Term 3 is often the busiest term for any high school music department as there are so many events happening during the winter season.

Music students at Hagley have been busily participating in music competitions and seizing opportunities in many ways.

Christchurch Competitions Society

Congratulations to Year 13 School of Music student Oscar Kersey who received 2nd place in the singing competition Christchurch Competitions Society Vocal Junior Section, which was held on 9-10 July at Knox Church. The adjudicator was Geoffrey Coker from Wellington. Oscar has also recently competed in a further round in Dunedin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHksW7gDN1Q&feature=youtu.be

JazzQuest

A mixture of students in Years 10 to 13 make up the Hagley Jazz Ensemble, which is led by Programme Leader of School of Music, Nanako Sato. The group participated at the JazzQuest in the Ensemble category in early August and received a silver award. The band wore a colourful costume and represented Hagley’s uniqueness by delivering a vibrant presence on stage. The judge specially mentioned the group in his live feed. https://www.facebook.com/pg/HagleyCollegeMusic/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2117944168218526

The Hagley Jazz Ensemble will be performing at the Big Band Festival on Friday 19th October from 12pm to 1.30pm at Festival Hub, and Saturday 20th October from 1pm to 2pm at the Art Gallery.

https://www.chchbigbandfest.com/plan-your-festival

Southern Jam Youth Jazz Festival

Our senior Jazz Band, Afrosuede, which is mentored by Kevin Roberts, travelled 6 hours to participate in the annual youth jazz event, Southern Jam Jazz Competition in Blenheim, and received a silver award. Despite illness that struck during this trip, they performed every gig professionally, and their beautiful composition “Suede” was highly commended by the judges and other schools. The band has been asked to perform as a part of the Jazz After Work series and will be giving a concert at the Ara Music Arts (aka Jazz School) this Friday 14th September from 6.10pm to 7pm. $10 entry. https://christchurchmusiciansclub.com/event/2401538/475557039/afrosuede

Voices Festival

The annual Voices Festival was held at YMCA this year, and our school choir Heart and Soul, the Cabaret Choir, and the Theatre Company Choir performed exceptionally well. The night was really the Hagley College show, and the groups were warmly received, with compliments for their highly entertaining performances, and they also accepted various certificates.

Lydia Fay’s Farewell Concert

In the last newsletter, Year 13 School of Music student Lydia Fay was featured on her exciting journey at Hagley, having completed the course within a half year to attend her dream college, Berklee School of Music in Boston. She had a successful farewell concert on Wednesday 22nd August at The Piano, where she sang most of the songs over an entire 2 hours and gave an impressive concert to an enthusiastic audience. She opened her show with the stunning Dianne Schuur number “Caught a Touch of Your Love” accompanied by popular 19 piece All Girl Big Band, which Nanako is a member of, to a receptive audience.

One of the highlights was the reunion performance with her gold award winner Hagley Jazz Band from 2017 (the group was the best ensemble award recipient in 2017 at the Southern Jam Festival). They performed stunningly well, and it was lovely to see our graduates like Max Nicholls and Leo Suggate performing on stage again. Lydia left for Boston at the end of August and started her new College life. https://www.facebook.com/HagleyCollegeMusic/posts/2132152216797721

Tangata Beats

Year 13 School of Music student Rongomai Callaghan was selected for the top 30 at the RockQuest this year, but this highly talented singer-songwriter also has been chosen as one of the top 3 solo/duo categories in the national final at the Tangata Beats. She is flying up to Auckland to compete in the final round on Friday 21st September.

https://www.facebook.com/tangatabeats/

Play It Strange Songwriting Competition

Meanwhile, Year 13 School of Music students Rongomai Callaghan and Naish’n Morgan’s collaboration song “Julia Peculiar” has been selected as one of the top 40 songs in the Play It Strange Songwriting Competition. They went to the professional recording studio, Orange Studios, to record their original song on Tuesday 11th September, all of which was paid for by the Play It Strange organisation. They enjoyed the experience in the studio and worked efficiently like any professional recording artists. Their song will be included in the 2018 Play It Strange compilation album which will be available sometime this year. https://www.facebook.com/HagleyCollegeMusic/posts/2153342171345392

http://playitstrange.org.nz/lion-foundation-song-competition

Hagley On Show

The Music department’s biggest event, “Hagley On Show” is coming up soon! Tickets are available from the Enrolment Centre ($5 each). The concert starts at 6pm at the Hope Presbyterian Church in Hornby on Wednesday 19th September. We will be featuring our exceptionally talented musicians and our school groups. We are looking forward to seeing you all.