An Action-Packed Week of Amazing Music Making

It was a wonderfully full and inspiring week in the Music Department, with students across the School enjoying a wide range of performance opportunities and musical experiences.

The week began on Monday evening with the Junior School Co-curricular Concert, featuring performances from our Junior School String ensembles, Bands, Taiko, Ukulele and Chamber groups. It was a joyful celebration of the students’ commitment, energy and growing confidence as young musicians.

On Tuesday, our jazz musicians and vocalists took to the stage for Groove Concert, held this year at Burwood RSL Club. The concert provided a fantastic opportunity for our Jazz Bands and singers from the Music elective classes to share the results of their hard work in a lively and supportive performance setting.

Thursday and Friday saw the return of our annual Australian Music Day. This event continues to attract a wide participation from several school across Sydney as well as benefit our MLC School elective music students. This year’s event focused on music for the piano and keyboards more broadly. As such a fundamental tool for all musicians, piano and keyboards in general are a vital element of the music world.

Students were privileged to work with and learn from some of Australia’s leading musicians, including Roshan Kumarage, Bailey Pickles, Dr Melody Eötvös, Elizabeth Younan and Tristan Coelho. Special mention to our Head of Keyboard Ying Ho, who was able to bring one of Elizabeth Younan’s works to life as an example of what is possible on the instrument.

We were also delighted to welcome back renowned Old Girl Andrea Lam (1999), who recently appeared in the ABC television series The Piano. Having an internationally recognised pianist on hand to render student compositions and provide feedback on where they could take it from here was a real benefit for attendees. The week culminated in a memorable masterclass led by Andrea, featuring three of our advanced pianists: Shangya Gao (Year 7), Sophie Fan (Year 7) and Chloe Miller (Year 11). Each performed beautifully and benefited from Andrea’s generous guidance, insight and experience as they continue to develop.

Congratulations to all students involved, and thank you to the Music staff, visiting artists and families who supported such a rich and rewarding week of music making.

– Trevor Mee
Director of Music

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