Aotearoa is a concert overture written for orchestra by New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn in 1940.^[1] The overture is the first of three early works by Lilburn which centre on the theme of national identity; the other two are Landfall in Unknown Seas (1942), for narrator and orchestra, and the tone poem A Song of Islands (1946).

The title of the overture (Aotearoa) is taken from the Māori name for New Zealand.

Lilburn wrote the overture while he was still a student at London's Royal College of Music,^[2] and it was premiered at a concert held to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi at His Majesty's Theatre in London.^[3] It was not performed in New Zealand until 1959, but it has since entered the country's standard orchestral repertory.^[3]

Typical of Lilburn's early work, the overture features idiomatic writing for winds, especially flutes, and vigorous dynamic contrasts.^{[citation needed]}

Composer Jack Body has said that the work "is the most frequently performed orchestral work by a New Zealand composer, and is likely to remain so".^[4] Many commercial recordings have been made of the work; for example, Symphony of Sails performed by Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya in 2002.^[1][4]

In 2011, the manuscript score was entered into the UNESCO Memory of the World Aotearoa New Zealand Ngā Mahara o te Ao register. It was the first item from the National Library of New Zealand to be added to the collection.^[4]

Woodwinds: 2 Flutes 2 Oboes 2 Clarinet 2 Bassoons Brass: 4 Horns 2 Trumpets 3 Trombones Percussions: Timpani Triangle Cymbals Strings: 2 Violins Violas Cello Double Bass