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With an appetite for musical inspiration, Claire Cowan opens the Auckland Arts Festival music box.

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I'm rubbing my hands together with glee as it's festival time in Auckland again! With an optimistic view of fitting in more shows than is humanly possible with a busy work schedule, I approach the festival with an appetite for musical inspiration, and good ol' fashioned toe-tapping tunes.

There seems to be the expected mix of crowd pleasing brass playing Gypsy and Latin bands (Stochelo Rosenberg Trio, LA 33 & Novalima) to give your feet a chance to dance. Check out the programme for festival club boogie opportunities. You'll have the chance to join the church of rock with 'High priest of the Afrobeat' trumpeter Hugh Masekela from South Africa, and Gospel queen Ruthie Foster.

From opera to anthemic kiwi classic Maori anthems, you can hear it all in the festival, and in te reo! Have you ever heard opera sung in te reo? Fabulous soprano Deborah Wai Kapohe is doing just that in Whaka-Aria Mai, whilst on White Night, a feast of top NZ musicians perform classic Maori songs everyone will know in Everything is Ka Pai. Indigenous Maori and Pacific music gets a big focus this year, with Sounds Aotearoa, an expo showcasing and celebrating the nation's top cultural performers over two days 10th-11th March.

Claire's top picks for the big shows:

Britten's War Requiem is going to win on sheer number of performers.

Not one but TWO orchestras, THREE choirs, organist and 3 soloists galore. And performed at the mighty town hall and on the newly refurbished beast that is the town hall multi-million dollar organ. Apparently no one clapped at the first performance. This is probably not because it was terrible, but because they were lost in 'reverential silence.' Let's hope we'll feel the same.

Glen Hansard with Lisa Hannigan. Who didn't love the movie Once that made Glen Hansard an international star and allowed him to support Bob Dylan on tour.

Well I sure did, and have a very fond memory of seeing him perform live in LA, on his old 'holey' guitar. Unhappy with his microphone stand, he cast it aside mid-song and belted the song out acoustically to the back of the hall. He's got guts. and passion. I've never heard of Lisa Hannigan, so I watched her music video Knots where she and a white ukulele gradually get splashed and splattered with paint. I spent the whole time wishing she'd shut her mouth so as to not get paint in it. But perhaps this means she's got as much guts as Hansard..we'll find out.

Wild card pick is Jack body's new tribute to Carmen Rupe Songs and Dances of Desire. Giving very little away in the description, we don't really know what we're in for. But some insider knowledge suggests it's going to be colourful, flamboyant, and fab-u-lous. Darling.

The wonderful NZTrio is on twice in the festival. Once on White Night March 16 at Auckland Art Gallery performing David Downe's soundtrack to a short animated film, and in their own show on March 24 with a programme entitled Convergence. This features a 'genre busting' lineup with music written and inspired by asian and pacific cultures. A treat to hear will be the combination of taonga puoro with the trio, performed by Horomona Horo and a world premiere by Victoria Kelly. Expect some hauntingly beautiful sounds.

The world famous Kronos Quartet is back on our shores for a special performance with Chinese Pipa player Wu Man. Although I'm not a particularly big fan of chinese music, I'm eager to hear Wu Man play, as she was recently awarded 'Musical America Instrumentalist of the Year 2013'. She gets her own show as well if you're into Pipa performance - a highlight for me will be Tan Dun's Ghost Opera, a multimedia music piece which is scored for the quartet, pipa, water, stone and metal.

En Route, a personal city exploration experience by foursome 'one step at a time like this' conjures up distant memories of the wonderful Subtlemob experience from UK artist Duncan Speakman a few years ago as part of Semi-permanent. En Route is described as a 'love song to your city,' which is a beautiful concept incorporating a soundtrack of local musicians as you travel on your 'interactive perambulation.' Let's hope we feel loved up by the end of it.

Well there's only a few more days before the festival starts, and I'm busy preparing for my own project in the festival, The Blackbird Ensemble: at Water's Edge which is on during White Night at Queen's Wharf on March 16. Our 20 piece band will be performing three shows, with a sea-themed program including creative covers of artists such as Portishead, PJ Harvey, Nick drake, Philip Glass and more. Not to be missed, in my completely unbiased opinion!

• The Auckland Arts Festival 2013 is on from 6 to 24 March