
Secondary students from across Dunedin gathered at Hanover Hall to form a giant unified orchestra to take part in the inaugural Advanced Orchestral Workshop Day yesterday.
Itinerant Teachers of Music teacher Ainsley Tucker said the workshop was organised for school orchestras around Dunedin to experience playing together.
It was a replacement for the Otago Secondary Schools Music Festival which stopped because of Covid-19.
"This is a whole new generation of kids that have become seniors and it’s the first time they’ve got a chance to be back and playing in an orchestral situation."
The students’ music teachers joined them and gave them one-on-one support as conductor Johanna Brusse directed them.
Ms Tucker said the students rehearsed then performed compositions including a medley from the musical Wicked, the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Dam Busters theme.