Congratulations to Ada Zhang (Year 13), who has been selected to participate in the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand (SGCNZ) National Shakespeare Schools’ Production (NSSP) taking place in Wellington later this year.

 

This prestigious achievement follows Ada’s success at the SGCNZ Victoria University of Wellington National Shakespeare Festival, where she was named Supreme Winner in the SGCNZ / Morrison Music Trust Shakespeare Composition Competition. This is a special win for Ada, a talented pianist and cellist, who will attend NSSP as the composer for the three plays that are performed: 

 

“I would have never expected that my passion for music would end up opening a door into a rehearsal room full of Shakespeare, actors and live performance.

 

“Being selected as the Student Composer of this project feels like stepping into a new creative environment, with the opportunity to work alongside the directors and actors as scenes are blocked, reworked and redefined. I am especially looking forward to the collaborative process in these rehearsals, observing how scenes develop the music and character as the production takes shape.

 

“Overall, I am incredibly excited to be part of this process and look forward to contributing to such an extraordinary production,” says Ada. 

 

SGCNZ NSSP is a residential intensive week of workshops and rehearsals, from 26 September to 4 October. The culminating public performances will take place on 2-3 October. One student is selected from each regional festival to take part in SGCNZ NSSP, and the remaining students are chosen by NSSP selectors at the national festival for NSSP 2026. From the 48 students that make up the NSSP company, 24 will be selected to form the SGCNZ Young Shakespeare Company (YSC) 2027. This select group will spend 10 days at Shakespeare’s Globe in London in July next year.

 

Ada’s achievement follows on from a range of Kristin students’ achievements over a number of years:

 

• Kristin groups have been selected to perform at the SGCNZ National Festival every year since 2019 (9 groups in total) 

• Kristin students have been recognised with National Awards in 2019, 2020, 2023, 2025 and 2026 (10 awards in total)

• Kristin students have been selected to participate in the SGCNZ NSSP programme in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2025 and 2026 (11 in total)

• Kristin students have been selected to be part of the SGCNZ Young Shakespeare Company in 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2026 (7 in total).

• In 2025, Benjamin Higgins (Year 13) was selected for the YSC and is heading to London this July. 

 

Congratulations, Ada, and a huge thank you to our amazing Performing Arts team at Kristin, whose hard work and dedication have truly laid the groundwork for these incredible selections and achievements.