Auckland’s top jazz schools combine for Mega Big Band performance

It was jazz on a grand scale when our College musicians collaborated with Rangitoto College and Sancta Maria College to form the High School Mega Big Band. Fresh from being named the top three big bands at the 2025 Auckland Jazz Band Competition, the schools came together, this time without forethought of competition, to simply perform for the love of music.

With only three rehearsals hosted at our College, the combined band learned twenty charts for a two-hour performance at the Auckland Jazz and Blues Club, held at the Birkenhead RSA on 23 September. Performing classics by Ellington, Basie, and Sinatra, the programme was as ambitious as it was entertaining.

Saint Kentigern was represented by Nathan Dick (vocals), Jayden Lee (alto saxophone), Lawrence Liu and Samuel Sun (tenor saxophones), Preston Tee and Cobain Birchall (trumpets), Seamus Wong, Mathew Stubbs, Josh Davies (trombones), Antoni Dick and Arden Matheson (bass), Oscar Gu (drums), and James Moyes (guitar). An opportunity to learn from their peers and a variety of conductors offered a new fine-tuning to their craft. Directors Nate Collings and Albert Lee, alongside colleagues Markus and Lukas Fritsch led the twenty-seven-strong group.

Head of Music, Nate Collings, noted the energy was “palpable in every rehearsal,” with students gaining not only musical growth but also the unique experience of being part of something bigger than their own school band.

The High School Mega Big Band closed to the same rousing applause that greeted its opening number. For the students, it was a rare chance to experience the scale and spontaneity of a professional-style big band. The night underlined that, much like jazz itself, collaboration and improvisation are what keep music alive.