Music Matters
Festival of Lessons and Carols and School Christmas Service
Congratulations to members of Choir, Madrigal Ensemble, Amati Strings and Year 7 Choir for their performance last Thursday evening at the Festival of Lessons and Carols and Monday morning’s performance at the School’s Christmas service. It was a wonderful celebration of music with the premiere participation of the Year 7 Choir in both services. Special thank you to Ms Lanneke Jones (Years 5 & 6 Choral item), Miss Allison Harrigan (Director of Choirs) and Mrs Anne Sweeney (Director of Strings) with their work to prepare their respective ensembles for both performances. After two years of restrictions to singing, it was wonderful to hear the burst of Christmas music and hymns to celebrate such a special time of the year. Well done everyone!
Beehive Industry Performance – Woodwind Ensemble
Congratulations to the students of the Woodwind Ensemble who performed at Beehive Industry last Thursday afternoon 24 November. The students performed a small selection of popular works including Theme from James Bond and Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It was a short, informal concert but a performance that were much appreciated by those who attended. Special thank you to Ms Nicole Barrett (conductor of Woodwind Ensemble) for her preparation of the students. The girls were incredibly well prepared and are one of the few ensembles that can operate independently without the need for a conductor with direction. Thank you also to Mr Michael Tierney for seeking this performance opportunity for the girls, a wonderful way for our school to give to our local community.
Christmas Medley
Every string players from Kindergarten to Year 6 performed a wonderful Christmas Medley together for Santa’s arrival in the Primary School this week. 75 girls played their violins, violas, cellos and double basses together, accompanied by vocalists Coco Shelmerdine (Year 6) and Lilly Zadgan (Year 6) and the K-2 classes for a rousing rendition of four Christmas Carols. It was a wonderful end to a terrific year of music-making in the Primary School!
AMEB Congratulations – Singing and Trumpet
Congratulations to Laura Davies (Year 11) who recently achieved an outstanding result for her 6th Grade AMEB Musical Theatre Video Repertoire examination. Thank you to Ms Eloise Evans for her preparation of Laura and to Ms Holmes, Miss Harrigan for their support. Well done Laura!
Congratulations also to the following students who completed their Trumpet AMEB examinations in their grades:
- Ashanti Gillies – Preliminary
- Maddison Soulos – Preliminary
- Charlotte Lowe – Grade 2
- Zoe Narev – Grade 2
- Jemima Lowe – Grade 4
- Lucy McInnes – Grade 5
Thank you to Ms Louise Horwood for her preparation of the girls for their examinations. Well done girls!
Primary Jazz Combo Concert
Congratulations to members of the Primary Jazz Combo who performed in a lunchtime concert on Monday 28 November in the Primary Music Room. The students performed the following works in their concert: Rainy Day Blues and This I Still Believe by Bernice Tesara. The students had also completed a workshop with Miss Tesara last week on these two pieces. The combo also performed: Sonny Moon for Two by Sonny Rollins and a jazz version of Good King Wenceslas to bring us into the festive season.
Well done Primary Jazz Combo and thank you to Ms Louise Horwood for her direction and support of the students!
Album Launch: Preludes & Duets – Aristea Mellos (Class of 2005)
Congratulations to Aristea Mellos (Class of 2005) who launched her album Preludes & Duets on Saturday 26 November at Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The album features a cycle of twelve preludes for piano, each inspired by fragments of poetry and a four-hand piano work Immigrant Suite which honours the life story of Mellos’ maternal grandmother, who left war-torn Europe as a young woman and emigrated to New Zealand then to Australia as a post-war refugee. The premiere of the Preludes was performed by renowned Australian pianist Stephanie McCallum. It was an amazing evening and it was wonderful to see the connection of SCEGGS old girls including Sydney based composer Georgia Scott (Class of 2010) and fellow classmate Nicola Chau (Class of 2005) and Aristea’s sister Maria Mellos (Class of 2011). Aristea’s album can be streamed from Apple Music or Spotify. Well done Aristea!
On behalf of the Music department, we would like to thank our wonderful studio of music tutors for their support and hard work with our students. We would also like to thank parents for their support with their daughter’s learning journey on their instruments. We wish you all a safe, Merry Christmas and New Year!
Pauline Chow
Head of Music
