April - May 2024 Newsletter
May was a month of notable achievements. One, the GASChorus, Musician and Dancers from Xavier Sangeetanjali and Young Musicians from Delhi and Mumbai toured with the GASOrchestra for a week presenting one-hour-long concerts at Siliguri, Kurseong, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Gangtok as part of the Strings of Hope Concert Tour. The project was a powerful union of two of our projects - Strings Concert Tour Project (started in 2011 by the then Music volunteer Virgil Vihaan Sequeira at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai) and the Hope Choral Project (started in 2023 by Belgian conductor Rozemarijn Vanwijnsberghe). We are indebted to our organisers in each location - Fr. Edu Arockiaraj SJ and Fr. Tommy SJ at Matigara, Fr. Kevin Moktan SJ and his team at St. Alphonsus, Mr. Cassian Dukpa, Ms Dipika Adhikari and the team at Hayden Hall, Br. Gilbert and our school team at Kalimpong and Mrs. Laxmi Rai Gurung and her staff at Tashi Namgyal Academy and Ms. Sharolyn Zimba at Gangtok. Fr. Provincial kindly graced the Matigara concert as the Chief Guest and we were delighted to be able to perform for our senior Jesuits - Fr. Giles SJ and Fr. Pappadil SJ among others in attendance. The tour has had an impact beyond what we imagined - our children delivered a higher quality of musical performance with confidence, audiences everywhere were touched by the story of our founder Fr. McGuire SJ and marvelled at our school’s evolution and plans for the future. Our tour also featured in the only magazine dedicated to Western Classical Music in India - Serenade magazine.
Two, a very formal sports festival 'Game On' was organised with field and track events, road race and march past besides a football tournament. The Chief Guest, Sr. Mary James Rai SJC particularly appreciated the athletic talent of our students and the teamwork of our staff and parents, offering to connect us to district-level sporting events and the Independence Day event at Mela Ground - which has been a dream for our students.
Three, we secured 100% pass Madhyamik (West Bengal State Board Class 10) results this year with our student standing 6th at St. Philomena’s Girls High School as well as in Kalimpong District.
Our Chorus opened the Nature in Art Event of the Himalayan Trust for Natural History Art in Pudung and our Orchestra gave a workshop on the cultural music of the Hills to the attendees.
Jason Zac of Nathaniel School of Music, Bangalore gave a workshop to select students on improvisation.
Bidhan Biswakarma and Virgil Vihaan Sequeira were invited to judge the Kalimpong District Police Singing Competition.
Students of Classes 6 to 8 were sensitised on tobacco control by representatives from the National Tobacco Control Programme, Department of Health and Family Welfare, District Hospital Kalimpong.
Classes 1,3,5 and 8 participated in the Young Orators Inter House Elocution. Almost all of our students left us awestruck by their impeccable delivery of poetry in Nepali and English.
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