Director of Music: Stuart Weightman
Stuart was Director of Choral Studies at Saint Kentigern School, Shore Road, Auckland until the end of 2008 when he changed direction to become a Funeral Director with Davis Funeral Services in Mount Eden.
He is actively involved in the Auckland choral scene. He is frequently sought after as a guest conductor in New Zealand and in Australia, He has tutored for R.S.C.M. workshops. He held the position of Director of Music for the Auckland Youth Choir, initiating the ‘Celebration of Youth’ concerts bringing together the Auckland Boys’, Auckland Girls’ and Auckland Youth Choirs and the Aotea Youth Symphony.
Stuart has held Music Specialist positions at Southwell School, Hamilton, Kristin School, Albany, Dilworth Junior Campus, Auckland and Director of Choral Music at both the Junior and Senior Campuses at Dilworth.
Accompanist: Edwin Randell
Edwin studied and finished his B Mus (Hons.) degree at the University of Pretoria in 1997 where he majored in Piano and Composition under the guidance of Prof. Joseph Stanford and Prof. Henk Temmingh. During his studies he won several bursaries including a SAMRO scholarship for music studies in Southern Africa and also the DJ Roode Overseas Scholarship for Teachers’ Licentiate from UNISA in 1994. He also had a few piano compositions published for the UNISA Piano Examination Syllabus and won the UNISA Composition Competition for new Grade 8 pieces in 1994. Edwin studied piano in Germany at the Hochschule fur Musik in Wurzburg and in 1998 received a further scholarship from the Italian Embassy to study clarinet in Italy.
Back in South Africa, Edwin worked at several schools teaching music and performing in classical concerts and in 2002 released a CD album called Southern Skies. In 2004 he became the Music Centre Manager at St Mary’s DSG. A couple of years later he gave up teaching and played professionally in Musicals for about 5 years. He has ever since played regularly with South African theatres, as Band Leader/MD in many musicals and pantomime including Chicago, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Lion King, Rent and The Buddy Holly Story.
In 2007 he was appointed the AMD in the Queen musical, ‘We Will Rock You’ and this took him all over Australasia. It was during this tour that he met his wife in New Zealand and currently he lives in Auckland where he works as Assistant Musical Director for Saint Kentigern Boys’ School. Edwin still composes music, does lots of arrangements for school bands and choirs, plays many instruments and loves spending time with his family. He has two young boys aged 4 and 2. Edwin has recently written his first children’s musical and was recently the 4th keyboard player for Mamma Mia, the musical.
