North Shore Student Gets Royal Audience

Practice pays for Browns Bay resident, Wei-ting Shyu, a 14 year-old harpist who performed for an exclusive dinner on 5 November at Auckland’s Government House, in honour of HRH Prince Edward the Earl of Wessex.

Hosted by The Governor-General of New Zealand, the Honourable Anand Satyanand and Mrs Susan Satyanand, guests included members of the British High Commission, dignitaries and members of the judiciary among others. The dinner is the Royal’s final engagement in a three-day New Zealand visit.

Ms Shyu’s name was put forward to the organisers of the dinner by Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Harpist, Rebecca Harris, who noted the young musician’s immense gifts since teaching her privately in 2005. Ms Shyu is an APO Secondary School Scholar – the youngest to have been accepted in the programme’s history. The scholarship, supported by The Trusts, grants her intensive one-on-one training to learn orchestral performance with an APO section leader.

Initially taught by her mother, also a harpist, Ms Shyu had exhibited prodigious talent for music from an early age. She is presently a scholar of the Corelli School of Arts, and performs an active schedule solo recitals and ensemble concerts throughout the year.