15 August, 2019

Westlake Chamber Orchestra wins Australasian contest

The Westlake Chamber Orchestra has picked up two Australasian awards for their first overseas performance.

The orchestra, made up of the leading string players from Westlake Girls and Westlake Boys high schools, won best string orchestra and best overall performance at the Aspire International Youth Music Festival in Queensland in July.

The students, along with group director Mark Bennett, spent three days rehearsing and sightseeing in Brisbane, then travelled to the Gold Coast where the three-day festival is held biannually.

The festival was attended by over 600 students from across Australia and New Zealand.

“This is the first overseas tour we have undertaken on our own,” says Bennett.

“Groups were competing from all around Australasia: concert bands, symphony orchestras, jazz bands, string orchestras and choirs.”

Winning first place in its category meant the orchestra was invited to play at the gala concert on the final day of the festival.

Only bands that won each of their categories were invited to perform, and from those contenders the judges, who included New Zealand conductor Marc Taddei, gave Westlake the overall performance award, praising the group on the amount of work they had put in.

“The students were obviously quite thrilled,” says Bennett.

“They all worked really hard and focused beautifully. It made for fantastic team building.”

Bennett, who has been directing the Westlake Chamber Orchestra for 12 years, has played violin for the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra for the past 22.

The orchestra has more recently been competing in the KBB schools music festival in Auckland. “This trip was very stimulating in terms of developing the students’ passion, which is very valuable,” Bennett says.

This article originally appeared in the August 16 edition of the Rangitoto Observer. Download PDF.