Due to COVID, the majority of Performing Arts concerts were cancelled during 2021. However, as the year progressed, I was privileged to witness the continuing resilience and creativity of students and staff in keeping the arts alive at Ivanhoe Girls’.

Early in the year, we enjoyed the Twilight Concerts and Open Day, while the Senior School production of A Government Inspector was a roaring success. Despite the setbacks of rolling lockdowns and social distancing restrictions, by the end of Term 3 our musicians and actors had honed their skills in well over 1500 hours of rehearsals. 

While whole-school singing was restricted, an ensemble of students, jokingly named the COVID-Chorale, helped lead our worship at assemblies, and as part of the School’s Easter services, our choirs explored sacred works by Bruckner and Wesley. During weekly assemblies, Senior School students enjoyed a diverse array of performances by our leading musicians. A performance by the Show Choir (in-between lockdowns) of “California Dreaming”, by The Mamas and the Papas, directed by Anna Van Veldhuisen, was also very special.

In Term 2, students from Years 3 - 12 prepared concertos for our annual Golden Note Concerto Festival, adjudicated by Tamara Smolyar from the Melbourne Conservatoire. Unfortunately the final concert was cancelled. Audiences were unlucky to miss the virtuosic performances by our Year 12 entrants, Winona Lai, Sophie Pisani and Tianyi Wang that demonstrated many years of dedication to their craft.

While the Senior School Winter Concert and Jazz Night were also cancelled, some of the best repertoire from Hewison Strings, Drumline and Chamber Choir soloists was able to be included as part of Senior Celebration Night.

Meanwhile, in Junior School, the Junior School Winter Concert was unable to proceed as planned. However, the Year 5 and Year 6 Musical was reimagined, performed to the school as an assembly item and showcased as part of Junior School Celebration Night.

The Performing Arts Department is making a conscious effort to build meaningful links with the local indigenous community, so our Years 3 and 4 students enjoyed working with Wurundjeri elder, Murrindindi, to learn a song in traditional language to share with the School.

In Drama, we were lucky to have a live audience for the Senior School’s wonderful production of Gogol’s "The Government Inspector". Director Helen Mutkins worked with a strong group of students to produce a wonderful show, and the actors displayed great skill in fully emoting the comedy and melodrama. Currently, Year 9 Trek students studying "All The World's a Stage" and AIM (Art in Motion) are busily preparing for their shows. 

Over the course of the pandemic, we have spent well over 200 days at home. Without the performing arts, how boring would these lockdowns have been? 

We have all experienced the power of music to calm or excite and the escapism of drama that transports us to places so different from our own. 

I am sure you hope, like me, that 2022 will see the return of live performance for our students. They have worked so courageously over the past 18 months and I cannot wait for them to explode back onto the stage, sharing their many talents that have been hidden from the public eye for too long! 

Christopher Cox
Head of Performing Arts