Presentation of Music Ties

At a recent assembly we acknowledged our top two music groups with the presentation of Music ties.

Both Stage Band and OK Chorale are well regarded at a national level and have a long history of outstanding performance.

Ok Chorale, our top vocal group travelled to Christchurch this week to take part in the National Finale of the Big Sing. This event showcases the top 24 choirs in the country and OK Chorale is one of only four all male ensembles selected to attend this year.

This is the 14th time that Chorale has been selected for Finale in the 29 years it has existed which is a great strike rate against more affluent and highly resourced main centre schools. We wish them well.

We also recognised the achievements of Stage Band, our top instrumental group. This group was instigated in the 1980s and consistently works at an outstanding professional level.

Under Mr Lauridsen’s direction they have been the best Manawatu Band at the Manawatu Jazz festival for the last 16 years and frequently the best overall band.

Last year, the band which retains a number of members this year recieved a gold award at the KBB Music Festival in Auckland recognising them as one of the top handful of Jazz bands in NZ. Recently this ranking was confirmed as they were selected for the inagural Jazz Band-it Festival in Wellington at the end of this term. This puts them in the top 10 groups in the country, again against powerhouse main centre schools. 

Stage Band are:

Liam Adrian, Josh Bergerson, Kevin Cao, Cillian Carroll, Reagan Carver, Junhee Cho, Alex Christensen, William Duncan, Hamish Edmunds, Liam Edmunds, Jason Gui, Leo Huang, Tui Kaisami, Thomas Malone, Arahan Pilkington, Stanley Pettengill, Mike Sung, Leo Xu.

Ok Chorale are:

Ben Algie, Daniel Fox, Vealata Tongati’o, Josh Webster, Josh Harrison, Tui Kaisami, Axis Simon, Connor Puanaki, Paula Koro, Sam Millward, Benjamin McQueen Davies, Teo Jauregui Na, Ezra Davis, Will Tate-Davis, Leo Xu.