When it came time to choose an instrument to audition for the 2019 New Zealand Secondary Schools Symphony Orchestra, Connor Bedwell was left scratching his head.
That is because the Logan Park High School pupil can play piano, saxophone, oboe, bassoon, cor anglais, and more recently started learning to play the tuba.
In the end, he found it too difficult to choose one, so he auditioned on his favourite three - oboe, bassoon and tuba.
Previously, he was selected to play in the 2018 orchestra on oboe and cor anglais, but he is excited about the 2019 orchestra because he has been selected to play tuba.
"It's loud and low - what more could you want. They're quite different instruments."
The Dunedin Youth Orchestra member is one of 15 Dunedin and Invercargill musicians who have been selected for national secondary school ensembles in 2019.
Fellow Logan Park High School pupil Cameron Monteath has been selected for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Symphony Orchestra on viola, along with Columba College pupils Victoria Williamson (principal 2nd violin) and Skyla Murray (2nd violin), Kavanagh College pupil Sebastian Hook (2nd violin), Otago Boys' High School pupils Boudewijn Keenan (cello), Otago Girls' High School pupil Rose Stevenson (1st violin) and Verdon College pupil Alexander Lindsay (2nd violin).
Under conductor Uwe Grodd, they will perform Overture to Colas Breugnon (Dmitri Kabalevsky), Concerto for Marimba and String Orchestra (Emmanuel Sejourne) and Mahler Symphony No 1, at the Charles Luney Auditorium, in Christchurch, on April 27.
The southern region has also shown it has a rich pool of singing talent, after seven pupils were selected for the 2019-20 New Zealand Secondary Students' Choir.
They are Kieran Kelly (Kavanagh College), Rosie Auchinvole (Columba College), Jack Fisher and Ronan Geraghty (Otago Boys' High School), Aidan Hung (John McGlashan College), Jesse Hanan (Bayfield High School) and Emma Jones (Southland Girls' High School).
The choir will meet many times throughout 2019 and 2020 to rehearse and give concerts, including in Dunedin from September 30 to October 6 in 2019.
