LAST year was a musically successful year at Marist College Ashgrove, with several ensembles shining brightly in various musical events during the later months.
The college’s Big Band 1 was awarded a platinum award in the premier grade “Jiants of Jazz” section at the annual “Music Fest” and the Marist College Saxophone Quartet won the inaugural “Playing it Together” chamber music competition held at QPAC (Queensland Performing Arts Complex).
The 19-piece big band, which included students from Years 9 to 12, competed with six of Brisbane’s best high-school bands including big bands from St Paul’s College, Bald Hills; Emmanuel College, Gold Coast; Cannon Hill College; and Brisbane State High School.
Adjudicators John Hoffman (Griffith University) and Brad Millard commented that the band was “a musical joy to listen to” and awarded the band the only platinum award of the section.
The Marist College Saxophone Quartet competed on the Concert Hall stage at QPAC against 11 other chamber groups from Bundaberg, Townsville and the greater Brisbane area, including El Mariachi, the Marist guitar quartet.
The “Playing it Together” competition, sponsored by Arts Queensland, was adjudicated by the director of the Southern Cross Soloists Paul Dean, the head of strings at the University of Queensland Patricia Pollett, and Gold Coast cellist Louise King.
The competition was a musical highlight for quartet members William Foxcroft, Sean McKeague, Chris Wilkins and Luke Carbon, all Year 12 students at Marist College Ashgrove last year.
The quartet won $5000 in prizemoney for Marist College as well as a performance opportunity with the award-winning Southern Cross Soloists chamber group in 2010.
Head of music at Marist College Ashgrove Andrew Butt said all of the ensembles at the college “had a fantastic year with a wide array of performances including playing at Queensland Parliament House, (and) the Suncorp Piazza as part of The Queensland Music Festival”.
Mr Butt said the college’s chamber orchestra and big band also toured to the south island of New Zealand in September.
