The gala night of the year for BSSC Year 12 Music students was held amidst the superb acoustics of the Ulumbarra Foyer last evening.
Students sang and played their hearts out to gathered family and friends with a fabulous variety of pieces representing a wide range of musical genres and eras.
There were vocals, piano, bass and electric guitar, and four brass instruments.
Cally Bartlett, guest adjudicator for the evening, had the unenviable task of selecting a winner and two honourable mentions.
Musician of the Year was awarded to Violet Thoma who flawlessly played two wonderfully complicated piano pieces—one by Carl Czery, the other by Franz Liszt. Violet was also the audience favourite and takes home the Audience Choice Award.
Honourable mentions went to Molly Bartels and Kaled Dunn-Goudge.
Molly sang Missy Higgins’ ‘The Special Two’ and Manuel Miranda’s ‘Burn’.
Kaled, on saxophone, played a Barry Cockcroft piece, ‘Black and Blue’ and an arrangement of ‘Sound of Silence’ by The Disturbed.
In her closing remarks, Cally warmly congratulated all performers and reminded the audience of just how nerve-wracking an event like this can be for a young musician.
She outlined her judging criteria which included technical command of the instrument and musical piece, capacity to employ variations in tone, and how well each musician communicated or connected with the audience as they performed.
BSSC is grateful to award sponsor, Rod Spitty, to Cally, and to our guest accompanists—Cheryl Long, Louise Mathews and Peter Butler. Gratitude is also extended to the sublime Rose Norton, last year’s Musician of the Year, who again delighted the audience with her magnificent voice.
Congratulations to our wonderful music students and much appreciation to music teachers Ash and Jacquie, who worked so hard to prepare for this event and did a terrific job emceeing the 2024 Musician of the Year.
Check out all the photos on our Facebook page.
