A Year in Arts Worth Replaying

Celebrating the Arts, the College’s annual Performing Arts Awards evening, brought students, families and staff together to recognise a year of music, drama, dance and cultural performance.

Our Jazz Combo greeted guests in the foyer, and inside, tables decorated by the Arts Council each took their theme from a different area of the performing arts. When everyone was seated, the Pipes and Drums opened the evening, followed by a high-energy performance from our Big Band in collaboration with a dance troupe. From there, the night moved between performances and award presentations, beginning with a look back over the year from Arts Prefects Tamsin Low and Caleb Bisley.

The jazz programme has had a year most bands would frame, and the Big Band arrived with a KBB Music Festival Gold and a Top 4 Gala spot in its back pocket. It returned later in the night with a string section and was just as sharp the second time round. The award-winning Simple Solutions Saxophone Quartet, the Year 13 dancers and a scene from The Tempest also featured between presentations.

With the greatest crowd participation all night, our theatresports team got hold of Mark Thomas, Deputy Principal Physical and Creative Learning, and replayed two of his biggest days – landing his dream job at the College and his wedding. Neither had been performed with this much commitment as done by our students. The hall erupted into hysterics when an impersonation of Associate Principal Duncan McQueen, reimagined him as a Cairn leprechaun press-ganging students into laying rocks on the new roundabout monument. 

Closing the night were our Performer of the Year awards. Khloe Shivnan was named Middle School Performer of the Year, claiming the title in absentia, while away dancing at the Performing Arts Competitions Association of New Zealand.

The final presentation of the night, Senior School Performer of the Year, went to Jaden Lee. If 2026 had a soundtrack at the College, Jaden played on a fair chunk of it. As the Big Band’s soloist, he won the Best Ballad award at the KBB Music Festival, and as tenor saxophonist in Simple Solutions, he shared the National KBB Music Award at the Chamber Music Contest. On the night, he added the Jack Morris Cup for Jazz Performance and the Boyd Cup for Excellence in Music Performance.

By the time the final cups were handed out, the evening had done what it set out to do. It gave a year of rehearsals, results and late nights one more airing, and made a strong case that 2026 was a year worth replaying.

2026 Performing Arts Awards

Major Awards

Middle School Performer of the Year: Khloe Shivnan
Senior School Performer of the Year: Jaden Lee

The Jane Horder Cup for Gratitude and Strength: Isabel Gillbert

Middle School
Outstanding Contribution to Music: Samuel Xu
Outstanding Contribution to Drama: Pippa Ensor
Outstanding Contribution to Dance: Maddy Kay

Pipes and Drums
The Lane Trophy for Service to the Pipes and Drums: Matthew Morelli
The Pipes and Drums Trophy for Most Improved Player: Ricco Korewha

Cultural
Māori Performing Arts Taonga: Malakai Hutchinson
Pasifika Performing Arts Cup: Caroline Kaifa

Music
The Welsh Cup for Band Music: Damian Yik
The Jack Morris Cup for Jazz Performance: Jaden Lee
The Olney Choir Cup: Violet Taylor
The Nelson Lam Cup for Orchestral Music: Waner Xu
The Tyne Contemporary Music Cup: Sean Folley
The Chamber Cup: Matthew Stubbs
Most Improved Musician of the Year: Jacob Santiago
The Boyd Cup for Excellence in Music Performance: Jaden Lee
The Pollock Shield for Outstanding Contribution to Music: Lawrence Liu

Drama
The Leman Cup for Excellence in Drama Performance: Luka Urlich
The Bard Cup: Ruby Mapson
Most Improved Dramatist of the Year: Milly MacLeod
The James Wenley Cup for Outstanding Contribution to Drama: Caleb Bisley
The Theatresports Cup: Isobel Jacobs
The Chadderton Family Drama Cup: Ella Taylor

Dance
The Monet Galea-Hewitt Cup for Most Improved Dancer of the Year: Mae Lonergan
The Rochelle Craig Cup for Outstanding Contribution to Dance: Elise Wall
The Tempo Dance Cup for Best Choreography: Tamsin Low
Excellence in Dance Performance: Sophie McIndoe
The Dance Production Cup: Ashton Campbell

Performing Arts
The Music Drama Cup: Luka Urlich
The Production Cup: Marcus Liu