PERFORMING ARTS

A warm welcome to you at the start of this schooling from the Performing Arts department. We are excited to be working with your children in preparation for many performances throughout the year.

All families who are involved in the instrumental music program should have received a welcome letter from me outlining a number of dates regarding the start of lessons, ensemble rehearsal and instrument hire. Any further queries can be directed to the Instrumental Music managers:

imt-manager@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au

I have great pleasure in welcoming new Instrumental Music teachers to McKinnon Laura Main (clarinet and saxophone) across both campuses, and Lindsay Ryan (horn) who will be based at McKinnon Road campus only.

MYO SUMMER MUSIC CAMP

Manoli Adamakis (Year 10) and Stefan Tale (Year 11) participated in the MYO Summer Music Camp and performed at Hamer Hall - Manoli (violin) in the Le Guen Symphony Orchestra and Stefan Tale (tuba) in the Winley Symphony Orchestra, along with ex-student Hadyn Collier. Also, our new staff member Lindsay Ryan conducted one of the Symphonic Bands. All performed extremely well and gave a most enjoyable concert!

Tracy Videon

Instrumental Music Teacher

TOP CLASS AUDITIONS

Congratulations to 2024 graduate Yasmeen Kotliarski who auditioned for the Top Class Theatre Studies Performance showcase over the holidays. After Yasmeen’s success in Theatre Studies last year, she was invited by VCAA to audition for their concert being held in early March.

We wish Yasmeen all the best for a positive result from this audition and thank her for being a wonderful performing arts role model and still representing the school so positively.

Ellie Adler

Performing Arts Teacher

TOP CLASS MUSIC 2025

Congratulations to JJ Braithwaite (Year 12) who has been invited to the Top Class Music Performances for 2025 to be held on Wednesday 19 March. After his successful year in 2024 undertaking Music Contemporary Performance, JJ has been invited to perform his outstanding examination piece Taurus People by Faroq Dawud. We wish every success with this performance.

Andrew Albanis

Music Teacher

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Congratulations to the String Quartet (Florence Chan, Julia Rodda, Yeri Soung and Gwendolyn Thiere) with Rhapsody Borrirak, Eran Goldin (Year 11 students) and Mr Paschal Lee who performed brilliantly at the first General Assembly for 2025. Thank you also to Ji Ahn Lee (Year 12) who sang the National Anthem. Thank you to Mrs Georgina Mead for all the work in preparing these students.

MUSIC HOUSE CAPTAINS

Chisholm Captains

Tommy Barton, Olivia Capurro-Martinez, Andrew Jang & Ioan Robinson

Flynn Captains

Francis Eather, Helios Li, Susana O’Leary & Julia Si

Gilmore Captains

Adele Finn, Milana Gavrilenko, Sophie Maxwell & Katelyn Nguyen

Monash Captains

JJ Braithwaite, Angel Jiang, Arnav Mahajan & Amelie Villella

CORE ENSEMBLES DAYS AND TIMES

McKinnon campus (Auditorium)

Year 7 Choir - Monday lunchtime
Choir (vocal students 10-12) - Tuesday lunchtime
Wind Symphony - Wednesday after school (3:30 - 5pm)
Senior strings - Wednesday after school (3:30 - 5pm. A01AB)
Orchestra - Thursday after school (3:30 - 5pm)

East campus (VG.1)

East Campus Choir (Vocal students Years 8 - 9) Monday lunchtime
Keenan Strings - Monday after school (3:30 - 4.30pm)
Ovenden Band - Wednesday after school (3:30 - 4.30pm)

All other ensembles are by invitation and/or audition only, and dependent on ongoing commitment to the core ensemble. The in-class Year 8 ensembles (strings and bands) will also start from Monday 10 February, and instruments will not be required until then.

In-class Year 7 band and strings will be beginning from mid-February, and students will be informed when to bring their instruments soon.

TERM 1 PERFORMANCE DATES

We have quite a few performances throughout the year, and the main ones for Term 1 are:

World Day of Prayer - Friday 7 March
House Music Festival (inter house Music competition) -Wednesday 19 March.

Megan Papworth

Learning Area Manager – Performing Arts