RockQuest 2026 - Regional Heats

On Saturday 16 May, a huge number of musicians from Dunedin’s high schools took to the stage at Taieri College to share their songs and music with a large and appreciative audience, and to battle it out for the top honours in RockQuest, a long-standing, nationwide music competition.

The event was organised into two sessions and provided an awesome opportunity for local rangatahi to perform their own, original work in front of a live audience. The students gave it their all and it was wonderful to see so much talent, creativity, and passion on display.

Trinity had six separate entries in RockQuest this year - five bands and one solo performer:

• Lola Murphy

• The Velveteen (Made Newson, Theodora Clarke-Wallace, Daphne Kendrick & Casey Revill)

• Niche (Callum Westwood, Ezra Bennett, Max Cathro, Monty Murphy, Laura McCartney, Camila Barns & Jake Berzuela)

• Promise (Frances Taylor, Jemma McKenzie, Jessica Proudfoot, Torah Kelderman & Christel Jose)

• The Late News (Joseph Kelly, Ché McGivern, Harry Lodge & Akein Wickramagedara)

• Eris (Rishi Shantapriyan plus students from two other schools)

The Trinity students all did a fantastic job - and special congratulations to the following four bands that have made it through to the Regional Finals which will take place on 19 June at the Regent Theatre:

• The Velveteen

• Niche

• The Late News

• Eris

A huge thank you to Ms Watts for all her support, encouragement, and musical expertise in helping and inspiring the Trinity musicians in their preparation for RockQuest.