Young NZ

[dai bread]

To put a sort-of "on topic" idea into this forum:
last night I listened to a program from concert FM, our classical radio network. It was titled as above, and in this case featured songs by David Hamilton, for the most part, sung by Opus, the choir of Epsom Girls' Grammar School.

This choir recently completed a tour of Finland, St.Petersburg, Austria and Thailand and apparently it was a great success. So, as part of its brief to publicise up & coming musicians, Concert FM recorded the choir singing its tour repertoire.

They recorded it in a proper studio, thank goodness. I'd heard it before the tour in the school assembly hall, and it didn't come across all that well. The radio broadcast was excellent.

[lliam]

David Hamilton (b.1955) is currently Head of Music at Epsom Girls Grammar School and Deputy Musical Director of the Auckland Choral Society. During 1999 he was Composer-in-Residence with the Auckland Philharmonia, and he took a second year’s leave from school in 2000 to pursue a number of composition projects.

He has had works commissioned by major orchestras, instrumental groups and choirs throughout New Zealand. His particular interest is choral music and his music is particularly popular with school choirs. Works have been performed in a number of places around the world including Australia, Japan, Canada, USA and England. A number of his choral works have been published and recorded in North America and Finland, and in 2000 he won first prize in a choral composition competition organised by the University of Bologna, Italy.

[dai bread]

Well researched, lliam!

However, David Hamilton is no longer head of Music at EGGS. He resigned at the end of last year, and with him went Opus.

The present head is Peter Thomas. Opus is now simply the school choir, and is in the process of establishing its own reputation. This will take a while. Opus is a hard act to follow. So is David Hamilton.

[lliam]

Yes DB, but, Mr Hamilton is still behind the scenes as it were, till Jenny little starts her job full time.
Change seems to be the current theme in the music department. The biggest change from last year is the new teaching team. We welcome Peter Thomas as Head of Department and Jenny Little as Assistant Head of Department. We would also like to welcome Carolyn Medland (voice tutor) and John Bell (percussion tutor) to the Music department. The new staff bring much skill and enthusiasm to their role. It is great to have the ongoing support of ex HOD David Hamilton, who in his first term of 'retirement' is doing a guest spot until Jenny Little can join the team full time.

The other big change for the year will be the relocation of the Music department. At the end of term 2, they will be moving in to the current Art building, as they move to a new home. The current music block is to be demolished to make way for extensions to the 3-storey building. At the start of next year their new home will be re-modelled and we will end up with better facilities than they have at present, including more studio space, a large orchestra and band room and a recording facility. Exciting times ahead!

Groups
It is great to see the school ensembles up and running and in good heart. Epsom has a number of opportunities for students. Here are the groups, the conductors, and rehearsal times.


Senior Orchestra
Peter Thomas Tuesday 3.30
Chamber Orchestra
Michael McLellan Monday 7.30AM
& Tuesday lunchtime
Intermediate Orchestra


Peter Thomas/Jan Chen Friday Lunchtime


Concert Band
Peter Thomas Thursday 3.30

Stage Band


Peter Thomas Wednesday lunchtime


Opus


David Hamilton Monday & Thursday lunchtime


Festival Choir


Jenny Little/ Tuesday & Friday lunchtime
David Hamilton

[piqaboo]

Good Golly miss Molly! EGGS must have quite a website!

[dai bread]

Jenny Little also writes music. She wrote an odd little number for the Finnland tour, involving a sort of electronic & percussion background. A bit too "experimental" for me, I'm afraid.