Diana Springford – Director of Music P-12

Welcome to our Music Matters page! 🎶

HSC Performances

Kol Hakavod to our Year 12 HSC music students who are, no doubt, breathing a sigh of relief with the performance, viva voce, and composition components of their Music HSC successfully completed.

Congratulations to: Harrison Fischl, Ella Kirschner, Mariah Lewy, Aiden Merten, Georgia Meyerowitz, Zoe Nebenzahl, Coby New, Adam Rothschild, Jamie Schneider and Lotus van der Starre for their hard work and high-quality performances. I would like to thank their tutors and teachers who have worked with them for so long over the years: Matt Bruce (viola), George Nikolopoulos (guitar), Novak Manojlovic (piano), Alice Girle (voice) and Stefano Caroleo (percussion) as well as Daniel Burley and Ben Marshall for their support of these performances. A very special thank you to their classroom teacher, Adam Majsay, who has had this class on and off since they were in Year 8 and supported them so beautifully over the years. Having completed the practical component of their Music HSC and having submitted their compositions, these students now have only a written examination to complete during the normal HSC examination period. Good luck to you all! 

Recent Music Events

Last Wednesday, a group of Elective Music students from Years 10-11 attended a live performance of Jazz at the Lincoln Centre Orchestra at Sydney Opera House to support work studied in their music classes. This narrated program, illustrating the fundamentals of jazz, by Wynton Marsalis and JALCO gave students the opportunity to experience the music of some of the most high-profile and in-demand jazz musicians and gain an expert insight into the historical and cultural origins of one of the world’s greatest art forms.

Y10-11 Music at JALCO 2023_8_30

Grandparents and Friends Day

Earlier today, we celebrated Grandparents and Friends Day with a crowd-pleasing performance of I Have a Dream in English and Hebrew by the Junior Choir, who were accompanied by select Years 5-6 instrumentalists. Thank you to Ms Jessica Yendell for conducting and preparing them for this performance.

Private Music Tuition and Infant Strings Program

Thank you to those who have already advised us of changes to private tuition and Infant Strings Program (ISP) enrolments for next term. The deadline for new enrolments, notification of changes or intention to discontinue for Term 4, was the end of Week 7. From next week, the online enrolment and discontinuation forms will be closed for further changes. They will re-open in Week 2 of next term. All students currently receiving private music tuition and students in Years K-2 who are currently participating in the ISP will be automatically re-enrolled into tutor schedules along with students commencing for the first time. Please contact music@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au if you have any questions.  

The schedules for Term 4 will be created at the end of term and emailed during October term break.

Please visit our Music Portal Page for information about:

• Private Music Tuition (beginning and discontinuing)
• Ensemble and Choir membership for K-12 students
• Infant Strings Program (ISP) for K-2
• Performance opportunities
• Borrowing an orchestral instrument.  

Dates and Events

• Thursday 21 September 2023: Copland Concert Band One-Day Band Tour
• Wednesday 22 November 2023: Twilight Concerts (tutor-nominated performances) 

Everything music-related will resume at the normal times from the first day of Week 1 in Term 4. This is especially important to remember for those whose weekly rehearsals are on a Tuesday, including Gershwin and Bernstein Concert Bands and Senior Choir which resume bright and early at 7.10 am on Tuesday 10 October 2023. The only exceptions to this are lunchtime and after-school rehearsals on Thursday 12 October 2023 (Brass Ensemble, Klezmer Ensemble and Copland Concert Band) when the HSC Music Exams will be taking place and we can’t accommodate your rehearsals. 

Instrument Program (IP) classes and Private Music Tuition resume from the first day of Term 4. Please remember to bring your instrument and music on your normal day. We are preparing for two very special concerts, which will showcase the skills of hundreds of young instrumentalists performing in a range of ensembles, as well as all students from Years 3-6 performing with their Primary School Instrument Program cohort. Our K-2 students who are members of the Infant Strings Program will also feature in the strings concert. More information will follow next term.