EDUCATION: Westlake Boys
Westlake Music Directors, Warwick Robinson, Hayley Barker, David Squire and Mark Bennett, with the ‘Most Outstanding’ and ‘Best NZ Work’ Awards at KBB 2016.
Westlake Big Band performing at KBB on their way to ‘Most Outstanding Jazz Band’.
Westlake Music – Pure Gold! The middle two weeks of August 2016 could well be remembered by Westlake musicians as ‘The Golden Fortnight’ – the most successful in Westlake’s musical history to date. The KBB Music Festival saw Westlake’s four Premier ensembles, Chamber Orchestra, Concert Band, Symphony Orchestra and Big Band, all received Gold Awards. They also made an unprecedented clean sweep of the coveted ‘Most Outstanding Performance' Awards for all four categories. Symphony Orchestra and Concert Band added to the tally with awards for Best Performance of a New Zealand Work: Westlake Symphony winning the award for Anthony Ritchie’s ‘Balkin Bagpipes’ and Westlake Concert Band for ‘A Summoning’ by Westlaker, Alex Taylor. More than 4,000 students from schools across the greater Auckland region took part in this year’s festival and the standard of music gets higher every year. Westlake had fierce competition and there were some memorable performances by ensembles from many schools. The junior ensembles also excelled, with Camerata and Symphonic Band both receiving Silver Awards and Stage Band and Tahoroto Orchestra receiving Bronze.
The middle two weeks of August 2016 could well be remembered by Westlake musicians as ‘The Golden Fortnight’ – the most successful in Westlake’s musical history to date. The week after KBB, 122 Westlake choristers headed to Dunedin for the 2016 Big Sing Finale. A total of 24 choirs, selected from regional competitions around the country, took part in the finals and once again Westlake came away with outstanding results. Westlake Boys’ choir, Voicemale, was the only boys’ choir to receive a Gold Award and the first to receive Gold in consecutive years. Choralation, the mixed choir from Westlake Boys and Girls High Schools, also won Gold and was selected as winner of the Platinum Award – the top choir in the country – for the sixth time in eight years. Choralation also won the Tour Time Trophy for Best Performance of a Classical Piece,
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Issue 70 - October 2016 www.channelmag.co.nz
Voicemale sing ‘JW is the Man’ – a tribute to John Williams’ ‘Star Wars’ Theme.
for ‘Stars’ by Eriks Esenvalds; sung in almost total darkness, this performance moved many of the audience and even some members of Choralation themselves to tears! Westlake Boys and Girls High Schools' music departments have worked in close partnership since the schools were established in 1962. The music directors of their combined premier ensembles, Mark Bennett (Westlake Chamber Orchestra), Warwick Robinson (Westlake Concert Band), David Squire (Westlake Symphony Orchestra and Voicemale), Hayley Barker (Westlake Big Band) and Rowan Johnston (Choralation) work tirelessly with these groups throughout the year. David Squire commends the students, (many of whom are in more than one premier group) who "sacrifice a lot of time and effort to get on board with the shared vision of both departments to make success possible.” Warwick Robinson, Head of Music at Westlake Boys, remarks: “We are enormously grateful to the Principals and Boards of Trustees of both schools for their commitment to the combined music programme. Despite being single sex schools, our collaboration often gives brothers and sisters the opportunity to perform together and we are very much one big ‘Westlake Music family’. These awards are a wonderful recognition of the efforts of students and staff, but they are by no means the only reason the schools invest so much time and energy in co-curricular music. Our many ensembles not only give students the chance to develop and showcase their musical skills, but also to grow in confidence, leadership and community involvement.”