A combined choir and orchestra was the first of 16 acts to perform at the 46th annual Otago Secondary Schools' Music Festival at the Dunedin Town Hall last night.
The choir and orchestra, conducted by Johanna Brusse, performed God Defend New Zealand to open the show.
More than 600 pupils from 17 schools participated in the festival, which featured a jazz band, a string ensemble, and a soprano, among others.
Logan Park music teacher John Dodd is a member of the committee that organises the festival every year.
He said this year, for the first time ever, Dunedin Venues Management Ltd offered to host the festival free of charge at the Town Hall.
''To have it for free was fantastic,'' he said.
''We could pass that on to the community as a free concert ... I think we had quite a larger audience than we normally do.''
