Hitting all the right notes in Term 3 

The penultimate term of the year is always a busy and bustling time for students and staff involved in the Music department, especially as Seniors students look to finalise their major works, performing them for their teachers, assessors, friends, and family. Across five major events, students have showcased their skills, hard work, and passion for musical pursuits. 

Year 12 Music Soiree 

Taking place in August, the Year 12 Music Soiree was an opportunity for Year 12 IB and HSC Music students to perform for their friends and family.

The night included 18 performances from 14 individual performers. Across this talented group of musicians, the works were varied with a common feature of a high degree of difficulty. 

Composition Evening 

One of the highlights of the music calendar, the Composition Evening also has very high stakes for Year 12 students as their performances are recorded in preparation for uploading for HSC and IB composition components. 

Across 14 performances, each student put years of performing, thousands of hours of practice, and a lifelong passion for music on full display. Performances included:

• Thomas Dawson (12Ta) HSC Music 2 Core Composition, Homage to Ives – this work was for brass trio was inspired by the existentialist composer Charles Ives.
• Harry Hartzenberg (9Yo) Year 9 Music Elective, EDM – this example of EDM was chosen for performance as it was the best example from the Year 9 cohort in the House Style.
• Andrew Stone (12Ho) IB Original Creating AOI3 Film, Theme and Variations on ‘The Incredibles’ – this work for brass quartet demonstrated Andrew’s compositional skills in his specialty area of brass.
• Elton Huang (12Ar) IB Original Creating AOI2 Music for Listening, Caprice – this work for chamber orchestra revealed Elton’s flare for Impressionistic composition, with dance rhythms and tone colours reminiscent of French composer Maurice Ravel.
• Stefano Furlan (12Du) IB Contemporary Music Maker, Self and William Chang’s (12Ar) IB Contemporary Music Maker, Other Self – were presented as a pair. Each inspired by the use of the other student’s name constructed as musical monograms, as per Bach and Shostakovich, these two works in the mid-romantic and late romantic styles respectively.
• Luca Cordaro (12Mu) HSC Music 2 Core Composition, Petrified Forest – was inspired by the tone clusters of Polish composer Penderecki and is work, Thenody for the Victims of Hiroshima, with Luca capturing the intensity of this style with absolute precision.
• Peter Dawson (12La) HSC Music 2 Core Composition, Triumph on the Track – a work for Vibraphone and two marimba’s was the perfect vehicle for the exceptional percussion talents of Peter, Chris Chin (12He) and Mr Leigh Giles our percussion tutor.
• Nicholas Musumeci (12Ke) HSC Music 1 Composition Elective, Fishing – was a wonderful example of mixed tone colours across strings, piano, vibraphone, trombone and flute, which captured the notion of the movement of fish and the thrill of the angler’s art.
• Elton Huang (12Ar) IB Contemporary Music Maker, Dreaming – with it’s captivity musical imaging of 2 art works truly moved the audience.
• Ben Chau (12Du) HSC Music 2 Core Composition, Fugue for Five Dock – demonstrated Ben’s compositional prowess, working with this most challenging of music forms.
• Jordan Buultjens (8WH) and Ethan Choy (8Sc) Year 8 Multimedia Children’s Song, Colours of the Rainbow – was this year’s choice for the concert as the best example of this task across Year 8.
• Stefano Furlan (12Du) IB Original Creating AOI1 Religious Music, Theme and Variations on Stuttgart: The School Song – performed by Mr Kinda at the piano, this work delivered a stunning example of Theme and Variation form, with the addition of a blistering concluding fugue.
• Max Lau (12Ar) IB Contemporary Music Maker, Dashed Hopes – a piano scoring to match the shifting emotion of a short film.
• Jonathan Bassily (12Yo) IB Original Creating AOI2 Music for Listening, You and I – was yet another example of Jono’s ability as a singer/songwriter.

Big Band Evening of Jazz 

This year’s Big Band Evening of Jazz showcased a unique ‘Game Music’ theme, created in collaboration with the Consouls Jazz group, Trinity AV, and the MarComms Design Team at Trinity.

The partnership brought spectacular gaming-themed visuals projected onto a big screen, accompanied by coordinated lighting that transformed the Orchestra Room into a vibrant Jazz Club. 

A highlight of the evening was the commissioned piece, ‘Tetris’, a creative mash-up of the 1980s’ Tetris theme reimagined as a Pink Panther-inspired Big Band arrangement. This piece was workshopped with the Consouls Band members over two rehearsals and meticulously arranged to suit the Trinity Band.

The Consouls performed a captivating set of three pieces, adapted from Mario 64, Zelda, and Sonic the Hedgehog into innovative jazz fusion arrangements.

The Intermediate Jazz Ensemble delivered two combo numbers, featuring improvisations from the entire band. The night concluded with the Consouls joining the Big Band for an adventurous and exhilarating performance of Big Band jazz music.

Contemporary Ensemble Soloist Showcase 

This term the Trinity AV team transformed the Drama Theatre into a rock venue fit for the Contemporary Ensemble Soloist Showcase. Hosted by Head of Contemporary Music, Matthew Barter (11St) the night featured five up and coming Middle School students from Contemporary Ensemble, backed by a house band of elite Senior School musicians. 

The house band consisted of Ben Gergis (9WH) on vocals, Ashton Yee (10Ta) on Keys, Riley Coneliano (11Fo) on guitar and Liam Conlon (11La) on Drums. 

The evening featured a performance from Year 12 IB student Sam Eastwood (12He), who performed his Contemporary Music Maker composition assessment titled. We then capped it off with a performance from Trinity’s own up and coming band ‘There Goes Me’, made up of Riley, Liam, Matthew and Nathan Pham. 

Featured Contemporary Ensemble Performances:

• James Styliano (9He) Guitar – ‘Money For Nothing’ Dire Straits
• Frankie Spyropoulos (9St) Drums – ‘Black Hole Sun’ Soundgarden
• Ethan Chen (8Ar) Guitar – ‘Nothing Else Matters’ Metallica
• David Chang (9WJ) – ‘Fugue State’ Vulfpeck
• Thomas Doran (8Ho)  – ‘Hotel California’ The Eagles

All students from the Contemporary Ensemble were in attendance and were rapt to see their peers performing at an elite level. 

Chamber Concert 

Capping off a huge term of music was the Chamber Concert, held in Trinity’s own Delmar Gallery. The audience was filled with chamber music devotees, with Trinity’s Chamber Ensemble gaining quite a following due to the high standard of their annual performance. 

With performers from across almost every year group, the audience was enthralled by their exceptional playing.

The Mozart Clarinet quintet was joined by Frank Celata, principal clarinet with the SSO, as a mentor and performing alongside David Lin, Elton Huang, Stefano Furlan and Tom Henry. Frank was impressed by the sophisticated musicality of the boys and their ability to communicate and adapt quickly to different musical ideas and without a doubt the high standard of their playing. The slow movement was particularly beautiful and heart wrenching.  

Overall, it was a wonderful concert of an extremely high standard that was loved by all.