The first ever Mandurah Choirfest was held last weekend, on Saturday May 28 at Mandurah Performing Arts Centre.
More than 350 singers put their voices forward to raise money for STEPmci’s projects, which include the GP Down South’s 3-Tier youth mental health program.
Choirfest co-ordinator David Major said the preliminary figures suggested the evening raised over $10,000 for STEPmci.
“We chose the Mandurah Charity Inc. and its STEPmci programs as our initial project as we were all concerned about the high level of stress and self harming in the local school students and youth,” Mr Major said.
He said singing was a great way to promote a sense of wellbeing and strong self-image among both the singers and the audience, so a combined community choir event was an ideal fundraiser for STEPmci.
As such, the event had a strong youth presence, with singers from local primary schools Assumption, Falcon, Mandurah Catholic College, St Joseph's and Pinjarra, and high schools Mandurah Baptist College, Mandurah Catholic College’s senior choir and Mandurah Catholic College’s vocal ensemble.
Rockingham’s adult choir Born to Sing also performed, and guest singer Petrina Bishop.
Mr Major said a performance from Felicity Bassett, who sang her own composition “26 letters” with guitar accompaniment, was a standout of the night.
Ms Bassett wrote her song for a close friend who was battling depression.
Students also performed songs in the Noongar language, and one song used Auslan.
“Everyone was well prepared by their school and music teachers and presented excellently on stage,” Mr Major said.
“They looked and sounded very professional… The sound and lighting was excellent and this was done by the MPAC technical support team.”
He said he hopes the performance will become an annual concert, and thanked the Mandurah Business Co-operative, the Halls Head Bendigo Bank and the City of Mandurah for their support.