The sound of 200 excited young music-makers filled the Auckland Town Hall early this month as they eagerly awaited the first instalment of our new Symphony Uncovered Series event for secondary schools. Following the 2025 retirement of our Discovery Concert after a 37-year tenure, this new music education initiative provides students with a rare behind-the-scenes experience with a professional orchestra in a meaningful and educational setting.
On 2 April, 200 rangatahi from Botany Downs Secondary College, Westlake Girls High School, Glendowie College and Seventh Day Adventist College took part in our inaugural Symphony Uncovered Series event in the Auckland Town Hall. To facilitate learning and engagement, prior to the session teachers were sent a tailored study guide to our Boléro concert programme that included information about how our Artistic Director, Gale Mahood, selected this programme, and introduced the concert’s conductor Eivind Aadland and guest soloist, Amalia Hall. The guide also shared in-depth insights from music educator Naomi Rogers that covered the historical context behind the repertoire, background information on the featured composers, key listening points and NCEA-linked exercises to complete in class. The guide also featured te reo Māori translations woven throughout, so that students can incorporate musical phrases such as “contemporary composer” and “pentatonic scales” into their own reo.
Following a greeting and introduction led by our Learn & Participate team in the Auckland Town Hall’s Concert Chamber, the students took their seats in the beautiful Great Hall and watched the dress rehearsal for our sold-out Boléro concert.
Students from Seventh Day Adventist College & Westlake Girls High School experiencing conductor Eivind Aadland in action
Once the rehearsal began, a hush fell over our expectant audience. The orchestra began with Debussy’s Printemps, a beautiful work full of tonal colours and textures. When rehearsal of this work concluded, the conductor gave brief notes, before moving onto a New Zealand piece – Michael Norris’ Violin Concerto Sama, which was performed ferociously by Amalia Hall. After this, the composer himself came up to the stage to give notes to the conductor, various members of the orchestra, and Amalia herself. These behind-the-scenes moments gave the students valuable insights into our orchestra, a new element that hasn’t been offered to schools previously.
After an opportunity for the students to give feedback to our Learn & Participate team about how they found the music and ask questions, the second half of the rehearsal began with a beautiful selection of French music. Firstly, selections from Fauré’s Masques & Bergamasques, and then the famous Sicilienne. And finally, the rehearsal ended with the crown jewel of the programme, Ravel’s Boléro. You could hear a pin drop as Principal Percussionist Eric Renick began the unmistakable snare drum motif, almost impossibly softly. One-by-one each section dropped in, morphing and building until the staggering finish. The students were transfixed as the Auckland Town Hall exploded with sound.
Following the rehearsal’s conclusion, the students returned to the Concert Chamber, where they were joined by conductor Eivind, soloist Amalia and Principal Percussionist Eric Renick for a Q&A led by Claudia Ruff from our Learn & Participate team. Claudia began the Q&A by asking the artists some directed questions, then the students were given the floor - as young student musicians themselves, this was their chance to ask professional musicians at the top of the game all their burning questions.
Claudia Ruff facilitating the Q&A with Eivind Aadland, Amalia Hall & Eric Renick
Through our Learn & Participate programme we have provided concert experiences for schools Auckland-wide for over 30 years, welcoming thousands of students to venues across the city annually. Symphony Uncovered Series is an opportunity primarily offered to secondary schools involved in the Auckland Phil In Schools programme, an annual partnership scheme that works with 50 Auckland schools to provide mentoring and performances both in school and the concert hall. Students studying Music at the University of Auckland are also welcome to attend this new series.
Whilst the Discovery concert involved more students (over 1000 students in one day, compared to 200 for Symphony Uncovered), fewer students meant there was more space for the individual students to feel the impact of the event and provided space for deeper connections. Not only could students ask the artists their own questions, but there was also space for them to talk to the Learn & Participate team to share their thoughts on the experience. Teachers were able to have thorough discussions with our staff in the breaks, enhancing greater dialogue and understanding of their music education needs and situation.
In this new schools programme, the students watched the orchestra play in their regular clothes, rather than their formal concert dress. Experiencing these high calibre musicians at the top of their game, performing in everyday clothes, broke down barriers between the students and our musicians, inspiring Aotearoa’s next generation of musical stars to picture themselves on the Auckland Town Hall stage in the future.
Our Learn & Participate will host three further Symphony Uncovered events this year in June, July and October.