CULTURE Music
staff involved, especially Robert Aburn. It was a great final season for the Director of Music. The band programme was a hive of activity this year. Between rehearsing, gigging, and learning about what it meant to play music in a rock band, College bands experienced much success. At Rockquest, C.O.M.A. and 5 on Air were regional finalists and the latter also received the Best Song Award. C.O.M.A. along with several other College bands, released their songs on Spotify and elsewhere. We look forward to hearing more in 2025. In Term 3, preparations were well under way for the European Choir Tour, also featuring several instrumentalists. Lucas Zhong (violin), Ericsson Ye (flute), and Justin Wang (clarinet) put together historically informed accounts of movements composed by CPE Bach and Joseph Haydn. We performed these musical works in enormous churches in Belgium, France, and Italy – ideal performance spaces for early classical music. We are proud of these boys for maintaining their skills during a gruelling three-and-
a-half-week choir tour with limited opportunities to practice. During the term, St Margaret’s College hosted our combined orchestra for a series of intensive rehearsals. As a result, in the final week of the term – while the choir was in Europe – the combined orchestra gave another performance at the Charles Luney Auditorium, performing a medley of Holst’s The Planets , as well as the overture to The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart. These were very well received. In late September, members of the Chapel Choir embarked on their ambitious European tour. This trip included the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Italy. Some of the famous choir venues included Engelse Kerk (Amsterdam), Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula (Brussels), The Last Post Ceremony at Menin Gate, La Madeleine (Paris), Milano Duomo (Milan), Chiesa San Filippo Neri (Florence), and St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, Rome. The boys sang amazingly and enjoyed a feast of culture across these countries.
Meanwhile, Christ’s College won an overall Gold Award at the Southern Jam Youth Jazz Festival in Blenheim, with both the Big Band and Jazz Combo wowing crowds and trumpet player Oscar Stove setting the tone to secure a spot in the All Stars Band. At the start of Term 4, three students were accepted into the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Symphony Orchestra. Oscar Stove, Jago Wallace, and Joshua Padayachee have done us proud by working at a national level in this prestigious orchestra. We look forward to their performances in 2025. At our end-of-year Prize-giving, we had much to celebrate. After the national anthem accompaniment by Richard Brown, Daniel Wilson, Oscar Stove, Jago Wallace, Justin Wang, and Peter Beasley, we relished a stunning performance of an extract from Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 by Ryan Gu (piano). Ryan has performed in several competitions recently and his mature and virtuosic rendition of this extremely difficult work are a credit to his dedication and talent. The Christ’s College instrumentalists then performed
From choral to instrumental and rock to jazz, it was a noteworthy year in the Music Department for boys, staff, and tutors. We welcomed the New Zealand String Quartet, with members conducting masterclasses for Lucas Zhong, Jago Wallace, and Joshua Padayachee and delivering an entertaining afternoon of music making and learning, along with an opportunity to explore advanced playing techniques. We also held our Orchestral Extravaganza with St Margaret’s College under the combined direction of Dr Sarah Hickford and Hugo Zanker. The orchestra delivered a varied programme to a large and appreciative audience in the Assembly Hall. Such interactions
between independent schools are so important. It was also delivered amid the preparations for Anything Goes , a joint production with Rangi Ruru Girls’ School. We value those connections between teachers and
College students were invited to a performance by the Canterbury Trio at the Great Hall in the Arts Centre. Thank you to accompanist Yiyi Ku for her superb support of the boys at various performances and also Shelley Spang for accompanying the boys during Teddy’s masterclass and during many other performances, along with providing expert tutelage in voice, piano, and music theory. In Term 2, The Big Sing was a huge part of the choral programme. College’s Chapel Choir won the award for the Best Performance of a piece in te reo Maˉori at the Canterbury-West Coast regional event at the Christchurch Town Hall. Schola Cantorum was also selected for the Cadenza Final of The Big Sing. Well done to all the boys and
aˉkonga at our schools. We also thank the Elder
Conservatorium in Adelaide, Australia for providing two wonderful opportunities for the boys. Professors Dr Edith Salzmann and Elizabeth Layton presented masterclasses, in conjunction with St Margaret’s College, with Jago, Joshua, and Lucas performing, and Old Boy Teddy Tahu Rhodes led a vocal masterclass with James Burt, Mike Ma, and Harry Vaughan. Teddy remarked that College’s vocal studio “is in good hands”. As a result,
186
187
Christ’s College Canterbury
Register 2024 Culture
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator