This week, we welcome our School community to the return of live theatre for the first time at St Catherine’s since 2019! It was with much delight that I accepted an invitation to attend the dress rehearsal on Thursday evening for the Years 8 and 9 Play: Two weeks with the Queen. I offer my heartfelt congratulations to the cast, crew and directors, Mr Dylan Licastro and Mr James Brown. Whilst the play and actors are quite simply brilliant, it is their sheer determination and perseverance over ten months of rehearsals signifying an approach of: “the show must go on!” With the auditions conducted back in May, 2020, followed by many months of reciting lines together over MS Teams, the girls’ participation is certainly worthy of our praise.

Following the periods of extended lockdown last year for the younger students across Years 8 and 9, it is well acknowledged by staff and parents alike, that providing opportunity to participate in Co-curricular programs, such as School productions, assisted students in getting through the tumultuous period last year.

The play is adapted from the best-selling novel by Morris Gleitzman, which can be found on school syllabuses nation-wide, dealing both humorously and sensitively with serious social issues. The overarching vision for the play is to mirror the diversity within our community, highlighting the importance of being with loved ones during a crisis, while simultaneously normalising perceived taboo subject matter.

Our two lead roles include the highly skilled actor, Scarlet Russell and enthusiast on stage, Ashleigh Jakobovits with supporting roles by Lilla Barrington, Georgia Hennessy, Rachel Carton, Charlotte Upton, Chelsea Harris, Sophie Powell and stepping in at the last-minute owing to illness of a cast member, the well experienced stage doyenne, Freya Cantwell.

The play’s content is confronting at times with terminal cancer, LGBT characters and AIDS featuring in the dialogue. When rehearsing with the students, the teachers commented that at all times they approached their script work with kindness, empathy, care and maturity. The Directors guided the girls to step into the footsteps of another and with this, students could suspend their own reality and consider the perspectives and viewpoints of another person, whose lived experiences can be very different to their own.

There are two shows, Friday at 7.00pm is almost sold out, but there are a few tickets left for the Saturday 3.00pm performance. You can book tickets here.

In our final week of Term 1, the School will also feature the return of performance music with the annual Concerto Concert on Tuesday evening, commencing at 6.30pm. This is our first major music event for such a long time. This year, we are excited by the variety of performers and instruments, in particular, a performance by new student, Danielle Wong, playing the Harp concerto.

Each year, the St Catherine’s Music Department is pleased to offer three scholarships for talented and committed violin players. The Scholarship recipients are honoured with the opportunity to play and learn with violins of outstanding quality from the beginning of the last century. Each year, the Scholarship winners are encouraged to make full use of the instruments and perform in all relevant School ensembles and concerts, both in solo and ensemble contexts. This Concerto Concert allows the School community to hear substantial and well loved, solo and chamber works utilising these instruments.

Shelmerdine Violin Scholarship (Praga and Postiglione)

The Shelmerdine Violin Scholarship is a Scholarship that provides two magnificent Italian violins of the Praga and a Postiglione school, to two St Catherine’s students for the duration of 12 months. The Shelmerdine Scholarship is a direct result of a generous donation by Lindy Shelmerdine (’80). She hopes that these beautiful instruments will help to inspire our most advanced students during their formative years of study.

The Scholarships will be awarded at the Concerto Concert on Tuesday evening.

The Praga

The Praga was made by Eugenio Praga in 1901 and is a fine example of the Italian craft of violin making. At the time Eugenio Praga was the most highly regarded violin maker in Genoa. The renowned String magazine “The Strad” writes “Eugenio Praga left his mark on Genoese violin making…the quality is always remarkable.” (giordanoviolins.com)

The Postiglione

The Postiglione Violin was produced by the school of Vincenzo Postiglione in 1873. Violins made by Postiglione are considered to be absolute treasures, but they are hard to classify because only a true violin expert is able to certify that the violin is an original as the maker sometimes took pre-made, unfinished violins (‘in the white’) and completed them. This maker’s violins are considered to offer a wide spectrum of tonal qualities, great depth, strong projecting sound and evenness across all the registers. (amati.com/maker/postiglione-vincenzo-i/)

The Danielle Lloyd Violin Scholarship (Collin-Mezin Violin)

The Collin-Mezin Violin is of French origin and it bears the label of Ch. J. B Collin-Mezin dated 1902 in Paris. The instrument is described as having “two pieces of medium to broad, regular flamed maple with the figure descending from the centre joint; the sides and head are of similar wood; the top is of two pieces of straight grained spruce of medium to wide irregularly spaced reed lines; the varnish is of a gold brown laid over a golden ground. The length of the back is 358mm.”

This Violin was donated to the School in 2014 by Sue Hayes, mother of the late Danielle Lloyd (’83) who was a student at St Catherine’s School and later a much-revered Violin teacher. Danielle was a boarder at St Catherine’s School from 1980-83 and was Captain of Music in Year 12. Danielle was also the aunt of former student Grace Lloyd (’19).

Next week, we will also celebrate Easter with two Services. Owing to the COVID restricted numbers at the Church, The Reverend Dr Peter French will host the Senior School Service at School, in the Dorothy Pizzey Centre on Wednesday commencing at 1.50pm. The Junior School will fortunately still be able attend St John’s on Thursday, with the Service commending at 2.00pm with students able to be collected from the Church afterwards.