Mirabella Marshall

Ashley Unger

On Sunday 7 April 2024, Lily Foltyn, Leah Joshua, Mirabella Marshall, Johnny Menczel and Ashley Unger performed in the One Day JCA choir at the Sydney Opera House. 

It was a great experience, as we were among other talented singers of all ages. Students from Mount Sinai and Moriah College joined us for this incredible day.

On Wednesday we attended the rehearsal at the Burger Centre in Montefiore. We didn’t know what to expect walking into a room filled with people coming together to sing for the JCA major event. During the rehearsal, we learnt our parts and it started coming together. After 2.5 hours of non-stop singing, we left feeling confident.

On the big day of the performance, we all met Ms Favero outside the Stage Door to the Opera House. As we entered the Green Room (it was unfortunately beige) we couldn’t wait to get up on stage and sing our hearts out. We all got into our all-black outfits and put on a yellow ribbon which represented our support for the hostages held in Gaza. JCA cost this day to hold this function as it was six months since October 7. There were so many people attending and it was just amazing. 

We all went for lunch in the Circular Quay. We filled up with energy and then got back to the Opera House. While waiting backstage to go on we started to get butterflies in our stomachs. It was so nerve-wracking to think that we would be singing in front of more than 2000 people. It was a fully booked event!

We had the best time ever! A big thanks to Ms Favero for helping to supervise us. To Ilan Kidron and Lara Goodridge – thank you for helping conduct our amazing choir. Your support and dedication paid off in the end. Thanks to Mrs Spira for helping us, even though you were there with your family. It means a lot. And a final thank you to Romy McCorquodale, Liberty Waldner and Boaz Simhi, for represent our School by directing the guests and collecting the pledge cards, amongst other things. 

You can listen to the beautiful lyrics here.

By Mirabella Marshall and Ashley Unger, Year 8