During the July school holidays, the Banksia Beach State School Advanced Concert Band travelled to Sydney to be a part of the Australian International Music Festival and, after their three days of competing against bands from other countries which included Canada and China, they returned home with a gold medal.
Featured Image(above): Band members Ella George and Jaiden Paddy took the opportunity to show me the Fanfare 2018 awards
I have no doubt that this success served as a great morale booster for when they competed in the Grand Final of the Education Queensland instrumental music program, “Fanfare 2018” on August 13th at the Convention Centre. ‘Fanfare” has been an event which, since it’s inception in the mid-1980’s, has fostered the development of thousands of young Queensland musicians and this year saw more than 30,000 students from 515 state schools compete in 1,143 ensemble performances across fifty-four regional locations throughout Queensland.
After having proved their talent during the earlier stages of the competition, the sixty-five young musicians from Banksia Beach State School were chosen as grand finalists along with The Willows State School Concert Band, Ashgrove State School String Orchestra, Ironside State School Chamber Strings and Varsity College String Orchestra. Continuing on from their recent success in Sydney, the Banksia Beach State School Advanced Concert Band were awarded the title of “Most Outstanding,” and therefore becoming the outright winner.
They were also given the honour of returning the following night to open the “Fanfare 2018” Secondary School Grand Final Concert. Band Conductor Martin O’Callaghan told me that there are three hundred Banksia Beach students involved in the school’s music program. ‘We have a beginners band, an intermediate band and the advanced band,’ said Martin. ‘With just over one thousand students at the school, having almost thirty per cent in the music program is truly impressive,’ he added.
To know that there are so many young musicians within in the area leaves me with no doubt that there will always be someone to provide us with entertainment. The Bribie Islander congratulates the super talented musicians of the Banksia Beach State School Advanced Concert Band on such a fantastic achievement.
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