Prime Minister John Howard has commended St Andrew’s Cathedral School for its efforts in ‘fostering relationships with USA schools and leading musical centres’ during one of the School’s most successful overseas music tours to the United States.
During the recent three week tour the School’s 68 musicians, accompanied by staff and school supporters, gave combined performances at Phillips Academy Andover MA, The Calhoun School and United Nations International School in New York, Friends Select School in Philadelphia PA and St Albans School for Boys and the National Cathedral School for Girls in Washington DC. The students also attended master classes and workshops at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, the Juilliard School in New York and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Performances were given for the Australian Consulate-General in New York, which included a performance on Anzac Day at the Rockefeller Centre, while another performance was given at Battery Park to commemorate September 11. The students also gave an impromptu performance at the United Nations Centre in New York. The Australian Ambassador, the Hon Michael Thawley, hosted the School’s final concert in the National Cathedral Washington.
Head of Music, Christine Belshaw, said the tour was an outstanding success. “From the outset we knew of the complexities of taking numerous individual groups along with the School’s chamber orchestra and around 15 singers and choristers to the States, but their amazing achievements have been well worth the effort,” Ms Belshaw said. A selection of the tour repertoire will be performed in the Sydney Town Hall on June 24.