'Medea' by Shock Therapy

PBC Arts students were treated to an exceptional performance of the Greek classic Medea. Presented by local theatre troupe Shock Therapy productions, the play presented students with a contemporary, striking performance that left an indelible impression upon the audience. A big thank you to Suzanne Parker and the Arts faculty for organising this production.

Creative Generation Choral Fanfare

On Monday 27 May, PBC’s Vocal Ensemble participated in the Creative Generation Choral Fanfare. Choral Fanfare is a biennial festival of choirs from Queensland state schools to promote and celebrate school-based choral music programs. The program receives participation from over 11,000 state school students and showcases the outstanding vocal talent of our school students through performance.

Being our first time participating in the event, our Vocal Ensemble were keen to learn and grow from the experience. A big congratulations to the students involved as the ensemble received a Distinction Gold Award for our performance. Our students demonstrated an excellent standard for presentation, sound quality, technical elements and musical interpretation.

Congratulations to the 36 students involved, as well as their Vocal Director Kristina Tassone.

Optima Regional Tour

On Wednesday, students and staff from the Optima Wind Ensemble and Stage Band 1 began their journey to Stanthorpe for the inaugural Regional Band Tour, little did we know how much of a success it would be. The first stop of the tour was to Stanthorpe Primary School, with the entire school (all 280 of them) sitting eagerly awaiting the big sound that would be the Optima Wind Ensemble. To say they were excited and shocked by what they heard would be an understatement. This young group of students sat for over an hour and watched us perform wanting more and more.

We then performed at the Stanthorpe Band Shell for an evening of music sharing with the local community band who sounded fantastic and jumped at the opportunity to sit in with our groups. The local paper created an ad for the performance and the local Scouts came down to cook us the most delicious BBQ, we felt very welcome! Three members of the community band performed with the Optima Wind Ensemble and Stage Band and you could not wipe the smile off their faces, they begged to be able to come to a school like PBC, even just for a week to soak up all the music we have to offer.

On the second day, we travelled on the bus with our trusty driver, Sarah, to Toowoomba. We performed for Toowoomba East State School and again wowed the audience with a sound they have never heard before, the students were so excited they stayed afterward to hear individuals play their instruments and see the instruments up close, some of the students were even asking for autographs! One of the highlights of this performance was a student commenting, “I’ve never felt so much joy than I felt today”.

That afternoon we let out hair down at the local bowls club, where community members volunteered their time to coach the students in an afternoon of barefoot bowls. The students had a great time and the community members have invited us back for more bowls and a concert. After the bowls it was time to eat at the all-time classic restaurant, Sizzler, to say that the teachers on the trip were more excited about this wouldn’t be a lie – who can resist Sizzler cheesy bread?

On the final day we got back on the bus and travelled to Brisbane to take part in a Workshop with Dr Peter Morris at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. The students played better than they have ever played before (you can only imagine how that would have sounded) and wowed the guest conductor. Peter spent time on small details not letting the students move forward until they perfected the section. It was great for the students to be in the ‘Con’ space and to have the opportunity to dream of what it would be like to study there in the future.

All in all the trip was a great success, students and staff had a great time and we will definitely do it again. A special thank you to Justin Hart, Loren Skyring, Nicky Cooper and Tamara Gillard for their tireless work on the tour. We could not do the things we do in Instrumental music without the great support of our wonderful parent community.