SJS Students Participated in the 2023 Iberian Peninsula Music Festival

From 2 to 4 February, orchestral players and singers from St. Julian’s, CAISL and the International School of Madrid got together for a weekend of music-making culminating in a concert in the auditorium at CAISL.  It was intense, with lots of learning of parts and rehearsing together, but absolutely worth it when it all came together for this wonderful performance.

Our students showed courage, communication, collaboration as well as great commitment, and we are extremely proud of them.  New friends were made among staff and students, and we hope the event will be repeated next year.

Ms Jackie Correia
Head of Music

Some thoughts from the participants:

“This is actually my first time joining a string orchestra, and it was fulfilling! This is because it not only developed my musical experience as a cellist but also highlighted the importance of teamwork within each section, together trying to play difficult pieces and help others when reading some of the challenging notes. It was a bit nerve wracking on the first day, but we soon got to know each other and became friends as we all share the same love for music. So I am glad to join the Iberian music festival; it provides a great platform for anyone who wants to play music with different musicians and share great memories together.” 
Ivy Wang

“It was a really fun experience. I made new friends from different schools. It was different to how we rehearse as an orchestra in our school, and I’d love to repeat this festival again.”
Catarina Chen

“I liked working together with different schools and experiencing different ways of rehearsing. It was overall kind of tiring, but really fun,”
Sophia Zhong

“It was a great challenge.”
Max Sheehy

“I loved it as I experienced a wide range of beautiful classical learning in the past three days.”
Selma Benjelloun-Tuoimi

“I loved the new experience and meeting new people”
Teresa Santos