St Kilda Road Music Festival
The annual St Kilda Road Music Festival returned to Hamer Hall at the Arts Centre, Melbourne on Monday 15 May, delighting over 1,200 friends, families and supporters from the wider College Community.
The audience enjoyed a spectacular evening of entertainment with performances from the Years 5/6 Chorus, Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, String Orchestra, Stage Band, Junior School String Orchestra, Junior School Choir, Senior Choir, Intermediate Choir, Big Band, Pop Choir, Interstellar Strings, Concert Strings, Concert Band, Combined Guitar Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra.
‘This year’s music festival was a lot of fun,’ said Year 12 Music Prefect, Lousie. ‘It’s always incredible being on stage at Hamer Hall where the professional musicians perform and seeing what your friends have been working on in the various orchestras, choirs and ensembles. I also really enjoyed watching our adorable Junior School performers show off their budding talent!’
The highlight of the evening was the massed finale, The Runway, composed by Professor of Composition at Melbourne University, Stuart Greenbaum (OW1984) and performed by our 380-piece choir and Music Festival Orchestra.
Stuart’s piece, commissioned by Wesley College for this performance - which was also its world premiere, was inspired by the vision of Afghani refugees mobbing the runway at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in August 2021 in a frantic attempt to flee the country as the Taliban regained control of the country.
Head of Choral and Voice, Belinda Parsons, was tasked with bringing singers from Years 5-12 together to perform this moving piece. ‘The students really responded to the fact that the piece was specifically commissioned for them, and that it provided an opportunity to perform with a full orchestra,’ she said. ‘There are some extraordinarily moving moments in the piece when you hear over 350 students singing together.’
