A chorus of operatic voices swirls around my room in the Observatory Hotel. The boutique hotel is new, but the building was once the University of Canterbury’s physics and biology wing and is part of a treasured gothic revival era complex, circa 1877, that’s been home to Ōtautahi Christchurch’s Arts Centre since 1978.

“Can you hear that?” I text my friend in the room next door. “Look outside!” she replies.