Last week, the Performing Arts department presented the inaugural Performing Arts Semester One Showcase, a concert presenting the best of the Whitefriars College Ensembles for 2022.
The night was a wonderful showcase of the diversity of learning and musical opportunities present within performing arts at Whitefriars across all year levels including our jazz bands, concert bands, choirs, guitar ensembles and percussion ensembles. More so, it was wonderful to have the opportunity again for students to build up to a performance night, and they are commended on the calibre and presentation of their performances for an audience of parents and the wider college community.
The energy as each ensemble came off stage was electric, and it was wonderful to see the joy on their faces as they celebrated their achievement with peers. Equally, students’ interactions off stage saw some wonderful friendships formed and opportunities for mentoring between older and younger students, as everyone prepared for the show. A truly wonderful learning experience for our students, and fantastic product for our audience.
Thank you to our Performing Arts Captains, Ethan Oppy (Music Captain), David Dunlop (Ensembles Captain), Chris Butterworth and Daniel Visentin (Technical Production Captains) for leading the night both on and off stage. Every ensemble was also very capably supported by a wonderful backstage crew of junior and senior students, whose problem solving skills were much utilised!
Thankyou also to Sandra Kennedy for organising ticketing and front of house. And a special thankyou to the hardworking Performing Arts and instrumental staff for their time and dedication in making this event happen: Claire Benne, Nicholas Fitter, Nathalie Fox, Matthew Balassone, Luke Hynes, Susan Neilson, Dominic Bello, Mitchell Cross, Reave Maloney, Edward York and Jackson Foley. Your efforts, care and support of the students was a great demonstration of the importance of musical, social and emotional learning as facilitated by Performing Arts. It was wonderful to see our students on stage once again, and the extra time that putting on an event like this requires was appreciated by all. Thankyou also to Catherine Spurritt and Mark Murphy for their support with rehearsals and the night itself.
For now, our students are back rehearsing, reinvigorated and ready for Term 3.
Mr Matthew Frampton
Learning Leader – Performing Arts
