The work was written as a gift to my friend and colleague, Peter Morris, as part of the celebration of 20th anniversary of the Queensland Catholic Colleges Music Festival. The festival is a wonderful event and the school which hosts it, Villanova College in Coorparoo, Queensland (Peter is Director of Music there) has a wonderful culture and the festival a very special spirit. I wanted to honour the event, the students, the schools and the qualities evident in the event.
The work was written very quickly, four or five days only from beginning the sketch to finishing the Finale score.
QCMF 20th anniversary concert at the Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, 15th of August 2010.
Subsequent performances:
The response to the premiere was enthusiastic and animated. The students seemed to really enjoy the piece, once they had it under control! When you hear them singing or whistling the themes as they leave rehearsal you know there is some 'connection' there. Julie said she thought it was a great piece and looks forward to publishing it. "It's so much better in the 'flesh' than in that dinky Finale audio file", she whispered in my ear when I joined her in the audience for the remainder of the celebration concert.
The work was selected by the Board of Directors of the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic for New Music Reading Session at their conference in December of 2010, at Chicago.