25 April, 2026

Local players share in brass band’s first national title

Teen bandsman… Devonport’s Dimitrious Koulanis won the Junior Slow Melody title at the New Zealand Brass Band Championships

It took more than 100 years, but North Shore Brass is finally able to revel in the title of the nation’s best band.
Several musicians from Devonport were key contributors as the band secured top spot at the New Zealand Brass Band Championships in Wellington this month, unseating the seven-times-in-a row national champion Wellington Brass Band. “We were celebrating into the wee small hours,” band president Owen Melhuish told the Flagstaff. “I’m super proud, it’s been a long time coming.”
Individual successes were also toasted. Among them was 17-year-old Dimitrious Koulanis from Devonport, who won the Junior Slow Melody title at the champs. The cornet player, who attends St Peter’s College, also placed third in the overall Junior Champion of Champions section.
Another Devonport resident, Murray Borthwick, was principal horn in the winning band. Dominic Cornfield, a cornet player from Devonport, was also involved in the big weekend.

Seven North Shore Brass players had the added honour of performing in a National Band of New Zealand concert after the championships. Six were from the winning A-grade band, the seventh being 11-year-old Celine Wu, an invited soloist on cornet from the Academy Band, who won the U15 Slow Melody.
Celine, from Sunnynook, will be at the Anzac Day parade in Devonport this week, playing the Last Post. North Shore Brass will lead the Takapuna Anzac parade.
Originally known as Takapuna Brass Band, the organisation celebrated its centenary with a concert at the Bruce Mason Centre three years ago. Its top band won the New Zealand Championship Gold Cup under a guest conductor, Nigel Weeks from Nelson, against competitors from across the country, Australia and Tonga.

Melhuish said Weeks’ contribution was part of a planned transition, with its conductor of recent years, Harmen Vanhoorne, intending to return to Europe. Under his baton, the band has come close to national titles before, including third place in 2024 and 2025, and is reigning Auckland champion.
Going all the way this year was something Melhuish put down “to a little bit of extra effort, hard work and graft, and good music choice”.
The “own choice” selection – one of three works each band is judged on – was A Brussels Requiem, nodding to Belgium-born Vanhoorne.
The band’s percussion section was named best section overall for its test piece performance.
Individual winners: Aishah Leitner, who is now based in Christchurch as a member of the New Zealand Army Band, slipped back into her North Shore blue jacket to win a title she has been chasing for five years, winning the Invitation Slow Melody competition. She was also Open Trombone Champion; cornet player and band linchpin John Sullivan from Birkenhead claimed the overall Masters Champion title; Nigel Weeks was recognised as conductor of the champion band, in what was his seventh A-grade victory, but the first since 2004. He was also best conductor of the test piece section.