The Arts

 Catholic Performing Arts Festival Update

The first three weeks of Term 3 have been extremely busy for staff and students involved in the 2021 Performing Arts Festival for Catholic Schools and Colleges. The Festival opened with a Praise and Worship service at St Mary’s Cathedral, attended by Mr Harvey, Miss Miller, Mr Beins, Curtis Blackwood (College Arts Captain) and Rachel Bruyns (Concert Band Captain). 

The following weeks showcased performances by the College Percussion Ensemble on Thursday 29 July at Trinity College and the College Guitar Ensemble on Friday, 30 July at Don Russell Performing Arts Centre. St Norbert College was also fortunate to host the Drama section of this year’s festival with performances from a number of schools on Thursday and Friday nights in the Xanten Theatre, including our very own Senior Drama Club on Friday 30 July. On Tuesday 3 August, it was our Contemporary Bands turn to take the stage at Corpus Christi College, with performances by Year 12 band ‘Galaxy Street’ and Year 11 bands ‘Upset Humour’ and ‘Running on Empty’. This week has also seen our first performances in the solo/duet section of the Festival from our singers at Zenith Music in Claremont.

Well done to all of these students on their fantastic performances so far. In particular, special mention goes to Grace Edmonds in Year 9 whose performance in the Bible Reading section of the Festival saw her walk away with an Outstanding Certificate; the best individual performance recognition for students in the Festival.  Well done, Grace!

Mr C Beins

(Director of Music

Head of Learning Area – The Arts)

St Mary's Cathedral Orchestral Mass

Last Sunday (25 July) several St Norbert students (Mary Carter, Rebecca Attwood, Jonathan Le, Ben Park and myself, Rachel Bruyns) had the privilege to represent St Norbert College at the annual Orchestral Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral. Over 100 students and their teachers from schools across Perth joined the Cathedral musicians to create a full symphony orchestra and massed choir to lead the Solemn Sung mass. Having had only two rehearsals with the full group, it was rather daunting playing in front of nearly 700 people in such a majestic environment. However, we felt very comfortable under the solid leadership of the guest conductor, our very own Mr Chadwick Beins, who we discovered has a special connection to music at St Mary’s Cathedral as their very first Organ Scholar (2009 – 2012)!

Thank you Mr Beins for allowing us the opportunity to share in this incredible and inspiring experience. I was very proud to be part of this talented group of musicians and would definitely volunteer again.

Rachel Bruyns (Year 12)