Primary Schools Music Festival

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:53): Today, I would like to congratulate everyone involved with the 130^th anniversary of what we now call the Primary Schools Music Festival. This year's concert at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre was billed as Stars in the Arena, and it certainly was a showcase of current stars and stars of the future.

I was glad to attend three of the four concerts, because that is how many I could fit in, to see nearly all the north-eastern schools involved in this wonderful event: schools like Ingle Farm, Ingle Farm East, Modbury, Modbury West, Para Vista; and schools I have been associated with or known for many years, including Modbury South, East Para Primary School, Wandana Primary School, The Heights School, Ardtornish Primary, Banksia Park, Fairview Park, Redwood Park, Tea Tree Gully Primary, St Agnes, Highbury, Surrey Downs, Keithcot Farm and Mawson Lakes—all wonderful schools in the north-east.

The board led by Stephen Measday, and creative team led by Irene Solowij, are too numerous to mention here, but I would like thank each and every one of them for all they have done to make this year's event as special as it was and for the invitation to something I look forward to every year. Thanks, too, to the music and choreography leaders and staff, and to the commissioned work composer Glyn Lehmann.

There were some amazing performances by the choirs who have been keenly practising all year to present to us things like South Australia—It’s My Home and Eye of the Sound Storm. Those segments included other songs of course. There were a lot of them and too many to name. There were a selection of things from Mary Poppins, and what has now become my favourite song, Sounds of the Public School, which dates back to some of the earliest concerts.

Great work went into all the commissioned pieces within the title Water is Life, and that message was not lost on all those in attendance on each of the evenings I was there. The dance items were spectacular, and everyone was thrilled with the wow factor the Adelaide Entertainment Centre provided through its marvellous technical teams and special effects. I think the kids really enjoyed performing on a very big stage and with the very best of backup they could possibly have from the industry.

What I really enjoyed, though, were the many guest artists, and I would like to mention in particular a piano item by Jaycey Anand of the Walkerville Primary School entitled Midnight Rhapsode, which was spectacular, and the absolutely knockout performance called Steam Train to Mallaig, by William and The Mullighans from the Marryatville High School featuring that well-loved rock instrument, the bagpipe. My golly gosh, they were amazing. I think the whole audience was on their feet cheering at the end. It was an absolutely amazing performance, and I am hoping a CD is available from Marryatville High because that is something I really want to get.

Thanks, too, must go to the student comperes, particularly for their seamless work in bridging and joining all the items together, and for the history lessons during the evening, particularly about how the concert actually started out as the Thousand Voice Choir, and all the information on the dress codes and shirts that have been available through the decades.

Thanks, too, to the supporters and sponsors. Again, there are too many to mention. However, I give a particular shout-out to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre staff and its security staff. The venue worked really well for me. It enabled me to park nearby and race in and out, and I hope it was also useful for others. While price is always a sensitive feature for many families, particularly in these COVID times, it was wonderful to see so many schools still able to participate. Without the dedication and extra hours put in by all their schoolteachers to make this concert season so successful it certainly would not have been able to happen.

The Primary Schools Music Festival has gone on for many years—as I said, 130 years this year. It is a real testament to the staff involved that last year, despite all the COVID problems, they were able to go ahead with something, and this year again, with the help of the South Australian health department, so many people were able to actually attend at the Entertainment Centre.

For those of you who missed it this year, do yourself a favour and do not miss it next year. Next year, I am sure it will be back bigger and better than ever, and I really look forward to supporting all my schools with their music awards later on this year.

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