By Ella Angell and Zara Oong
Loreto Normanhurst
As you are all aware, our Music Festival is an inter-house competition in which each house prepares a song and performs it on the night at the ICC. At Normo, the winning House of Light Entertainment from Term 4 performs their act; solo and group acts perform in the first half of the evening and every student performs in the second half.
Each House performs a song and one House is awarded Best Choir at the conclusion of the evening. There is a guest judge who chooses the winning House and there is also a Spirit Cup up for grabs. In the first half, all of the boarders participate in Boarder Choir and perform a song. Boarder Choir used to be but is no longer a part of the choir competition.
Loreto Kirribilli
Loreto Kirribilli’s Music Festival is a semester long event, unlike ours which is a term long. Similarly, it is also an inter-house competition. Music Festival encourages bright spirit in participation and each House is rewarded points based on student entries and attendance which contributes to deliberation of the winning House. Additionally, it consists of dance and music events, just like Normo.
In Term 1, Kirribilli students put their name in a box in order to be selected for either House Dance or House Choir, however the students can decide to enter in a group where they prepare an act in their own time.
All entries are judged in Term 2 with winners for dance then chosen to perform at Dance Night. The winning musical item is given the opportunity to perform at Town Hall in the final concert where there is a showcase of amazing performances from the year.
Loreto College Ballarat, Victoria
Arts Festival is Loreto Ballarat's version of our Music festival and like at Normo, it is one of the most anticipated nights of the year. It takes place over two nights with two different shows instead of one.
The Arts Festival auditions are at lunch time and all Arts captains invite students to audition. All auditions centre around music, drama or dance.
In Term 3, each house comes together to form a choir with everyone participating in the House Choir competition. Unlike Normo, the houses are conducted by their Arts Captain, instead of a conductor. The Arts Captain chooses the song and teaches the house the song, along with choreography. The winning House gets the opportunity to perform their song in the Art Show. The Arts Festival usually includes over 400 girls who involve themselves in the night.
Loreto College Marryatville, South Australia
Loreto Marryatville’s Music Festival is very similar to Normo’s, with every girl from Year 6 to 12 participating in the event at the Convention Centre. It involves the school choirs, as well as several solo musical acts. Dancing is included in the night and there are also group singing, dancing and drama performances. Every girl in the school participates in this whole school event in their houses. The different House choirs are represented by coloured ribbons in the girls’ hair and large badges on their upper right pocket of their blazers.
Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak, Melbourne
Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak has an event that is alike a mixture of our Music Festival and Light Entertainment, called the Performing Arts Festival. The Performing Arts Festival is held at the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre. Similar to Loreto, every girl in the school performs, led by the leaders of the houses with collaboration and teamwork.
In 2018, the song ‘Another day of Sun’ from the film La La Land was choreographed and composed by the senior students of each House and performed by the students. At the Performing Arts Festival there are several different titles that you can win, including an overall winner, production winner, choreograph, design, drama, instrumental and choral winners.