Schools united in song

FESTIVAL OF MUSIC: Kangaroo Inn Area School students Lacey Goode, Hope Bowman, Riley Beggs, Zack Ballantyne and Olivia Baker participated in the South East Primary Schools' Festival of Music at the end of October.
FESTIVAL OF MUSIC: Kangaroo Inn Area School students Lacey Goode, Hope Bowman, Riley Beggs, Zack Ballantyne and Olivia Baker participated in the South East Primary Schools’ Festival of Music at the end of October.

PRIMARY school students from across the region recently united through music and song as part of the South East Primary Schools’ Festival of Music.

Kangaroo Inn Area School’s (KIAS) choir joined with six other schools to perform as part of the festival, which was held at the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre on October 26.

The Year 4-6 students from KIAS performed Friday night of the four-day festival with an orchestra of 56 members involving both students and adults from the district.

Kangaroo Inn choir trainer and reception/Year 1 teacher Amy Williams said the choir festival provided a great opportunity for children to perform in a high quality production in front of a large audience.

“Children are given the chance to audition for comperes, soloists and assisting artists,” she said.

“Growing up in the South East, the choir festival is what really got me started in singing.

“I performed as a soloist and assisting artist here at the local festival as well as in the Adelaide concerts.

“It gave me such a great start and I went on to do a Bachelor of Music in classical voice at the Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide.

“I highly recommend students get involved in the choir.”

Meanwhile, KIAS Year 4 students Riley Beggs and Amber Chester said the festival was not all about singing.

“You get to see different people perform, it is not what you expect,” Riley said.

“There was acting, a smoke machine, lighting and a disco ball.”

Amber said she would definitely recommend the experience to other children.

“Backstage they were so organised and we even had an orchestra to sing with,” she said.

“I would recommend it to other kids because it is a fun experience and you do not get an opportunity like that to perform on stage in front of an audience very often.”