On Friday 24 November 2023, South West Music Regional Conservatorium launched its Live Music Concert Series Program for 2024.
We welcomed a very special guest, Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales to this event. It was an honour to have Her Excellency at the event to meet our loyal concert series supporters and speak to us about the importance of music education and how regional conservatoriums deliver this.
The evening consisted of a very special performance by Paul Young, our Head of Music. Paul who is an extremely talented classical pianist. We also had a performance from our advanced student, Hailey McLean.
To start off the year we will host Larissa Burak. Larissa will come to us from the Riverina Conservatorium in Wagga Wagga where she is the leading vocal teacher. Not only does Larissa have an exceptional soprano voice, she plays the bandura which is traditional Ukrainian instrument. The instrument has 65 strings and is plucked similar to that of a harp. We also plan to hold a workshop around this concert to give the community the opportunity the learn about the spectacular bandura instrument.
In March, we will be celebrating Easter with a mini tour for our youngest community members. Damien Peck & Jemma Armstrong are both from ABC Kids and specialise in early childhood music education. Damo & Jemma will be performing a childrens concert in Mathoura for the 4 to 8 year olds in that area. They will then travel to Deniliquin for concert here for our early childhood learning groups. We will also be running one off music workshops for the various community groups who are unable to attend the concerts. The Deniliquin event will also be part of the annual easter Deni Fest run by the Edward River Council. We feel very strongly about encouraging music in young children and this is event is a great example of that.
In April, we have partnered with Music In The Regions to bring you the Acacia Quartet. Music In The Region’s vision very much aligns with ours. Their vision is that all people in New South Wales will enjoy the ability to experience a range of high quality classical music concerts. In thirteen years the Acacia Quartet have won great respect for their versatile and inventive programs. Acacia are passionate about supporting Australian composers, working with young musicians and sharing their love of music with audiences of all ages. Their engagements in Australia include the Sydney Opera House, City Recital Hall Sydney and the Melbourne Recital Hall. We are honoured to be partnering with a company like Music In The Regions and are very excited for the Acacia Quartet to visit Deniliquin as part of their regional tour.
For the colder winter months we will be running a mini series of Lunchtime Classical concerts. We are partnering with the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music who will be sending us prize winning senior performance students. For those who attended the Spire Quartet here earlier in the year, you know how high the standard of music is. Not only do we to be entertained by top class musicians, we are giving students performance opportunities, touring opportunities and teaching them about the importance of music in regional and rural communities. We will also be running workshops around these concert dates for various community & school groups in the area. These will be a combination of mini concerts & learning workshops to inspire and educate students about music and learning.
In the springtime, we will host another jazz event. Many of your attended our recent jazz concert at Harry Peppers. Harry Pepper is a wonderful example of a local business. It is businesses like these we want to support and work with. We plan to do a similar thing again year… Jazz & sunshine are a fabulous combination.
We plan to launch our 2025 calendar in November similar to this event. This will be another classical music event with more details to come throughout the year.
In additional to our concert series events, we will also be hosting a variety of student recitals and showcases throughout the year. We are also very fortunate to have strong relationships with other community groups and plan to partner on as many projects as possible to expose as many people in the community to music & music education.
Subscriptions are now available for sale from the Conservatorium (241-245 Cressy Street, Deniliquin) or email concerts@swmusic.org.au.
The 2024 subscriptions will stay at the same amount as 2023 which is $120. Subscriptions give you access to all of our events throughout the year. All money raised from subscription sales goes into putting on the concert series events. We could put on events like these without support from each and every one of our subscribers.
We couldn’t do events like this, or teach music, without the support of the NSW Government Department of Education, and ALL of our valuable sponsors and partners, 2QN, Edward River Council, South West Arts, Peppin Consulting and the Deniliquin Pastoral Times. We do also have a sponsorship packages available for the 2024 concert series program, so if you are a local business who would like to support us, please email concerts@swmusic.org.au
Last but not least, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our amazing volunteer committee who make these events possible.
Paul Young, Head of Music
Hailey McLean, Student
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