Staff

Anne Filimoehala was raised in a musical family. Her father, a musician himself, dedicated his life to brass bands in Tonga and taught Anne and her siblings how to play a brass instrument. She learnt how to play the tenor horn at the age of 6 where she then went on to join the Auckland City Youth brass band along with her siblings, learning from Andrew Leech and the late Mike Ryan. She then played for Howick Brass under the baton of Graeme Brown and is currently the principal solo horn for the Waitakere Auckland Brass and Central Auckland Brass Band.

In 2015, Anne competed in the junior horn’s solo competitions for the New Zealand National Brass Championships, where she placed 1st in the Horns and qualified to Junior championships, and placed 3rd overall. In 2016, she competed in the regional under 19’s solo competition, both fast melody and slow melody where she placed first in both, and won both awards again for the same category in 2017. In 2018, she competed in the open age category, where she gained first place in the slow melody class, qualifying for the champions of champions slow melody category which she also won. 

In addition to playing the Tenor Horn, Anne started learning the violin when she was 9 years old. She has learnt from many violinists including Izabel Mandache, Iselta Allison, John Seager, William Hanfling, Dean Major and Elizabeth Holowell. In 2021, Anne graduated from the University of Auckland with a BMus (Hons) under the tutelage of Mark Bennett, majoring in Classical Performance in violin.

Anne has recently been appointed as Lead Tutor at Sistema Aotearoa, where she teaches Violin, Viola and Brass. She also teaches at ACG Parnell, is the co-founder of “The Terrific Trio & Co.” concert series, and also runs her own studio where she teaches privately.

Musicians, Registered Primary and ECE Teachers, Music therapists with a wide range of musical and teaching experience and skills together form a strong and multifaceted and culturally appropriate team to meet the holistic needs of the programme. Experienced instrumental specialists lead each instrumental programme, overseeing the design and delivery of curricula.

An important part of the delivery team is Community Aide Maeryn Pokaia. Mae, parent of 3 girls in the programme, is the welcoming face at the registration desk each day. Mae looks after the student attendances, ensures smooth communication with our parents, and runs the child refreshments – she’s a certified food handler too!  What a great lady.

Build on the success of this rangatahi development programme, we have expanded our team of paid rangatahi tutors to a pool of 15 dedicated and highly capable young leaders. With a range of mentoring and support in place from our tīma of supportive tutors, our rangatahi tutors continue to grow in confidence, developing their teaching skills and supporting their wellbeing by developing themselves as positive role models for our tamariki.

Our rangatahi tutors have a deep understanding of the strengths and capabilities of our ākonga and have developed a fantastic individual manner and style with the children. Their communication skills are developing rapidly through this opportunity, and it is clear the impact that they are having on our younger tamariki. They provide positive role models, model behaviour, lead positive team activities, and create a supportive and positive environment within the tutor tīma.

Helping with the programme are many parents, and other supporters from the Otara community and from wider Auckland. These wonderful supporters are involved in many aspects of the programme including fund raising, assisting at sessions and events, and helping with administrative tasks. Without our amazing parent / whanau we simply couldn’t function.

Parent volunteers helping with sessions and concert supervision.