealanders at the time. We knew nothing.' On the team with Hayden were producer/director Neil Harraway, film-makers Rod Morris and Max Quinn, and the charismatic and committed Dunedinite, managing director Michael Stedman. '[Michael] was our leader,' says Harraway. 'Quite a stroppy little guy.' Using the hidden camera as a 'silent witness' to the natural world, the team put together personable documentaries of the wildlife of Aotearoa: rare footage of takahē and kākāpō, films on bats, sharks, locusts and a range of birdlife. In looking for a logo, they hit upon the kea, chosen for its intelligence, inquisitiveness, and adaptability – critical traits, says Hayden, for the company's survival. From 1981 until the early '90s, what was then called the Natural History Unit produced Wildtrack – a nature programme for both children and adults that won the Feltex Television Award for the best children's programme, three years running. In 1989, the unit produced Under The Ice, the first nature documentary to be filmed under the Antarctic sea ice. 'I don't know what we were thinking,' says Harraway. Under-water camera housing units were yet to be commercially available, 'so some of the local geeks climbed on in and whipped stuff up like this,' says former NHNZ technician Wayne Poll, gesturing to an early model unit kept in the basement of the company's Dunedin offices. Despite NHNZ's ingenuity, television was changing, and production in New Zealand was migrating largely to Auckland. In 1991, TVNZ closed its Dunedin studios. While the Natural History Unit escaped closure, its future was uncertain. Undeterred, Stedman began looking for new funding relationships overseas. Harraway recalls him picking up business cards from the floor and out of waste baskets at a Cannes event. 'Darwin said, it's not going to be the strongest or the most intelligent animal that survives on the planet, it's going to be the most adaptable,' says Morris. 'Michael sort of understood that intuitively, really, that adaptation was where survival of the unit rested.' And adapt they did. In 1992, in an early co-production with Discovery and Rai3, NHNZ produced the Emperors of Antarctica documentary – a pioneering film on Emperor penguins. 'I think Emperors of Antarctica sold to over 100 different territories around the world,' says Quinn, who devised a hand-made cover to insulate the moving parts of his camera in Antarctica's sub-50 degree temperatures. In 1997, the Natural History Unit was purchased by Fox Television, owned by Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch 'brought a bucket of money,' says Morris, and supplied the team with funding for equipment they desperately needed. Stedman forged co-productions in the USA, Europe, Japan, and China. As a fan of science communication, he helped build a post-graduate diploma in natural history film making at the University of Otago. 'We were into science, we were into health, we were into adventure,' says Hayden. As Stedman said in a 2001 TVNZ interview, NHNZ focussed on reading the market in order to make programmes that would appeal to their audiences, 'as opposed to a British system where they would make a programme that they wanted to make and then go and look for a market for it.' At its height, NHNZ had $50 million worth of documentaries in production. It was working on up to 20 films at any one time and employed 200 people. 'When it started, there was about five of us,' recalls Hayden. 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With this month marking three years since Stedman's death in 2022, the original NHNZ team gather around a TV unit, watching a video of Stedman giving a speech. 'It sort of brings the dear old man back to life again,' says Quinn. 'He was an extraordinary person,' says Morris. 'He sponsored us for a period of time so that we could fulfil our dreams.'


Scoop
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