Brooke Fraser: “To be able to spend your life making music is a privilege that I never take for granted.” Photo: Supplied
After a seven-year hiatus, Grammy award-winning Kiwi musician Brooke Fraser is returning to Aotearoa for a one-off concert in June.
Fraser, 40, will play a special concert with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) in Auckland on 22 June.
Fraser told Afternoons that collaborating with the APO felt like “a surreal experience”.
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"I'm very excited and it's an announcement that we've been sitting on for a long time, so it feels absolutely wonderful to finally be able to spill the beans," she said.
"I'm very grateful for the opportunity to express the songs again in this kind of brand new context."
Fraser said she had a shortlist of songs she would personally like to perform.
"Having an orchestra, there's almost infinite possibilities about what's new… it's been fun digging through the archives and finding songs that weren't necessarily singles or album tracks, but that might really suit this kind of musical expression."
Fraser has been making music since she was a teenager. Her first album, What To Do With Daylight, debuted at No. 1 when it was released in New Zealand in 2003. She is perhaps best known for her 2010 hit single, 'Something in the Water', which became a global hit.
Brooke Fraser being interviewed by Kim Hill in 2014. Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
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She now lives in Australia and has continued working in the music industry and producing albums under her married name, Brooke Ligertwood. She last took the stage as Brooke Fraser in New Zealand in 2017. Life since then had been "pretty busy", she said.
"I have two wonderful children, but I've also been producing a lot of music, collaborating with other musicians.
"I have kind of been endlessly generating music in all sorts of different forms and expressions.
"To be able to spend your life making music is a privilege that I never take for granted."
Fraser's one-off show takes place at Auckland's Spark Arena. General tickets are on sale from Wednesday, 21 February.
"So everyone please come, we've got a few bottoms to place on those seats," she said.