Annual Jazz Night 

This was our last major Music event of the year and it didn’t disappoint.   With the theme ‘Mad Science’, The Big Band, The Tanukis, The Street Bugs, The Vargassians, The Jazz Ducks and solo vocalists all put in a turn as we celebrated all of the great music that has been created this year and raised funds for our intended trip to the 2023 Jazz Festival in Wellington.

SUSO (Stand Up Stand Out) Finals

This year we are very proud to have the band, Cesura in the SUSO finals – it is the very first time that any of our entrants have been awarded a place in the finals.  They performed on Saturday, 24 September at the Town Hall in front of a very enthusiastic and proud audience and were placed in the TOP 5!

We give Cesura band members (Luke Presnall, Sean Van Tiel, James Dunne and Laurence Stewart) a huge congratulations for their dedication and hard work throughout the year!  Well done, boys!

Music exam passes

We have had success in ABRSM and NZMEB exams. Malaika Amos (violin), Dennis Xu (flute) and Adam Vargas (violin) all passed the NZMEB Level 1 Chamber Music Exam, which is equivalent to grade 3, whilst Ernst-Joven Quianzon passed the Level 3 Chamber Music Exam, which is equivalent to grade 6.

Maia Tay-Morrison and Aaron Santoso both passed the NZMEB grade 3 trumpet exam, which earned them both 6 NCEA Level 1 credits for solo performance.  Malaika Amos also passed her grade 3 clarinet exam with ABRSM.

There will be more exams taken in December as we seek to raise our standards even more.  Well done to our Music students on your achievements!