Eight groups compete in the final of New Zealand's national chamber music competition for secondary school students.
NZCT Chamber Music Contest 2022 finalists Photo: Thomas Hamill
This Contest is the longest running youth music competition in New Zealand and the only nationwide chamber music competition for young secondary school musicians and composers in the country. Many of its participants have gone on to have successful musical careers both here and abroad.
From a pool of 300 groups (and over a thousand individual musicians), 8 semi-final ensembles were chosen for the National Final 2022.
The judges were New Zealand soprano Madeleine Pierard, British cellist Matthew Barley, and New Zealand pianist Stephen De Pledge.
WATPIC
WATPIC Photo: Thomas Hamill
First Place
Sho Woodhouse (Percussion), Burnside High School
Keina Rollinson (Percussion), Rangi Ruru Girls’ School
Nicolae Didenco (Percussion), Cashmere High School
Dylan Blundell (Percussion), Burnside High School
Their name is an acronym for ‘Why aren’t there percussionists in Christchurch?’. It started as a joke when they were forming their ensemble, but stuck with it after they ran an Instagram poll to decide the matter.
They are coached by percussionist and Associate Professor at University of Canterbury, Justin de Hart.
They perform two pieces by New Yorker Elliot Cole and Hungarian Aurél Holló.
Gedalge Trio
Gedalge Trio Photo: Thomas Hamill
Third Place
Lorna Zhang (Violin), Macleans College
Matthew Chanwai (Cello), St Paul’s Collegiate
Audrey Guo (Piano), Westlake Girls’ High School
They’ve named their trio after André Gedalge, one of Ravel’s teachers.
Learning this music – one of the most demanding of all piano trios – has been a challenge and they’ve admitted to finding it a little intimidating. However, Gedalge Trio have embraced the ‘go big or go home’ attitude and have really enjoyed exploring all the colours and textures of this music.
They are coached by Katherine Austin and James Tennant of the University of Waikato.
Trio Chicago
Trio Chicago Photo: Thomas Hamill
Winner of the National KBB Music Award
Alex Martin (Clarinet), St Peter’s College Auckland
Eva Wu (Cello), Crimson Global Academy
Charles Sang (Piano), St Kentigern College
This trio has been coached by Antun Polijanich, Rowan Meade, and Lisa Chung. They name themselves after the city where the composer they are playing, Robert Muczynski, is from.
Trio Chicago love the high energy of this music and have enjoyed the unusual combination of clarinet, cello and piano.
Schnittke's Snickers
Schnittke's Snickers Photo: Thomas Hamill
Joyce Chan (Piano), Samuel Marsden Collegiate School
Francesca Rotolo (Piano), Wellington High School
Rebekah Lin (Piano), St Mary’s College Wellington
Joyce Chan, Francesca Rotolo and Rebekah Lin are all studying with Nicole Chao, who coached them in this performance.
The players have pointed out that Alfred Schnittke’s Hommage to Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich – like the three components of a Snickers Bar – has different layers and is a tribute to three composers, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky, their music and styles, performed by three pianists.
This piece, composed in 1979, is based on the "Chinese March" from Stravinsky’s opera The Nightingale, Prokofiev’s Humoresque Scherzo and the Polka from Shostakovich’s ballet The Golden Age.
The Hillbillies
The Hillbillies Photo: Thomas Hamill
Winner of the National Award for the Best Performance of a New Zealand work
Xavier Ngaro (Violin), St Bernard’s College
Catherine Harrison (Violin), Home Educated
Ryo Sribunwongsa (Viola), St Patrick’s College Silverstream
Gemma Maurice (Cello), Wellington Girls’ College
The Hillbillies is a string quartet from hilly Wellington whose members first met through the Suzuki music community and Stringendo Wellington Children's Orchestra.
They are coached by the members of the New Zealand String Quartet and Donald Maurice.
Berlin Trio
Berlin Trio Photo: Thomas Hamill
Second Place
Joshua Hooker (Violin), Christ’s College
Jasmine Hooker (Cello), St Andrew’s College
Ryan Gu (Piano), Christ’s College
Berlin Trio has enjoyed growing in confidence as they have explored this Mendelssohn Trio.
Cellist Jasmine Hooker says: “I like how we've grown as a group throughout the contest. At the start, we were three individuals and now we're actually a group. The more we have practised the piece, the more we have been able to explore the subtle nuances of the piece to try and get across what Mendelssohn was trying to communicate”.
Amallegro
Amallegro Photo: Thomas Hamill
Mia Li (Clarinet), St Kentigern College
Amy Chen (Violin), Crimson Global Academy
Amy Prebble (Piano), St Kentigern College
The group name combines the initials of their first names, A – M – A with the Italian word and musical tempo marking allegro.
They were brought together by the Head of Music at St Kentigern’s College, Mary Lin, after they each won their respective sections for the school's solo music competition.
Juliusz Quintet
Juliusz Quintet Photo: Thomas Hamill
Ella Chen (Violin), Rangi Ruru Girls’ School
Chloe Jiang (Violin), Rangi Ruru Girls’ School
Juliet Park (Viola), Rangi Ruru Girls’ School
Elise Tian (Cello), Rangi Ruru Girls’ School
Polly Lee (Piano), Rangi Ruru Girls’ School
Juliusz Quintet is made up of musicians from Rangi Ruru Girls’ School in Christchurch who have been playing together in various combinations for many years.
The players say that one of the most valuable lessons has been the collaborative process. They’ve all learned so much about playing together as musicians in an ensemble, and they believe the skills they’ve gained this year will stay with them in the years to come.
They've been coached by the Director of Music at Rangi Ruru, Janet Kingsbury.
2022 Original Composition Winner
Leonie Holmes, Geoffrey Hill Photo: Thomas Hamill
Geoffrey HILL: Dancing with the Devil
16-year old Geoffrey Hill attends Westlake Boys' High School where is deeply involved in the music programme: singing, playing percussion. piano and jazz keyboards.
He says that Dancing with the Devil evokes standing at the precipice of Hell.
The award was adjudicated by Leonie Holmes, Senior Lecturer in Composition at the University of Auckland.
She says, "This is a sophisticated and exciting piece, with assured treatment of rhythm and gesture. There is great flexibility of tempo and the mercurial repeating gestures work wonderfully."
Dancing with the Devil is played by members of Auckland Youth Orchestra:
Claire Huang (Flute)
Kiara Kong (Clarinet)
Amy Wang (Bass Clarinet)
Jason Wong, Daniel Qin (Percussion)
Catherine Chang (Piano)
Jim Wu (Violin)
Damon Herlihy‑O’Brien (Cello)
Recorded by RNZ Concert
Producer: Tim Dodd
Engineer: Adrian Hollay
