It felt like a big camp with a bunch of other music students and lovers like me.

Lucy Hay (Music Vice-Captain)

Students from Senior Vocal Ensemble and Senior Stage Band, along with Mr Dohse, Mr Millar, Mrs Coxhill, Ms Davey and Mrs Allen travelled to Mount Gambier over the weekend for the annual Generations in Jazz Festival. This was the first time the event had been held in person since 2019 and the first time that Saint Ignatius’ College had attended since 2018. Noah Chan, Angelo Fazzini, Esther Hopkins and Ben Iasiello all attended as Year 7 students in Bellarmine Stage Band, so it was fantastic to have them attend once again as Year 12 students.

The weekend was full of music. A concert from the Generations in Jazz Big Band on Friday night featuring guest artists Thndo and Adam Lopez, a pumping concert Saturday night from Swedish super group Dirty Loops and, of course, the competition itself.

Senior Stage Band competed in Division 3 of the National Stage Band Awards. They played fantastically with solos from Gigi Osborn, Kevin Zheng, Ben Iasiello, Ben Trenerry, Noah Chan and Tim Wilson.

Senior Vocal Ensemble competed in Division 2 of the Vocal Ensemble awards. They sang a beautiful ballad ‘The Nearness of You’ first up and had the audience on the edge of their seats. Then moved into the fun set piece ‘New Day’ with a solo from Neve Sargeant.

Both groups did a fantastic job over the weekend and should be very proud of their efforts.

Music Vice-Captain Lucy Hay said "I found Generations in Jazz to be a rewarding experience as it felt like a big camp with a bunch of other music students and lovers like me. The facilities and set up was great with sturdy tents for performances, amazing food options and wonderful transport. It was a great opportunity to be able to perform in front of other schools and have an experience of high-level competition. GIJ was an overall extremely fun weekend with great performances of music from professional jazz musicians, the Swedish band Dirty Loops and incredible student-based ensembles”.

We are grateful to all the families that came to Mount Gambier to support us and for all of the support we received from back home.

Already counting down the days until Generations in Jazz 2024!!

Aaron Dohse
Coordinator of Co-curricular Arts & Activities