Great Scot December 2019 Great Scot 158_December_ONLINE | Page 44

MUSIC
MUSIC IN SPRING
The Term 4 music season provided many opportunities for young musicians
A comment I often hear after the Foundation Day Concert is: ‘You
must all be relaxing now the concert is over!’ Well, the Foundation
Day Concert does focus the mind somewhat, but we have plenty of
boys and ensembles that are not in the concert, and they need to
perform too! Performance is, after all, a major element in learning an
instrument.
Jazz Cabaret opened the Term 4 music season. It featured the
Stage Band, the Show Band and the close harmony vocal ensemble,
the Cardinals. As tradition dictates, we also featured a guest ensemble
– Elly Poletti and her band. Elly is particularly well known in the world
of music theatre, having won two Victorian Bruce Awards.
A particularly important event is the annual Spring Concert. It
features our intermediate ensembles, and this year we opened with
the Intermediate Orchestra under the baton of Adam Merange,
performing highlights of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, followed by Leroy
Anderson’s timeless humorous classic The Typewriter.
Of particular note was a performance by the Henri Touzeau String
Orchestra under the direction of Head of Strings, James de Rozario.
This was James’ final performance with the Touzeau Strings, as he will
be leaving Scotch at the end of the year to take up the role of Director
of Music at Xavier College. James’ contribution to Scotch has been
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Great Scot Issue 158 – December 2019
immense, and his legacy is a thriving string department, possibly
unrivalled in the state. It is a sensible move for James, and we wish
him well.
The rest of the concert featured some very polished performances
from the Ted Joyner Band, the Intermediate Concert Band, and the
George Dreyfus Band – no shortage of bands here! The Cambiatta
Choir sang superbly under Jo Blankfield’s direction, and the Morrison
Street Big Band and the Callantina Swing Band brought the concert to
a swinging conclusion.
The final ScotchArts concert for the year was presented by Wilma
and Friends. Wilma Smith (Artistic Director for Musica Viva Chamber
Music Competitions and former Concertmaster of the Melbourne
Symphony Orchestra) characteristically assembled a superb ensemble
of outstanding professionals.
Particularly notable in this concert was the classical saxophonist,
Joseph Lallo. Joe teaches saxophone at Melbourne University,
and has performed all over the world. Having had the privilege of
conducting Joe professionally for two concertos, I can honestly
attest to the brilliance of this musician – one of the very best classical
saxophonists in the world.
It was good to see a substantial cohort of Scotch musicians