Standing room only at the Performing Arts End of Year Concert
Posted on December 13, 2022
On Wednesday 30 November, the Performing Arts faculty held their End of Year Concert, featuring students from Years 9-11.
The concert started with the Santa’s Helpers’ dance troupe performing a mix of contemporary dance styles to Sleigh Ride by The Ronettes, featuring award winning dancers; Chloe Lam (Upham House), Flora Browne (Te Kanawa), Mischa Inglis (Snell), Fiona Karani (Upham) and Alex Ready (Mansfield).
Two groups from the Year 11 MCert Drama course performed physical theatre reimagining’s of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, adapted for the stage by Steven Berkoff. This was followed by two soloists from the Year 11 MCert Music course, Gisele Lau (Te Kanawa) and Jenifer Kim (Rutherford) performing works by Brahms and Bach.
Following on the curriculum theme, a band from the Year 11 MCert Contemporary Music course performed Circles by Post Malone, featuring; Isaiah Muller (Hillary), Jay Kim (Batten), Sushant Prasad (Rutherford), Dylan Elmes (Te Kanawa) and Niko McConnell (Upham).
The first half of the concert concluded with a choir performance directed by Mrs McNabb and accompanied by Gisele Lau (Piano), Mabel Zhang of Te Kanawa (Flute) and Anthony Yang of Te Kanawa (Guitar).
The second half began with a play, How to Get Away with Christmas, written by Kieran John-Francke (Kupe) and Lexie Buchanan (Upham) and directed by Kieran John-Francke and Grace Pickering (Te Kanawa). Plenty of festive spirit and humour was presented by a strong cast that featured; Zoey Milne (Mansfield), Maegan le Roux (Rutherford), Kelly Yan (Te Kanawa), Daniela Gonzalez Castro (Mansfield), Kate Buchanan (Rutherford), Damien Hollins (Hillary), Eden Ward (Te Kanawa), Liliana Relf (Te Kanawa), Olivia Pokorny (Te Kanawa), Maria Sur (Mansfield), Brody Padfield (Te Kanawa), Kieran John-Francke and Lexie Buchanan.
Three ensembles making their debut performances followed. The Junior Sax Quartet playing Five Foot Two Eyes of Blue featuring; Isaac Ho (Te Kanawa), Marcus Abbott (Hillary), Thomas Han (Snell), Benjamin McLaren (Rutherford) and Amelie Lianto (Snell). A Brass Ensemble playing Swing Low Sweet Chariot featuring; Timothy Chang (Mansfield), Ivan Yun (Te Kanawa), Fred Wen (Te Kanawa), Wesley Lau (Kupe), Yuina Chan (Te Kanawa) and Daniel Hulley (Batten) and finally the Senior Sax Quartet playing Down By the Riverside featuring; Quinn Zhong (Upham), Ethan Zhang (Kupe), Adrian Chan (Te Kanawa) and Leo Mamedov (Kupe).
The concert concluded with a 70-piece orchestra made up of members of the Symphonic Band and Sinfonietta, conducted by Timothy Chang (making his conducting debut), Joanne Johnston and Yih-hsin Huang.
