Simon O’Neill, Rhiannon Cooper and Anna Lease rehearse at Hanover Hall before Saturday night’s ‘‘Celebrating 2021’’ at the Dunedin Town Hall. PHOTO GREGOR RICHARDSONHolding a performance in Dunedin in spite of Covid-19’s effect on the arts globally is a celebration of New Zealand’s response to the pandemic, Dunedin Symphony Orchestra marketing manager Pieter du Plessis says. But it was touch and go this week as Mr du Plessis waited with the rest of the country, learning only on Wednesday at 4.30pm that the Alert Level 2 would drop to Alert Level 1 again and allow "Celebrating 2021" to go ahead at the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday. Amid the confusion, the Otago Daily Times ran the wrong advertisement, incorrectly stating the show had to be cancelled. "It is a pandemic, it has created extraordinary times, but it has also created opportunities and gave us opportunities as a local orchestra to have soloists like him."

Source: Otago Daily Times February 18, 2021 15:33 UTC