Not Every Star Shines in the Same Way
There have been suggestions over the years that we change the name, but Night of the Stars has endured for as long as I have been at Saints. Perhaps that is because a “star” has never needed to mean just one thing.
Across Visual Arts, Music, Drama and Dance, our students shine in wonderfully different ways. Some command a stage. Some fill a room with music. Some tell stories through movement or make an audience laugh. Others work with colour, line, texture and form, creating art that asks us to stop, look and see the world differently.
Our artists are just as varied as their art. She can be the basketball player and the singer. The mathematician and the actor. The academic who finds another language on a canvas. The quiet student who steps onto a stage and surprises us all. For some, the arts are their whole world. For others, they reveal another side of who they are.
That is what Night of the Stars celebrates: not one definition of talent, not one kind of confidence, and not one way to be creative or courageous. It creates a space for young people to discover how they shine.
We congratulate all our 2026 Night of the Stars performers and artists, and particularly the following students who were recognised:
Music
- Junior Strings: 1st Akhisu Mbuyazi (Grade 8); 2nd Yixuan Zou (Grade 8)
- Junior Woodwinds: 1st Tanyaradzwa Mucheke (Grade 8); 2nd Elizabeth Morrison (Grade 9); 3rd Babalwa Mbolambi (Grade 8)
- Junior Contemporary Voice: 1st Isabel Kaluba (Grade 9); 2nd Mbasakazi Magafela (Grade 9)
- Junior Classical Voice: 1st Luyanda Bako (Grade 9); 2nd Kate Hadfield (Grade 9)
- Junior Piano: 1st Yuxuan Chi (Grade 8); 2nd Wendy Lin (Grade 8); 3rd Shante Naidoo (Grade 9)
Junior Overall Winner: Akhisu Mbuyazi (Grade 8)
- Senior Woodwinds: 1st Yalatha Holomisa (Grade 10); 2nd Shreya Kuseeal (Grade 11)
- Senior Contemporary Voice: 1st Ndzalama Mkhari (Grade 10); 2nd Oneo Madiba (Grade 10); 3rd Zinzile Dube (Grade 11)
- Senior Classical Voice: 1st Elizabeth Greyling (Grade 10); 2nd Iminathi Ngxabani (Grade 11)
- Senior Piano: 1st Nikita Strydom (Grade 10); 2nd Skye Rautenbach (Grade 11)
- Senior Strings: 1st Natalie Chiang (Grade 10); 2nd Nicole Wanyoto (Grade 10); 3rd Kesar Bhala (Grade 11)
- Musical Theatre: 1st Mokgadi Moeng (Grade 10); 2nd Luyolo Matyolo (Grade 11); 3rd Hlonela Mrwetyana (Grade 11)
- Senior Overall Winner: Natalie Chiang (Grade 10)
Dramatic Arts
- Junior Comic Monologues: 1st Yakhani Holomisa (Grade 9); 2nd Kesia Nunn (Grade 9); 3rd Wadiwa Mwamuka (Grade 9)
- Junior Drama Monologues: 1st Khanya Ramahali (Grade 9); 2nd Zoe Joel (Grade 9); 3rd Destine Mpamo (Grade 9)
- Junior Spoken Word: 1st Awande Mpupuni (Grade 8); 2nd Fumo Mafuwane (Grade 8)
- Junior Drama Top Performer of the Evening: Khanya Ramahali (Grade 9)
- Senior Comic Monologues: 1st Khanya Poswa (Grade 10); 2nd Mmasentle Maku (Grade 11); 3rd Khensani Kulu (Grade 10)
- Senior Drama Monologues: 1st Nobuhle Cele (Grade 10); 2nd Sophia Comninos (Grade 10); 3rd Gianna Matsose (Grade 10)
- Senior Classical Monologues: 1st Nombulelo Kumalo (Grade 10); 2nd Rorisang Kwele (Grade 11); 3rd Erin Carshagen (Grade 10)
- Senior Drama Top Performer of the Evening: Khanya Poswa (Grade 10)
Dance
- Junior Dance: 1st Chelsey Angelo (Grade 8); 2nd Elizabeth Morrison (Grade 9)
Visual Arts
Certificates of Achievement were awarded to:
- Vishwa Bhala (Grade 8)
- Tehilla Njozela (Grade 8)
- Isabel Kaluba (Grade 9)
- Amelia Henning (Grade 9)
- Jodie Shipalana (Grade 9)
- Daniella Tolmay (Grade 9)
- Biance Wren (Grade 10)
- Claudia Wagner (Grade 10)
- Lyre Perumal (Grade 11)
- Skye Rautenbach (Grade 11)
- Katekani Mbiza (Grade 11)
- Lara Downing (Grade 11)
Night of the Stars reminds us that there is no single way to shine — and when we create space for each of our students to do so, we get to see just how extraordinary the whole sky can be.
Photo credit: Sam Nupen
