All State Jazz Championships

From our two student music captains

Over the first weekend of May, 90 music students from Donvale competed in the All State Jazz Championships held at St. Leonard's College, Brighton. Seven ensembles competed in a range of different categories: The Altonatives, Advanced Vocal Ensemble and Intermediate Vocal Ensemble performed on the Saturday; Senior Big Band, Small Jazz Ensemble, Intermediate Big Band, and Junior Big Band performed on the Sunday.

The students were very excited to finally have the opportunity to perform on stage again, hear music from other schools and last, but most certainly not least, win quite a few awards for Donvale.

The Altonatives, made up of VCE vocal studentsBianca Evans, Bethany Blakemore, Emily Chu, Hannah Purser and Daniel Opperman, had the honour of placing first in their division and were invited to the Jazz Gala on the following Saturday, May 8. This was a great night showcasing the outstanding talent from winning ensembles across the State as well as guest performances from professional vocal ensemble Idea of North and professional band Ross Irwin's Afro Cuban Orchestra.

If you'd like to share this great performance with friends, you can find it on the College Facebook page

Congratulations to everyone who competed at the Jazz Championships and special congratulations to those who received awards. Everyone who went should be really proud of their hard work and the amazing music.

The awards are as follows: 

Altonatives - Premier Division	First place
Advanced Vocal Ensemble - A Division	Second place
Emily Chu - Voice Simon Perry - Alto Saxophone Joshua Rusitovski - Trumpet	Outstanding Soloists
Nathanael Reichman - Baritone Saxophone Jonathan Roberts - Trumpet Simon Perry - Alto Saxophone Joshua Rusitovski – Trumpet	All Star Band