Scotch College

Autumn concert season

The month of May saw the start of a new season of concerts replacing the May concert which had been a musical perennial for many years. On 3 May we presented a concert comprising the younger ensembles, and it was delightful to hear the Ted Joyner Band, the Intermediate Band, the George Dreyfus Wind Ensemble and the Henri Touzeau String Orchestra all perform exceptionally competently. As most ensembles had more than 50 instrumentalists, more than 200 students performed in the large ensembles alone. Notable was the exceptional young horn soloist, Geoffrey Ge in Year 7 who performed ‘Round the Horn’ with the George Dreyfus Wind Ensemble, directed by Peter Rickard. The new format also allowed for performances from some smaller ensembles, such as the Year 8 Saxophone Ensemble, Sax@Scotch, who represented Scotch at an international festival in Shanghai last year. It was also delightful to hear the Flute Ensemble, directed by Janine Hanrahan, which played with particular subtlety. Jazz continues to thrive, and both the Saxobrass Big Band and the Monday Big Band drove their pieces into the Ian Roach Hall with precision and panache!

Two days later, 5 May, saw the more senior ensembles present an eclectic and complex program. Symphonic Wind, under the excellent direction of Roger Schmidli, opened the evening with three works, including James Swearingen’s ‘The Light Eternal’, a controlled and mature performance. The 145-voice choir, just back from the largest and most successful choir camp ever, performed Rutter’s ‘A Clare Benediction’ with great sensitivity and a wonderful rich sound, followed by an amazing performance of ‘Saints Go Marchin‘’ with instrumental backing. The Chamber Choir performed beautifully. Choral Director Andrew Hunter should be proud of the quality of choral music Scotch now enjoys, as well as the number of boys involved. Some 45 students now have individual singing lessons. The Senior Strings, under Bob Wakely’s meticulous coaching, performed Vivaldi’s Concerto Grosso in D Minor. The six soloist were violinists Peter Chandler, LMusA, Thomas Gin, LMusA, Henry Hedinger, LMusA, and Thomas Naughton, AMusA, and cellists Myles Chen, AMusA and Davis Yu. There is a certain timeless quality to Vivaldi, and this was a lovely performance, greatly enjoyed by all.

The evening concluded with the Symphony Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky’s great fantasy overture ‘Romeo and Juliet’. A great end to a superb night.

JOHN FERGUSON
Director of Music