Years 5 & 6 Music Excursion 

After dazzling the audience of family and friends at the Junior School Music Showcase on Tuesday evening, students from Years 5 & 6 headed to the Sydney Opera House on Thursday, 26 June, for a concert by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

For many students, this was their first live orchestral experience, and what better way to do this than hear the SSO perform Benjamin Britten’s famous Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. This piece explores how musicians play instruments and the sounds each instrument makes, from the bright blasts of brass to the silky shimmer of the strings, from the rumbling power of percussion to the smooth sound of the woodwinds. Students also experienced the energy and rhythm of excerpts from Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, as well as the world premiere of Australian composer Bree van Reyk’s Fanfare for Solidarity.