The Auckland Primary Principals Association Schools’ Music Festival is a proud Auckland tradition.

Held annually over eight nights in November, the Festival is a wonderful celebration of music in which more than 4,500 children from schools throughout Auckland participate. It is no doubt the largest festival of its type held in New Zealand. Each night has its own special character and repertoire, with a variety of choral, instrumental, dance and cultural items on the programme.

Also featuring on every night are fine young musicians who are part of an orchestra or band from the “3-Day Course”.

These groups get together for the first time in the last week of Term Three each year. This is then followed by a few Saturday or Sunday rehearsals and a lot of practice at home; then they are ready to perform!

The concert also includes school groups representing Māori, Samoan, Cook Island and Chinese cultures each night,  rounding up what is an amazing musical and cultural concert over the eight nights.

The Auckland Primary Principals Association is extremely grateful to the Festival conductors and their teams for sharing their musical expertise and skills. The concerts are always of an extremely high standard.

We also appreciate the commitment by the principals, choir trainers, accompanists, conductors and tutors from the participating schools who make this event possible. We acknowledge the many hours of practise, rehearsal and organisation that have gone into preparing the children for the special festival.