David William – Head of Music

The past fortnight has been characteristically busy for the Music Department with three separate events providing outstanding opportunities for our young musicians.

Year 12 2018 Elective Music students attended the Meet the Music concert at the Sydney Opera House to hear the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Artist in Residence, Brett Dean, conduct his own Fire Music – an emotional response to the Black Saturday bushfires of 2008 – in addition to a virtuosic performance by Piers Lane of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto.  

Meanwhile, on the same evening we hosted a rehearsal workshop for members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra with a group of talented and hard-working strings students from Emanuel School and Moriah College.  

The concert itself was held on Thursday evening at Emanuel Synagogue – a fantastic venue for classical music – the full sound of the ensemble can be heard right at the back of the hall, even during the most intimate quiet passages of the piece.  

Congratulations to the following students who were very excited to once again have the wonderful opportunity of working with musicians from the Australian Chamber Orchestra:  Shane Doust, Rebekah Goldsworthy, Esther Reznikov, Sarah Sharwood and Nathaniel Spielman, from Years 8-12.  

Ezmi Pepper said the following: “it is an honour and a privilege to share the stage with such prestigious musicians and I was very proud to see the students taking on-board all their great advice.  They presented an impressive performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 (First Movement) which was very well received. Bravo to everyone involved!”

Thank you to Ezmi for rehearsing and supervising our musicians.

EMANUEL SCHOOL / KING DAVID SCHOOL MUSIC EXCHANGE 2017

On Sunday 22 October, a group of 12 student musicians from King David School in Melbourne joined with 30 of our Emanuel students from Years 7-12 for our annual Music Exchange. This is an intensive music rehearsal and performance experience which we hope saw the beginning of a few new friendships and culminated in a wonderful concert on Monday afternoon featuring an eclectic mix of orchestral and choral works.

We are extremely grateful to our host families for their hospitality in billeting our Melbourne visitors. Without your generosity and support, this event would not be viable.  Thanks also to all the staff involved from both Schools, especially Joanne De Araujo for her organisational efforts.

Photos below courtesy Mrs Sue Rappoport.

Susan Longney – Maternity Leave

In the midst of so many events, we also found time to farewell Susan Longney, who is going on Maternity Leave.  We wish Susan and her husband Nick all the very best as they embark on this exciting new chapter of parenthood.