Sunday 08 March: Home For Summer – Music of Summer and Interactive Art Display.
Caitlin Du
Caitlin has been learning vocal music for two years and has won several awards in competitions, including the 2025 Clevedon Valley Music Foundation Trust Scholarships Festival, the Hamilton Competitions, and the 2025 South Auckland Performing Arts Festival, where she received Junior Vocal Second Place. She enjoys sharing her music with others and plans to continue her singing as much as possible.
Jamie Zhang
Jamie Zhang is a 10-year-old student in New Zealand studying erhu (Grade 9), piano (Grade 5), cello (Grade 7), vocal performance (Grade 4), and musical theatre (Grade 4). She is actively involved in instrumental and vocal training and continues to develop her musical skills alongside a balanced academic education.
Future plans:
Jamie plans to continue developing her musical skills through study and performance.
Jason Wang
Thirteen-year-old Jason Junjie Wang is a Year 10 student at Pukekohe High School, where he is in two bands: the Big Band (piano) and the Wind Band (xylophone and piano). He started learning piano at age nine and, in 2025, achieved the Associate of Trinity College (London) Diploma for Piano Performance, along with the Roulston Challenge Cup (13–15 years recital) and the South Auckland Regional Award (13 years and over) at the SAPACS Festival. He was awarded the Vast Construction Creative Musician Award at the 2025 CVMFT Scholarships Festival and is avidly working towards the Licentiate Diploma exam of Trinity College.
Leo Qin
Leo is an 11-year-old pianist and composer from New Zealand. He has been learning piano since the age of five and has recently started to explore composition. In addition to piano, he is currently studying voice and music theory, which support his musical expression and compositional development. During his piano practice, he often explores improvisation, gradually developing a strong interest in composition. Creating his own music has become a natural extension of his playing, and he enjoys performing his original works alongside classical repertoire.
Ryan Qiao
Ryan Qiao is a young violinist, violist, and pianist from Auckland. He holds an ABRSM Diploma (ARSM) in violin with distinction and Grade 8 viola with high distinction. Ryan currently studies with Dr John Thompson and MingLun Liu and has achieved great success in both solo and chamber music. He has played in various chamber groups and performed in many concerts and public events. Ryan was the winner in violin and chamber music at the 2024 UK International Music Competition, where he also received the Best Chamber Leadership Award, and earned a Silver Award at the 2024 and 2025 Singapore International Music Competition. He has been awarded the 2024 MSO Violin Scholarship, the 2025 MSO Dr Tom Worriss Scholarship, and the 2026 MSO Orchestra Scholarship. He was the winner of the CVMFT Scholarship Competition in both 2024 and 2025 and has also won various SAPACS instrumental group awards in 2024 and 2025. He is currently the Associate Principal Violist at the New Classics Sinfonia and a violinist with the Manukau Symphony Orchestra. He is also the concertmaster of his school’s orchestra. Outside of music, Ryan enjoys rock climbing, tennis, and teaching music to his students.
Abigail Judson
Abigail Judson is a neurodivergent wildlife and animal painter and, more recently, photographer. Born and raised in Tāmaki Makaurau, she has been on a journey to connect more deeply with the wild places we still have within the super city. Between her horses and her love for wildlife, her work always carries a strong connection to the natural world.
Mackenzie Alley
Mackenzie is a 19-year-old artist entering third year of a Bachelor of Fine Arts/Global Studies conjoint degree at the University of Auckland. Having enjoyed sketching and painting since early childhood, she is thrilled to be pursuing this passion in higher education and to have opportunities like this to show her work. She has always had an interest
in depicting people and places that are important to her, capturing the associated feelings and memories instead of aiming for realism. In May2020, Mackenzie exhibited work in Sarasota, Florida for Embracing Our Differences. Then, in 2024, her paintings were displayed nationwide as part of the NZQA Top Art Exhibition, and then featured in the student exhibition EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT at Elam’s Project Space gallery in March 2025.
In March 2026one of her works will be showing at the George Fraser Gallery in Auckland City as part of the exhibition People we take with us, songs we sing together. Joint winner of
the 2025 Henrietta and Lola Ann Tunbridge prize for watercolour painting, Mackenzie is
looking forward to embracing new media and practices throughout this year and in 2027, as she commences her capstone project at Elam School of Fine Arts.
Maria Gow, soprano
Maria is a multi-faceted talented artist who has achieved Excellence grades in both Visual Arts and Music in NZQA Level 3. Coming from a family of established professional painters, Maria has developed strong skills in painting and sketching, and in handcrafts.
She is also an accomplished soprano with a rich cultural heritage, embracing her Russian and Kiwi/Scottish ancestry and is fully bilingual in Russian and English. Born in New Zealand with family in Central Europe, Maria has been passionate about singing from a young age, giving her first performance at just seven years old.
An experienced performer, Maria has participated in many choral and solo performances for both English-speaking and Russian audiences, achieving an Honours pass in Grade 8 NZMEB singing in 2025 and winning numerous awards at several competition festivals around the North Island. She plans to commence a BMus Performance degree at the University of Waikato in 2026.
Sunday 7th June 2026 – “Crosscurrents – Jazz and Concert Bands Converge”
Top young groups swing and soothe.
Saem Millward; Olivia Duan – soprano (invited) ; Ariane Cordeiro – saxophone (confirmed); St Ignatius – Stuart Gibbs – St Ignatius; Steve Granshaw – Pukekohe High School
For further information, contact the Chairperson CVMFT (Gina Sanders) at enquiries@cvmft.org or 09 2928047
Sunday 13th September 2026 – “Choral Showcase”
Agnes Wong – piano; Kākahu Coughlan – soprano; Maria Gow – soprano; Samuel Mataele; CAMA Ensemble and 1-2more Choirs
For further information, contact the Chairperson CVMFT (Gina Sanders) at enquiries@cvmft.org or 09 2928047
Sunday 4 October: Scholarships Sunday.
