Music
Welcome to Term 2!
Senior Instrumental and Vocal Competitions; the Junior Campus Choral Celebration; Lunchtime Recitals & Studio Concerts; a Yr 9 trip to the Opera House; HICES Auditions; the Platinum Lunch; Foundation Day Assembly; performances at North Sydney Council Chambers AND the magnificent Senior Music Festival! This term is set to be another full and inspiring one for all our Redlands musicians from P-12!
What a joy it is to pursue the discipline of making music – an endeavour with proven social-emotional outcomes as well as being innately supportive of our brain’s development for other complex tasks. Renowned researcher, Dr Anita Collins gives a great Ted-talk on this topic, stating the case for Music Education and describing how “learning to play music is the neurological equivalent of a full-body workout”.
Whether you’re driving your child to an early morning rehearsal, hearing the same song or scale practised over and over, or fostering their love of music by taking them to concerts or asking about their goals – we are so grateful for the school/home partnership that sees our Redlands students so enriched and ready for their best outcomes in life.
Junior and Senior ANZAC Services – Musical Tributes
On the first day of school, our Advanced Concert Band arrived at school early to prepare for the thoughtful tribute they offered within our ANZAC service yesterday. The Last Post and Reveille were rendered by trumpeters Hugo Baird (Yr 10) and Will Howard (Yr 10), while the official music was led by Sholto Mirrlees-Black (Yr 11), Halcyon Hunt (Yr 11), Oliver Cooke (Yr 10) and Aneke Golowenko (Yr 10). Though Yr 12 were away with Exams, the younger members of our Advanced Concert Band proved their metal and their offering of Remembering a Friend conducted by Mr Mathew Owen, greatly enriched the Secondary School’s reflection time.
Today on the Junior Campus, Junior Voices performed the moving piece called The Last Anzac by Michael Travers. It remembers the lives of all the ANZAC’s who fought on the battlefields of Gallipoli in World War One, but especially the life of the ‘last ANZAC’, Alec Campbell. Born in 1899, Alec signed up for the war when he was only sixteen. When he died in 2002, he was the last link with his part of our Australian history. Thank you to Dr Eskenazi for accompanying Junior Voices and Mr Xu for performing The Last Post and Reveille.
That’s a Wrap! Red Factor 2023
Jumping back to the last day of Term 1, Junior Campus wrapped up on a high note with our annual variety show, Red Factor. These student-directed performances were delightful, and the debut performance of The Redlands Rockers (a.k.a. The Redlands Staff!) saw the crowd go wild! Congratulations and thanks to all participants for sharing your wonderful talents with us!
Senior Instrumental Competition Finals – Monday 22 May 2023
Esteemed international chamber musician and collaborative artist, Dr Theresa Leung is looking forward to joining us in the John Roberts Centre on Friday to adjudicate the finals of our Senior Instrumental Competition for 2023! Ticketing will be released closer to the date, with 2 free tickets available per performer.
Senior Vocal Competition Auditions – due by Friday 5 May 2023
The Finals of our annual Senior Vocal Competition will be held on Friday 9 June 2023, and will be adjudicated by the inimitable Chloé Zuel – known for her most recent work as Eliza in the original Australian cast of Hamilton. Auditions for these exciting vocal showcase Finals are NOW OPEN for all Senior Campus students, with submissions closing next Friday 5 May 2023. All pertinent information is on the iLearn Music Department Auditions page.
HICES Auditions
Thank you to the students who applied to attend HICES in August this year. Next Wednesday 3 May 2023, we will be filming your auditions during your regular Choir and Concert Band times. The Music Office will be in touch to confirm these arrangements with you ahead of next Wednesday.
Studio Concerts – Weeks 5 and 6
Did you know that over 480 students each week receive private vocal and instrumental tuition from our expert team of specialists? We are very proud of the opportunities available to our Redlanders, and in support of these lessons, we seek to provide performance opportunities through events, optional exams and elective classes throughout the year. Our Studio Concert Series each semester provides an informal and relaxed opportunity for our developing musicians to share their progress with a supportive audience of family and friends. We look forward to confirming days and times in the weeks ahead, and to throwing our doors wide open to supporters who would like to join us for these informal concerts.
Lunchtime Recital Series
After only half a term at Redlands, our new Resident Associate Artist, Dr Jeremy Eskenazi is working hard to build initiatives that support the development of our young performers. Today saw the inaugural performance in our Thursday Lunchtime Recital Series in the Edwards Auditorium, which will feature our Elective Music students as they build their performance craft ahead of their forthcoming assessments.
Senior Music Festival – Friday 16 June 2022 6pm
While Junior Music Festival is shaping up for our Junior School students, our flagship cocurricular Music showcase for the Senior Campus, the Senior Music Festival is to be held at the Concourse Theatre in Chatswood – and it is just 7 weeks away! The ‘LIKE A VARIATION’ theme is proving a joy to program and rehearse, and we promise a memorable show you won’t want to miss! A fun twist on the Triple J Radio segment ‘LIKE A VERSION’, students and staff are having fun collaborating and taking well-loved pieces to make them new! Building on the gameshow vibes from 2022, we look forward to a hilarious night. Not just for parents of students in the cocurricular program, but this night of nights is for music-lovers of all ages in our Redlands community from P-12. Ticketing is set to open in Week 3!
Staffing News
Though this week we were sad to say farewell to our Clarinet Tutor and Composition specialist Solomon Frank, we are delighted to welcome Mr Gareth Baard to our team who will take up the reins with Mr Frank’s former clarinet students commencing next week. Our Saxophone specialist, Dr Nicholas Russoniello, is also on staff at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music as a Composition lecturer, and he will be taking up Mr Frank’s Composition duties.
In Summary?
We are looking forward to a wonderful Term 2! Remember to check the Pulse MUSIC EVENTS page, to ensure our flagship events and rehearsals are all on the family calendar.
Kind regards,
Amy Richardson
Director of Music
Junior Music Office | 9908 6495
Senior Music Office | 9968 9820
Gala Arts
Put it in your diaries, Gala Arts will be returning to The Concourse, at the start of Term 3 on Friday 21 July.
Audition information will be available on Monday 3 April, and forms can be found on the Gala Arts Audition iLearn Page.
Email galaarts@redlands.nsw.edu.au to be added. Auditions close and must be submitted online by 6pm on Thursday 11 May – Mrs Boase