Performances Update  

Musician of the Year

The 2016 Musician of the Year Competition will be held on Thursday 27th October at 7pm in the Music Centre. This year's adjudicator is Dr David Kram, an international conductor of operas, composer and pianist. The competition is always highly engaging and is a wonderful platform for our students to perform and hopefully win 1st, 2nd or 3rd cash prizes which are given out at Awards Night.

Please come along to support the Music Department and to cheer on students in this competition.

Kirsten Boerema

Music Coordinator

String workshop/concert

In Term 3 on September 11th twenty string players from our school’s music program had a wonderful experience playing with string players from Monash University in a combined workshop and concert.

Ten violin, viola and cello students from the Monash School of Music came to Castlemaine, led by Lisa Grosman, Lecturer in Viola.

We began with a workshop at the Etty St Music Centre where Lisa coached the combined string orchestra, inspiring our students to higher levels of ability with great good humour.

An afternoon concert took place at the Castlemaine Art Gallery. It was inspiring to hear the Monash students play chamber music and solos by Bach, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Schubert with such energy, ability and confidence. The combined string orchestra then played four pieces, Rustic Dance, Toy Dance, a Scott Joplin Rag, and One Voice by Queensland composer Keith Sharp. ‘One Voice’ was based on the style of an American gospel song. The sound of the combined group of 30 string players was resonant and mellow in the Art Gallery and helped our students realise the power of acoustic string music.

The concert attracted a full audience of families and other members of the community. As this event was such a success, plans are being made for another similar concert/workshop next year with Lisa Grosman and Monash students.

Many thanks to the parents who supplied lunch, and to Rose Demaria and Lisa Turner for helping with lunch on the day. Our thanks to the Art Gallery for allowing us to present this concert in such a wonderful acoustic and visual setting.

Frances Gall,

Violin/viola teacher

Senior Theatre Performances