National Festival 2025 will be held in the Alan Gibbs Centre at Wellington College. The dates are 18th-20th of July and we have space for 3 performing days this year!! This year our Festival is hosted by the Wellington Symphonic Bands and we thank them for their amazing support!
Band Registrations are now open! https://forms.office.com/r/y0LaX84Q93
Guidelines, Fees and other information – Festival Information, Guidelines and Rules 2025.pdf
Band Adjudicators
NZ Adjudicator – Dr. Hannah Darroch
Dr. Hannah Darroch is the new Chief Executive of SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music, following four years as Principal Flute of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and artist teacher at the University of Canterbury.
In the symphonic band world, Hannah was the Principal Piccolo of the Royal New Zealnad Air Force Band, and also featured on the premiere release of Frank Ticheli’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated work Songs of Love and Life recorded in the United States.
International Adjudicator – Dr. Jeffrey Boeckman
Dr. Jeffrey Boeckman is Professor of Music and Director of Bands at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He conducts the Wind Ensemble, teaches courses in conducting and wind literature, and oversees the entire UH Bands program. Jeffrey is returning to our Festival this year, previously having been an adjudicator when Festival was last in Rotorua.
Ensembles under his direction have performed at such venues as the Western/Northwestern College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) Conference, the California, Hawai‘i, and Texas Music Educators Association Conferences, and on tours throughout North America and Europe. He has presented at the Midwest Clinic; at CBDNA National Conferences, at World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) International Conferences, at several state Music Educators Association State Conferences, and has been published in the Music Educators Journal and the Journal of Band Research.