IMP News

On Monday 9 March, 85 members of the Fort Street Vocal Ensemble took part in the first combined rehearsal for the NSW Arts Unit Secondary Choral Festival “in Concert”. This event will bring together over 1000 singers from around NSW, and once again, Fort Street was the largest single cohort of singers from a single school at this event. The festival performance will take place in Sydney Opera House on Wednesday 3 June. The repertoire for this incredible event will include Faure’s Requiem, the Songs from Grimm’s Farytales by Australian Composer Luke Byrne (who has also written music for the Fort Street Wind Ensemble), and music from Wicked, featuring Lucy Durack (Glinda from the Sydney run of the musical). They will be accompanied by the incredible NSW Public Schools Symphony Orchestra.

The NSW Public Schools Symphony Orchestra is just one of the 8 weekly ensembles run by the Arts Unit, and we are incredibly proud that 29 of our IMP members (and 7 of our IMP staff) represent Fort Street in this incredible program:

NSW Public Schools Symphony Orchestra: Kai Hall, Olivia He, Rory Howe, Sebastian Kameron, Lucinda Man, Rose Moloney, Jack Ng, Sunoo Park, Jarvis Riley, Henry Shannon, Ethan Tsang, Noam Zemack

NSW Public Schools String Sinfonia: Mackenzie Howe

NSW Public Schools Senior Singers: Lucinda Man, Reif Robertson, Nancy Zhang

NSW Public Schools Junior Singers: Ocean Reznikov

NSW Public Schools Jazz Orchestra: Yevin Jung, Sebastian Kameron, Reuben Winkler, Noam Zemack

NSW Public Schools Stage Band: Billy Hunter, Rita Munoz

NSW Public Schools Symphonic Wind Ensemble: Jackson Ho, Hayden Kan, Terence Kang, Austin Li, Hannah Shen, Sebastian Kameron, Noam Zemack, Hugo Newman

NSW Public School Symphonic Wind Orchestra: Jonah Bolitho, Amira Bouhabib, Daniel Costello

These ensembles have been working hard in Term 1, and will give their first public performances for 2026, on Sunday 29 March in Verbrugghen Hall at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Applications are closing soon for the Arts Unit State Wind Band, and State Choir, who also get to perform as featured items in the Opera House during the Primary Choral and Instrumental Festivals, after a short intensive few rehearsal days.

Read about State Choir, and apply HERE

Read about State Wind Band ,and apply HERE

The Arts Unit also run the NSW State Music Camps, held in the last week of Term 2 (Senior Camp) and the first week of Term 3 (Junior Camp). Applications for these camps are now open, and we can’t recommend them highly enough. Dr Manchester is more than happy to act as recommending teacher and referee for any IMP members applying for State Music Camps.

Read about State Music Camps, and apply HERE

IMP performances at Fort Street Speech Day

Fort Street High School Speech Day was held on Friday 20th of February 2026 in Sydney Town Hall and the high quality of the IMP ensembles was on display during the ceremony. Jazz Ensemble provided an entertaining prelude to the ceremony, as parents, dignitaries and students arrived at the venue. The Symphony Orchestra accompanied the school for the Processional then later performed the lively ‘Norwegian Dance No. 4’ by Edvard Grieg. The Chamber Choir sang the hauntingly beautiful ‘Wade in the Water’, a traditional spiritual, and later the Jazz Orchestra performed the atmospheric ‘Dream of the Return’ by Pat Metheny. The final musical performance of Speech Day 2026 was the Wind Ensemble’s dazzling rendition of Mars, the Bringer of War, from the Planets by Gustav Holst.

Fort Street and the NSW Arts Unit

On Monday 9 March, 85 members of the Fort Street Vocal Ensemble took part in the first combined rehearsal for the NSW Arts Unit Secondary Choral Festival “in Concert”. This event will bring together over 1000 singers from around NSW, and once again, Fort Street was the largest single cohort of singers from a single school at this event. The festival performance will take place in Sydney Opera House on Wednesday 3 June. The repertoire for this incredible event will include Faure’s Requiem, the Songs from Grimm’s Fairytales by Australian Composer Luke Byrne (who has also written music for the Fort Street Wind Ensemble), and music from Wicked, featuring Lucy Durack (Glinda from the Sydney run of the musical). They will be accompanied by the incredible NSW Public Schools Symphony Orchestra.

The NSW Public Schools Symphony Orchestra is just one of the 8 weekly ensembles run by the Arts Unit, and we are incredibly proud that 29 of our IMP members (and 7 of our IMP staff) represent Fort Street in this incredible program:

NSW Public Schools Symphony Orchestra: Kai Hall, Olivia He, Rory Howe, Sebastian Kameron, Lucinda Man, Rose Moloney, Jack Ng, Sunoo Park, Jarvis Riley, Henry Shannon, Ethan Tsang, Noam Zemack

NSW Public Schools String Sinfonia: Mackenzie Howe

NSW Public Schools Senior Singers: Lucinda Man, Reif Robertson, Nancy Zhang

NSW Public Schools Junior Singers: Ocean Reznikov

NSW Public Schools Jazz Orchestra: Yevin Jung, Sebastian Kameron, Reuben Winkler, Noam Zemack

NSW Public Schools Stage Band: Billy Hunter, Rita Munoz

NSW Public Schools Symphonic Wind Ensemble: Jackson Ho, Hayden Kan, Terence Kang, Austin Li, Hannah Shen, Sebastian Kameron, Noam Zemack, Hugo Newman

NSW Public School Symphonic Wind Orchestra: Jonah Bolitho, Amira Bouhabib, Daniel Costello

 

These ensembles have been working hard in Term 1, and will give their first public performances for 2026, on Sunday 29 March in Verbrugghen Hall at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.