St Peters Lutheran College Strings

Saturday, 23 March sees the return of the annual College event – A Night at the PAC. This evening is a collaborative event between the Music Department and Art Department and incorporates Soundscape. Our vision for this event is an extravaganza for the senses, sight and sound!

Art students are involved through the Soundscape component, with still artwork prepared by art classes being shown during Concert #1, along with artworks that will be created live during both Concert #1 and Concert #2. These live paintings will also be offered for purchase through Silent Auction in both concerts.

This exciting cultural event is free for the St Peters community and there is no need to book a seat in advance. Please come along and join us for a great night of Music and Art. We look forward to seeing you there!

Come and experience the magic of A Little Friday Night Music!

Our Upper Primary Band and Choir ensembles are thrilled to present their first concert of the year, showcasing the talent of our beginner-level musicians. Join us for an enchanting evening as they share their Term 1 repertoire with proud parents and guests.

Event Details:

Date: Friday, 15 March 2024
Location: The Dron Auditorium, St Peters Performing Arts Centre
Time: 6:30pm
Cost: Free

Family and friends are welcome and there is no need to register.

Sharing some photos from our Founders' Day celebrations earlier this term where we celebrated 79 years of St Peters Lutheran College and 50 years of Ironbark at our annual Founders' Day assembly. Years 5, 7 and 12 joined special guests and Old Scholars in the Dron Auditorium, while the service was live-streamed to the rest of the College.

Thank you to the St Peters Chorale and Chamber Soloists for their wonderful musical performances. They added a beautiful element to the service which was a truly fitting celebration of St Peters and its founders who worked so hard to turn a vision into the wonderful school that we are a part of today.

Dear Music Parents,

Due to wet conditions in the PAC Amphitheatre, community concerns about flash flooding in the western suburbs and continued rain; the decision has been made to postpone the Music Support Group’s Meet & Greet Evening to a future date. We apologise for any inconvenience and look forward to an another social opportunity soon,

SAVE THE DATES! Presenting the St Peters Music Semester 1 performance program. We encourage you to note these dates on your calendar and keep an eye out on College socials and The Rock weekly newsletter for information on the upcoming performances and how to register.

We are looking forward to welcoming everyone back to the Ensemble Program, with rehearsals starting this week. Students should have received an email from their conductors advising them of their ensemble membership for the year. Please use the attachment for more information.

After a wonderful night with their billeting families, Soloists returned today to Toho HS for the first day of collaborative music making with the school's orchestras. Soloists and the Senior Orchestra rehearsed Sibelius's "Finlandia" with section leaders facilitating sectional rehearsals in addition to the full orchestra rehearsal led by Mr Deacon. The Junior Orchestra and Soloists then enjoyed rehearsing "Sleigh Ride" together.

Lunch today was provided by the Soloist's host families. A lot of time and care had been put into their creation and they looked (and were) delicious.

After lunch, it was time for some activities which included perennial Soloists favourite games - paper plane competition (this time with the added requirement of landing in a cello case) and Knights, Mount and Cavaliers before concluding with some dancing.

It was a great day of music making and fun.

Tomorrow, Soloists have the whole day with their hosts exploring Tokyo.

One of the highlights of any tour is the generous welcome that tour members receive when they are billeted with community members. The time spent with families in their homes experiencing their culture, food, and customs as well as the fun overcoming language difficulties and the friendships built through these shared experiences will stay with tour members long after the tour has finished.
After an extended drive this afternoon, Soloists arrived at Toho High School, St Peters sister school, in the Chiba Prefecture outside Tokyo. Soloists were met with an exuberant welcome of Australian flag waving and smiles from students and parents of the Toho HS. Personal name placards ensured that tour members were quickly united with their billet families and off on their billeting adventure.

Soloists woke up this morning to a beautiful clear view of Mount Fuji, frost on the ground and -2 centigrade temperature. It was a perfect time to travel up to Fujirama Snow Resort for some time in the snow.

Soloists enjoyed the tobogganing but snow fights were even more fun with Mr Deacon a prime target.

Takii Girls International High School in Osaka has welcomed St Peters Soloists as their guests for each of our tours to Japan and it was lovely to be back there again today.

Each ensemble performed for the other in a lovely supportive atmosphere. Their band played a diversity of musical styles beautifully and Soloists reciprocated with a variety of their repertoire. "Day of Wrath"and "Explosive" were particularly exuberantly received.

All students then retired to the Cafe to enjoy a generous range of Japanese treats and to have the opportunity to chat informally. A combination of sign language and charades quickly broke down any perceived language barriers with lot of mirth. It was a fabulous visit.

One of the special musical events of the Soloists Tour was to visit Takamatsu High School for the school's 130th anniversary concert.
The school community and musicians gathered in the courtyard on a rather chilly morning for the concert. It was standing room for the audience of more than 1000, with students watching from their classroom windows as school ensembles and Soloists performed individually.

The ensembles then all joined together to perform the final movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony conducted my Maestro Asahina. Performance of this work is a school tradition - this was the 36th time they have performed it.

As you will see in the photos, there was a lot of media from both local and national broadcasters at this performance and the evening news widely featured this event. The students were amazed the next day to have complete strangers telling them how wonderful their performance had been and showing them the news broadcasts on their phones. It is wonderful to see an arts event, and in this case a school arts event, acknowledged so significantly by the media and for it to have been seen by so many people.
Here is a link to one of the national TV news broadcasts -
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/lnews/takamatsu/20231214/8030017472.html?fbclid=IwAR3ks0jyZMxQl1-05lzBRoyQgOIEgRTTHnfSBlui7g_nSBN95rxLCLTJzkU

On Wednesday 15 December, Soloists travelled to Takamatsu to prepare to perform with the orchestra of Takamatsu High School in their 130th Anniversary Concert. Under the baton of Maestro Asahina, the two instrumental ensembles; plus 4 student soloists, the school choir and a community choir; quickly started to create an impressive sound together.
Soloists were then invited to perform for the other musicians. Their expressive playing and movement amazed and delighted the very warmly enthusiastic audience. It was lovely to then see the students socialising and enjoying each other’s company.

Whilst most of the posts on this page about the Soloists Tour have been about their performances, students on the Tour are also visiting important cultural and historical sites, visiting sightseeing highlights, trying lots of Japanese cuisine and so much more. Here is an insight into their experiences today on Awaji Island.

The day started at the Jano Fin Farm and BBQ. At the Farm, dolphins are cared for after injury and funds raised from tourism are used to support this work. All tour members had the opportunity to be near to the dolphins however five students who have been been positive leaders on the tour had the chance to interact with the dolphins more closely. Lunch was then cooked by the students on BBQ's set into the tables - boar was the main meat on the menu!

After travelling up a rather windy and precarious road to the school, Soloists spent the afternoon with the students of Soukai High School. The whole school came to listen to Soloists perform and their performance was recorded by a cable TV station. Soukai's jazz band, the Swinging Willow Jazz Orchestra, then entertained their fellow students and Soloists with a varied range of jazz classics. Soloists and the Swinging Willows combined to conclude the musical afternoon by accompanying the whole school singing their school song.

Some of the Soukai High School clubs then invited Soloists to join them in their afternoon coccurricular activities including judo, kendo, calligraphy, Japanese Tea Ceremony and Japanese Calligraphy. This sharing of skills and experiences was a wonderful conclusion to a very warm cultural exchange.

Today, St Peters Soloists travelled to the beautiful Awaji Island. They joined the students of Tsuna Junior High School to perform a joint concert in the Shizuki Concert Hall. Soloists really enjoyed playing in the beautiful acoustic of the Hall and gave a great performance.

After Soloists had performed, the award winning Brass Band of Tsuna High School gave a very polished and expressive performance. Their chamber wind ensemble performed a complex work by a Japanese composer and then their Taiko drum club finshed the concert with an impressive display.

Soloists were invited to experience performing on Taiko drums and shared a lot of laughs with their student instructors from the Tsuna Taiko club. All too soon, it was time to leave.

Day 7 of the Soloists Japan Tour was spent a wonderful collaborative afternoon with the talented arts students of the Suma Shofu High School in Kobe.

Soloists were greeted by the High School's mascot and then a rendition of "Advance Australia Fair" by their Brass Band. Their amazing Taiko Drumming Club gave a very skilful and energetic performance and then invited Soloists to experience Taiko Drumming which created much noise and laughter on both sides.

The Calligraphy Club gave a performance in which they created a large poster with the message that the Arts has the power to bring people together and this is being achieved today by the meeting of the two schools.

Soloists then performed for the students and families of Suma Shofu. Their performances were enthusiastically received and at the conclusion, the ensemble with presented with a small taiko drum as a momento of their visit.

The Sumo Shofu Calligraphy and Tea Ceremony Clubs then led workshops in both skills for the members of Soloists before a final exchange of gifts and Insta addresses.

It was a very special and memorable afternoon.

Kyoto Horikawa Music High School is the only public high school in Japan to have a music department. Their hall has the reputation of having wonderful acoustics and it certainly lived up to this reputation when Soloists performed there on Day 6 of their Tour (as you will hear in the videos).

Soloists performed their concert for a very supportive audience of staff and Year 10 students as the senior students were away in Tokyo for music extension activities. The Headmistress particularly commented on the Soloists expressive performance movements and the variety of music in their program. Two of the Japanese students then shared solo performances on flute and piano.

Our hosts then led social activities which were enjoyed by all before coming out to the bus to farewell us.

The Kyoto International School is a lovely small International Baccalaureate school for students in P - 10. Soloists last visited this school in 2009 and it was a great delight to be back there again today.

As well as performing some of their Tour Repertoire, there was some Q & A time about the instruments of the string family and members of the ensemble (Theo, Sam, Rebecca & Thomas) then demonstrated the differences in timbre and music written for them.

As Mr Deacon was introducing "Past Life Melodies" by Sarah Hopkins and explaining what a didjeridoo was, a member of KIS staff rushed away and returned with a didjeridoo! The students were amazed by the sound of this instrument when Sam played it for them. Soloists were joined in their performance of this work by the KIS principal and PE teacher playing harmonic whirlies.

The concert concluded with all 151 members of KIS singing a piece they had prepared - Ceremony of Life - with Soloists both accompanying them and singing with them.

Seikyo Gakuen High School, Osaka

St Peters Soloists spent Day 4 of their Tour with the very impressive Symphonic Band of Seikyo Gakuen High School in Osaka. In a fabulous music-filled day, the two ensembles workshopped together, performed in concert for the senior school and enjoyed the opportunity to meet each other socially.

Our first musical event of the Tour was a joint concert with the Concert Band from the Anglican Church Grammar School (Brisbane) at Marist Brothers International School in Kobe. Individual ensemble performances by both ensembles were warmly received by the very supportive audience. The concert concluded with a joint ensemble performance of "Let It Go" from the movie Frozen accompanied by enthusiastic audience singing. The students from all schools then had the opportunity to spend some time socialising. It was a very positive and collaborative way to start the musical performances of the Tour.

St Peters Soloists have been busy rehearsing for the past 2 days. We meet again at 4.45am for the plane to Japan. It's hard to contain our excitement 🎻🥳⛩️✈️

The 2023 String Finale lived up to its reputation of providing an entertaining and fun filled evening of music and celebration. The Lower Primary ensembles put on a spectacular display, performing from memory along with choreography. Chickens were a bit of a theme throughout the night and it was great to see the whole audience get involved – even our Senior Leadership Team were dancing away! All ensembles performed with plenty of enthusiasm, rounding off a very successful year. The night was a lovely celebration for our year 12 string students who totally owned the stage through performance, red carpet arrivals and heart felt but hilarious speeches. They have truly left a strong legacy of string culture behind them and they can clearly be proud of the hundreds of young musicians they have inspired along the way. Congratulations to all our String Staff who have made 2023 a very special year.

What a wonderful day we have had at Grace Lutheran Primary School. Our concert was attended by the whole school and then we worked with the Grade 3 Immersion Strings Class. We have throughly enjoyed our time and many thanks to Mrs L for hosting us today.

Chamber Soloists are on the road again today with a visit to Grace Lutheran Primary School at Clontarf. As part of our Service Learning Program we conducted workshops with the dance students and their orchestra, Piccolo Strings sat in on our rehearsal to experience a full string orchestra sound. grace also provided some guest conductors for us! We look forward to sharing a concert with the larger Grace student body later today.

The St Peters Chamber Soloists recently presented an entertaining 60 minute concert to the residents of Keperra Sanctuary Retirement Village. The residents were glowing in their praise for these very talented musicians. Congratulations to our soloists on the day - Florence MM, Sam C, Emily R and Chelsea B. Keperra Sanctuary provided a sausage sizzle and ice cream dessert for the students and made us promise to return for another concert in 2024. Well done Chamber Soloists for sharing your musical joy with this community.

Performer of the Year Concerto Final 2023 included a mammoth program for the St Peters Concerto Orchestra with 4 concertos followed by the 4th movement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Our four Concerto Finalists were simply outstanding with awe inspiring performances from memory of some of the most difficult concerto repertoire : Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 – Mulan M, Bartok Viola Concerto – Sam C, Dvorak Cello Concerto – Rebecca K and Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 – Victor H. As always, it was a very difficult decision for our adjudicators but they were able to name Victor H the ”2023 Concerto Performer of the Year 2023”. The concert concluded with the combined forces of the St Peters Concerto Orchestra, Brisbane Chamber Choir, Lumens Chamber Choir and our 4 guest vocalists, Dominique Fegan, Anne Fulton, Bernard Wheaton and Jason Barry-Smith performing the 4th movement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. The concert was full of opportunity and will be a life-long memory for all involved.

The 2023 Performer of the Year Recital Final showcased some exceptionally talented young St Peters musicians. As expected, all eight finalists presented a polished and technically accurate performance but it was their overwhelming sense of mature communication and sensitivity to the finer nuances in each piece that captivated the audience and adjudicator alike. Each performer took us on a unique journey full of imagination and musical creativity. Adjudicator, Louise King was obviously very impressed with the performers and applauded St Peters on its strong commitment to music. It was saxophonist Noah D’s entertaining performance of some very challenging repertoire that caught the eye of the adjudicator who awarded him the title of “Performer of the Year Recital 2023”. Noah’s name now joins a long list of outstanding young musicians on the brand new Performer of the Year Honour Board located next to the main entrance of the Dron Auditorium. A special thank you to our Senior String Quartet for their guest performance to conclude a night of wonderful music.

Performer of the Year 2023 | Concerto Final

Date: Sunday, 27 August
Time: 4:00pm
Where: Dron Auditorium, PAC

The Concerto Final provides a professional concert experience where students perform, from memory, some of the most challenging and virtuosic concerto repertoire. The sense of occasion tests their preparation and resolve while providing an exhilarating and rewarding experience. Soloists are required to project their sound over a 70-piece orchestra which demands study and knowledge of the full score.

2023 Concerto Finalists:
Sam C - Bartok Viola Concerto
Victor H - Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto
Rebecca K - Dvorak Cello Concerto
Mulan M - Chopin Piano Concerto

Proceeds from this concert will be donated to a charity nominated by the Concerto Winner.

Tickets are available to purchase here: https://bit.ly/2023-POTY-Concerto