Great Scot - The Scotch Family Magazine - Issue 149 December 2016 Great Scot - The Scotch Family magazine issue 149 | Page 40

Senior School

Music

Foundation Day Concert 2016

Scotch’s 165th birthday well
celebrated in wonderful music
Spring was in the air and spring was in the
steps of hundreds of boys, parents, and other
Scotch Family members as they made their way
to Hamer Hall on the evening of 29 August for the
2016 Foundation Day Concert. The occasion? A
celebration in music and fellowship of Scotch’s
165th birthday.
The Pipes and Drums, out on the sloping lawn
in front of the hall, welcomed the boys and the
audience in flamboyant style.
After the National Anthem and the College
Anthem came two musical treats. First, virtuoso
pianist Tian Tian Lan (Year 11) captivated the
audience with his performance of Rachmaninov’s
Piano Concerto No. 3, backed by the Symphony
Orchestra under the baton of Director of Music,
John Ferguson. Composed in 1909, the concerto
is regarded as one of the most technically
challenging of the popular piano concertos, but
Tian Tian and the orchestra handled it masterfully.
The second treat was offered by another
richly talented senior boy. Oboist Andrew Kawai
(Year 12) played Gabriel’s Oboe, the main theme
for the 1986 film, The Mission. This is a most
melodic, serene piece, which Andrew interpreted
beautifully. The orchestra finished this bracket with
the overture to the 1938 opera Colas Breugnon by
Dmitry Kabalevsky, a bouncy item with plenty of
work for the percussionists.
The school and the audience next sang Forty
Years On, followed by Loch Lomond, the latter
now joining the former as a de rigeuer Foundation
Day Concert item. There was plenty of energy in
the singing.
Next up was the Academy String Orchestra,
conducted by James deRozario, which

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successfully tackled the demanding Divertimo
for String Orchestra by Bartok. This was followed
by two pieces performed by the Symphonic
Wind, John Fannin’s Seven Hills Overture and
Kenneth Lampl’s Conquest 1, a very exciting
composition, giving the orchestra plenty of scope
to demonstrate its considerable musical prowess.
The Military Band, conducted by David Musk,
launched the second half of the program with
their usual precision, performing an arrangement
of the finale from West Side Story by Leonard
Bernstein; and the Drumline, tutored by Campbell
Phillips, drew sustained enthusiastic applause
for their renditions of Legend by Mike Lynch
and Campbell’s own composition, A Minute of
Madness.
In what was probably a first for a Foundation
Day Concert, the Pipe Band’s performance
featured audience participation. The band,
directed by Mark Saul, first performed The
Winnipeg Forager by Bob Worrall, then Drum
Major Cameron Webb (Year 12) rehearsed the
audience in a chorus for I am Proud to Play a Pipe.
The band led the singing and the audience joined
in the chorus, perhaps feeling a little tongue-tied
as they attempted the Gaelic words.
The Show Band took the stage, conducted
by Megan Philip, with Sing, Sing, Sing by Louis
Prima, featuring Charlie Schilling (Year 11) on
alto saxophone, Jack Maughan (Year 10) on
percussion and Harrison Torode (Year 10) on
drums. The band’s second offering was one of its
favourites —The Jazz Police by Gordon Goodwin
— featuring soloists Patrick Miao (Year 11, alto

saxophone), Jai Lui (Year 12, tenor saxophone)
and Zayne Paspaliaris (Year 10, guitar).
Wonderful singing by the College Choir and
the Chamber Choir, both conducted by Andrew
Hunter, enraptured the audience. The College
Choir sang two traditional songs — one from
Kenya, Wana Baraka, sung with great sensitivity,
followed by the well-known American song Down
by the Riverside, accompanied by Peter Baker,
with Ethan Flemming (Year 10) on bass and
Harrison Torode again manning the drums.
The Chamber Choir’s featured pieces were
the chant-style Ubi Caritas by Ola Gjeilo, and a
rousing rendition of Paul Rardin’s Hol’ You Han,
an arrangement of a Jamaican folk song. Soloists
were Hrishikesh Goradia and Thomas Sutherland
(both Year 12).
It only remained for John Ferguson to conduct
the school, the Symphony Orchestra and the
audience in the College Song and the Boating
Song. Then came the finale; first, the school and
Symphony Orchestra performed five well-known
short operatic pieces, then the audience was
invited to join in the poignant Chorus of the
Hebrew Slaves by Verdi —and it was all over for
another year.
This year’s concert added another successful
chapter to the history of Foundation Day Concerts
which stretches back to 1911. It’s a rich tradition
of great singing, talented soloists and well-drilled
orchestras, bands and choirs of which Scotch can
be justifiably proud.
DAVID ASHTON
RIGHT, TOP: THE SCHOOL SINGS AND PLAYS
RIGHT, BELOW, LEFT: TIAN TIAN LAN CAPTIVATES WITH HIS
PERFORMANCE. RIGHT: ANDREW KAWAI IS CONGRATULATED FOR
HIS MASTERFUL OBOE PERFORMANCE.

Great Scot Number 149 – December 2016

www.scotch.vic.edu.au Great Scot

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