McArthur Strings awarded platinum shield

Students in Wesley College Elsternwick’s premiere string group, McArthur Strings, were delighted to receive a Platinum Shield award for their performance at the recent Victorian School Music Festival, held at the Iwaki Auditorium, home to the Melbourne Symphony. This is a new award for 2013 and is the highest award of the competition. 22 students from the campus’ Years 6-9 year levels make up the ensemble, which consists of orchestral string instruments: violins, violas, cellos and double basses.

They also have a student pianist who plays piano with the ensemble. The group rehearses for fifty minutes every Wednesday before school, and performed at the festival two pieces by Australian composers - Eureka! by Keith Sharp and The Bells of Ghengis Khan by Stephen Chin.

Alexandra Cameron, Head of Music at Elsternwick, congratulates the Elsternwick campus students and the McArthur Strings director, Wendy Tooke, for this outstanding achievement. Alexandra said the chief adjudicator of the festival, Christopher Kopke, had commended them on their musicality. “In the tutorial session which he took, the students responded to his direction with a mature approach, which allowed him to work at a higher level than the basics which tend to dominate the junior orchestral sections.”

The Elsternwick campus has nurtured a number of students who have gone on to become professional musicians in Melbourne, interstate and overseas, and also has past students now teaching at the campus.

McArthur Strings recently performed at the Back to Booktown festival at Clunes and at school assemblies prior to performing at the recent Victorian School Music Festival.