Three former students – or a third of the 2016 VCE performing arts class – have been selected to audition for the prestigious Top Class Concert in March.

Jack Gillard, Chiara Angeli and Jade Martin were all chosen after they achieved A plus marks in their performance exam, in which Jack created a vaudeville character, Chiara did a comedy and song routine and Jade undertook perhaps the hardest of all, surrealism.

The trio will audition over the next two days for the concert, which will be held at the Melbourne Recital Centre on March 2 and 3 and features the best VCE performers of 2016.

Damascus College performing arts coordinator Andrew Seary said to have three selected to audition was very rare, with most schools getting a performer selected every few years.

“It’s quite exciting,” Mr Seary said.

“These dedicated former students have worked hard over the holidays to be ready for the audition process.”

He said the students created their performances from “the ground up” using research, writing, performance and production skills.

At the concert, the students also speak about the preparation of their solo work.

Chiara said she took up performing arts to “get to play a different character” and explore her own talent.

She said when she was looking at the 10 different categories they could choose from, she gravitated straight to the song section.

“I saw song and I thought songs are cool,” she said.

Jade wanted something different from her other classes and thought surrealism would offer the chance to create “fun characters”.

Jack said he had always loved vaudelile and “I always knew I wanted to perform”.

The trio has spent the past few weeks watching videos of their pre-exam performances and “rejigging little things”.