NZCBA Festival 2021 Napier was held at the historic Napier Municipal Theatre on July 31 . Bands were invited to present a 20-minute programme in a 30-minute time slot and take this opportunity to provide an exhilarating programme! Soloists and Small Ensembles played in the adjacent hall and church in 10-minute time slots.

Workshops ran through the day. The topics ranged from how to administer a community band, to tone development on flute, warmup ideas, how to be a paperless musician, brass practice and warmup, subdivision of the beat.

At Prizegiving, each band received a plaque and certificate with either a Gold, Silver, or Bronze award as determined by the adjudicators and Special Awards were presented. The event was kicked of by a super fun performance by a sax quartet comprised of members of New Zealand Saxophone Society.

YouTube Playlist

Check out the full playlist in the top right corner of the video preview below.

Awards for Bands

  • Auckland Youth Symphonic Band – Silver
  • Auckland Wind Orchestra – Silver
  • Bay Cities’ Symphonic Band – Bronze
  • Bay Cities’ Youth Symphonic Band – Bronze
  • Capital City Wind Band – Silver
  • Glendowie College Concert Band – Bronze
  • Lindisfarne College Symphonic Band – Bronze
  • Manukau Academy Concert Band – Bronze
  • Manukau Concert Band – Gold
  • Macleans College Concert Band – Silver
  • Napier Technical Memorial Band – Bronze
  • North Shore Youth Symphonic Wind Band – Gold
  • Orewa College Concert Band – Bronze
  • Saint Kentigern Concert Band – Silver
  • UniBand – Bronze
  • Waikato Schools Symphonic Band – Bronze
  • Wellington City Concert Band – Gold
  • West City Concert Band – Gold
  • West City Youth Concert Band – Silver

Special Awards for Bands

Royal New Zealand Navy Band Award
for Outstanding Performance by a Band
West City Concert Band

The Robert Lutt Trophy
for Best Performance of a Piece by a Band
West City Concert Band – for Auguries of Innocence

The David Chaulk Memorial Award
for Best Performance of a New Zealand Work
Manukau Concert Band – for Whānau Overture by Anthony Ritchie

Spirit of Festival Award
for a band that has been in existence for two years or less as a concert band and/or Performs a programme consisting only of music at or below Grade Two Wind Ensemble and demonstrates excellent on-stage etiquette, follows their musical director, has excellent posture and playing positions, and are well prepared.
Manukau Academy Concert Band

Excellent Performance of an Original Concert Band Work
West City Youth Concert Band – for Rolling Thunder

Excellent Performance of a Work Arranged for Concert Band
West City Youth Concert Band – for Slava!

Excellent Performance of an Entertaining Work
North Shore Youth Symphonic Wind Band – for Danzas Cubanas

Most Engaging Soloist – Band Performance
Tessa Frazer | Wellington City Concert Band – for Catch Me if You Can

Adjudicator’s Commendation for a Bronze band
Bay Cities’ Symphonic Band – for excellent repertoire selection

Adjudicator’s Commendation for a Silver band
Auckland Wind Orchestra – for performance of Shenandoah

Adjudicator’s Commendation for a Gold band
North Shore Symphonic Wind Band – for excellent repertoire selection

Solo Awards

R & J Massey Trophy – Outstanding Performance by a Soloist
Yvonne Wang | North Shore Symphonic Wind Band

Best Soloist in School Student Category
Milli Manins | West City Youth Concert Band

Best Soloist in Tertiary Category
Yvonne Wang | North Shore Symphonic Wind Band

Best Soloist in Open Category
Linda Filimoehala | North Shore Symphonic Wind Band

Chris Johnson Solo Award – awarded to a soloist in the Open Category who is having a go, based on the ‘feel good’ factor for the adjudicator
Kirsty Clearwater | Manukau Concert Band

Ensemble Awards

Royal New Zealand Air Force Trophy – Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble
Cosmos Quartet | Auckland Wind Orchestra and others

Bernard Watson Ensemble Award – an ensemble that gives the adjudicator that ‘feel good’ factor
Nothing But Treble | Wellington City Concert Band

Adjudicators

Bands

Vincent Hardaker

Vincent Hardaker is one of New Zealand’s most promising up-and-coming conductors and is currently the NZSO Assistant Conductor in Residence. In June 2020 he graduated from the Soloist Class in Orchestral Conducting from the Royal Danish Academy of Music (DKDM). In the past year he has worked with the APO, Christchurch Symphony and Dunedin Symphony along with leading a DKDM production of “Postcard from Morocco” from Pulitzer-Prize winning composer Dominick Argento. He was the NZSO Conducting Fellow in 2015, assisting the NZSO National Youth Orchestra, and received mentorship from such conductors as Vasily Petrenko, Jose Luis Gomez and Simone Young.

Jono Palmer

Jono Palmer is a dynamic and enterprising conductor from Auckland. His choirs have won international acclaim, including Gold Medals at the 2015 Grand Prix of Nations in Germany, and awards at NZCF Big Sing festival. As a conductor, Jono has been selected for various masterclasses and competitions. In 2018, he was a finalist in the London International Choral Conducting Competition.

He has a particular research interest in choral works inspired by te ao Māori, especially in the influence of colonialization and cultural appropriation on New Zealand choral music, which is the topic of his doctoral dissertation. Jono earned a MM in Choral Conducting from Indiana University, a BMus(hons) in Performance Voice, and a BA in Ancient History from the University of Auckland. He has recently completed coursework towards a doctorate in Choral Conducting at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. To find out more about Jono, you can visit his website.

Solos

Corporal Rebecca Steel

As a flute and piccolo player Rebecca has worked in all major orchestras in Sydney, Wellington and Christchurch, in permanent positions and as a casual player. The highlight of her orchestral career was playing in the Philharmonia in London when she took a year’s sabbatical in 1992. She considers herself a performer first, but throughout her playing career she has always taken great pleasure in teaching students of all ages and levels. Since returning from Australia she has played with NZSO, Wellington Vector Orchestra, Days Bay Opera Company and RNZAF Band. She teaches some flute and woodwind classes at the NZSM at Victoria University.

Flight Sergeant Grant Myhill

Grant is a Wellington based percussionist, who has played for Orchestra Wellington, the Royal New Zealand Air Force Band (RNZAFB), the National Brass Band and many other ensembles. As a kid, Grant always aspired to play in the National Band. The excitement of being selected and being part of a group of amazing musicians from across NZ to play great music still motivates him to be the best that he can be. With the National Band’s proposed tour of New Zealand, Grant hopes to meet other percussionists and band leaders in the view of being available to share his knowledge and skills.

Ensembles

Corporal Michael Costeloe

Wellington born and bred trumpet player and composer Mike Costeloe is an active and integral luminary of the Wellington music scene. He performs regularly in many different ensembles, including the RNZAF Band, The Wellington Mingus Ensemble, and Bazurka.

Corporal Nick Walshe

Kia ora, my name is Nick Walshe, and I’m a clarinetist based in the Wellington region. I’m currently principal clarinet with Orchestra Wellington, and co-principal clarinet with the Royal NZ Air Force Band. I’ve recently returned to Wellington after completing postgraduate studies at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. I’m an experienced and passionate musician, teacher, and arts administrator, having worked professionally in all three of these disciplines over my career.

Thanks to our sponsors: