The Young Jazz Band-it school jazz competitions have unveiled the talented secondary school jazz bands and musicians who will be competing in the finals.

The finals will take place at the New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington on Saturday, 23 September 2023.

Essential NZ Jazz Band Competition

The following bands have been selected as finalists for the Essential NZ Jazz Band Competition:

•          Rangi Ruru Girls' School, Christchurch

•          Burnside High School, Christchurch

•          Pukekohe High School, Auckland

•          Middleton Grange School, Christchurch

•          New Plymouth Boy's High School, New Plymouth

•          Palmerston North Boys High School, Palmerston North

•          Tawa College, Wellington

•          Wellington College/Wellington Girls College, Wellington

•          Tauranga Boy's College, Tauranga

•          Rongotai College, Wellington

NZ Jazz Improvisation Competition

The NZ Jazz Improvisation Competition finalists are:

•          Tim Honiss, Piano – Wellington (Rongotai College)

•          Sylvester Green, Trumpet – Tauranga (Tauranga Boys College)

•          William Kao, Trombone – Christchurch (Burnside High School)

•          Iggy Palermo Epstein, Saxophone – Auckland (Massey High School)

•          Reiss Fantani, Saxophone – Christchurch (Burnside High School)

•          Monet Shutte, Vocals - Christchurch (Burnside High School)

•          Jack Ta, Piano – Dunedin (Logan Park High School)

•          Michael Van Lieshout, Guitar - Tauranga (Tauranga Boy’s High School)

Alternate choices, if one of the selected finalists cannot attend: Jacob Mullen, Guitar - Christchurch (Burnside High School) and Nico Buhne, Piano – Wellington (Wellington High School).

NZ Jazz Drum Improvisation Competition

The finalists for the NZ Jazz Drum Improvisation Competition are:

•          Thomas Christie – Green Bay High School, Auckland

•          Finley Tressler – Burnside High School, Christchurch

•          Minho Choi – ACG Strathallan School, Auckland

Alternate choice, if one of the selected finalists cannot attend: Cam Smillie, Burnside High School, Christchurch.

NZ Jazz Composition Competition (Combo Section)

The finalists for the NZ Composition Competition (Combo Section) are:

•          "John's Song" – William Kao – Burnside High School, Christchurch

•          "Goodnight Aotearoa" – Karim Efremov – John Paul College, Rotorua

•          "Chook-a-Fry" – Nico Buhne – Wellington High School, Wellington

Alternate choice, if a selected finalist cannot attend is: Evie Patterson – Wellington High School, Wellington

Please note that due to a low number of entries in the vocal category, vocalists who entered have been considered in the open category. The organizers express gratitude to all participants and have decided to transfer the vocal prize of $750.00 to the instrumental section of the improvisation competition.

The finals will take place on Saturday, 23 September 2023 at the New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington. The event will commence at 10:00 am, and the prize-giving ceremony will be held in the Memorial Theatre at 6:00 pm.

Rodger Fox, Director of the Young Jazz Band-it Competition, said “Congratulations to all those selected as finalists, and many thanks to everyone who entered the competition. We look forward to seeing and hearing all finalists perform in Wellington on Saturday, 23 September 2023.

“We also acknowledge the generous support provided by Youthtown, which have enabled these competitions to take place along with Musicworks NZ and Victoria University of Wellington/Te Koki.

ENDS