Instrumentalists collaborate and develop their repertoire to a professional performance level.
Chamber Music
We enrich our practice with connections to industry professionals and find excellence through performance practice. There are ensembles to suit all ability levels, with all groups encouraged to enter the annual Chamber Music Competition in June. There are many opportunities to perform chamber music in school performances as well as performing in the community at various venues.
Orchestra
The Christ’s College Orchestra is open to any student who plays an orchestral instrument. It holds weekly rehearsals and, in combination with St Margaret’s College, performs several concerts throughout the year at both schools. Each year, players work towards the Orchestra Extravaganza at the end of Term 1, with Christ’s College, St Margaret’s College and Rangi Ruru Girls’ School attending workshops that culminate in a combined public concert.
Several College students have played in national orchestras, including the New Zealand Secondary Schools Symphony Orchestra and the NZ Symphony Orchestra National Youth Orchestra.
Recent Success
2025
- Joshua Padayachee, Jago Wallace, and Oscar Stove were accepted into the New Zealand Secondary Schools Symphony Orchestra (NZSSSO) for the 2025 season.
2022
- At the Chamber Music New Zealand Competition, the Christ’s College Saxophone Quartet won “Best Composition” with James Burt’s “Three Styles for Saxophone Quartet.
- Collaboration St. Margaret’s College in our combined orchestra, with performances each term in the Hall as well as the Charles Luney Auditorium (St. Margaret’s).
- Orchestral Extravaganza - a coming together of independent school orchestral musicians, hosted in the Christ’s College Hall.
- String player masterclasses with the New Zealand String Quartet, hosted in the Music Department Performance Room.Cello Quartet performs “Popper’s Requiem” in assembly.
- String player masterclasses with Elder Conservatorium (Adelaide, Australia) professors Edith Salzmann and Elizabeth Layton, hosted in the music Department Performance Room.
Teachers
Hugo Zanker
Hugo Zanker
Hugo Zanker holds a Graduate Diploma of Teaching and Learning from the University of Canterbury, a Masters of Music in cello performance from Freiburg Music University in Germany, and a Bachelor of Music (Hons) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, UC. Alongside his cello performance skills, Hugo has experience in leading contemporary, classical (solo, chamber, and orchestral music), choral (traditional and contemporary), and jazz ensembles (big band). He has also been involved in sound design, music technology, and composition. Hugo joined College from Christchurch Rudolf Steiner School, having been Head of Music and Head of Digital Technologies.