This article was first published in December 2023.
A Christchurch college has amassed thousands of views on a video from its prize-giving ceremony in which over 100 students played a cover of the classic Led Zeppelin song 'Stairway to Heaven'.
The live performance was the main event at the St Andrews College ceremony, with some 3500 attendees left in "absolute awe" by the cover of the 1971 classic rock anthem.
In a Facebook post, the college said they were "overwhelmed" by the thousands of comments and views the video had received.
"Wow – we are truly overwhelmed and profoundly grateful for the incredible response that our video has garnered thus far," the post read.
"The 100 performers on stage poured their hearts into the performance, leaving the audience in absolute awe. The standing ovation from many parents echoed the sentiment-truly a performance to remember."
The school's head of music, Duncan Ferguson, told RNZ they had spent many hours practicing and pulling the show together.
"This year, particularly year 12s and 13s, a lot are good guitarists and drummers, and there's really an emphasis on rock with them. So, we wanted to do something which could blend that and use our school orchestra and our choir.
"This arrangement that we came across is by the band Heart, who did it as part of a tribute concert to Led Zeppelin. We got it arranged for our orchestra and it was the right piece of music for the right year group, so it came together really well."
Ferguson also said none of the students were initially thrilled at the idea as none of them knew of Led Zeppelin or the song itself.
Comments on the video have praised the students for their performance.
"Outstanding - brought tears to our eyes. Epic production of this mega classic," one said.
Another said they'd been left "emotional" after watching.
