Our musicians played superbly in the Dunedin competition.

Thirty five groups from around Dunedin high schools participated in the competition this year in June.

Ten were LPHS groups and several others had Logan Park students together with others from other schools.

Once again the standard was extremely high and our lot performed with aplomb! 

Gaining ‘Highly Commended awards’ were ‘The Itty Bitty Small Band’ (Alice Houston-Page, Hamish O’Malley-King, Colin Macandrew, Abe Baillie, Finn McKinlay and Albert Baeumer), ‘the Quartet’ (Sophie Sun, Elia Hayashista, Cathy Zeng and Emmanuel from Kings High), and Wrong of Autumn (featuring Cameron Monteath and his two colleagues from OGHS).

‘Uncharted Territory’, a sax quartet featuring Lealia Devereux, Grace Cunningham, Piper McKerracher and Louis Freeman), also qualified for the final.

Two LPHS groups also were awarded KBB Awards for excellence in wind playing. The Itty Bitty Small Band and Hoonk! (Anna Denys, Finn McKinlay, Colin Macandrew and Connor Bedwell) were the recipients.

And the wonderful Cameron Monteath took away the prize for best composition in the Dunedin competition for his Trio in E minor. Cameron will quickly tell you that he was the only one to submit a composition locally however the Judge was most complimentary about Cameron’s work, as this quote exemplifies.

This trio shows a good grasp of classical/romantic style and is very nicely written for the instruments – it will bring a lot of pleasure to the players. I like the way musical textures are varied and gestures are carefully planned, with good attention to dynamics and articulation.

Once again our musicians demonstrated that they work exceedingly well under demanding circumstances, and play with a high degree of technique and musicality. 

Congratulations to all of our musicians who participated this year.