HISTORY

The Queensland Catholic Schools’ & Colleges’ Music Festival has had an exciting history since its creation in 1991. At that time a number of staff from Villanova College Coorparoo, who had developed their own school’s comprehensive instrumental music programme, were lamenting the lack of opportunities for ensembles from Catholic schools. Opportunities for Catholic schools to perform, to come together, to listen to one another and to get good positive feedback from professional adjudicators were few indeed. Armed with these goals and good doses of enthusiasm and perseverance the QCMF was born.

From a small gathering of some 12 schools in its first year, which presented approximately 12 hours of music, the festival has grown to be a major event. In 2007, the Festival staged 77 hours of music from 81 schools and colleges from all over Queensland. It is estimated that more than six thousand students, from ages six to seventeen were involved in 28 sections of choral, band, string and orchestral music. In all there were 284 different ensemble performances.  These figures continue to grow each year.  In 2002 the first visitors from overseas (New Zealand) attended the Festival. We again had visitors from New Zealand in 2003 and 2005.  The festival is also always excited to welcome touring ensembles from other states.

With the opening of the Augustine Centre at Villanova College in 2006, and to fit the Festival into a three day weekend, the Festival now runs concurrently in the Hanrahan Theatre and Goold Hall at Villanova College, and St James Church, and St James School Hall at Coorparoo which is a 5-10 minute walk from Villanova College.

The festival first carried the name of The Catholic Colleges’ Music Festival (CCMF), as early participants came mostly from established Brisbane Independent Colleges, which had a tradition of music established by their founding religious orders. Within a few years, the growth of the festival and consequently increasing costs, lead to a search for sponsorship. This resulted in the Festival reaching a wider audience and being renamed the Queensland Catholic Colleges’ Music Festival (QCCMF) as schools from outside the metropolitan area were coming in numbers to take part in the weekend of music. For the past few years the festival has been renamed again as the Queensland Catholic Schools’ & Colleges’ Music Festival (QCMF). This title now accurately reflects the heavy involvement in the festival of Catholic primary and secondary systemic schools from Brisbane and beyond.

The QCMF is now a feature event in the annual “Celebrating Catholic Education in Queensland” activities centred around Catholic Education Week in the third week of term 3 each year.  It is very rewarding for the organising committee that the festival is enthusiastically supported by both Brisbane Catholic Education and the Queensland Catholic Education Commission. Both organisations are sponsors of the festival.

 None of this could have been achieved without leadership from the staff, the music parent support group and the administration of Villanova College, which still organises and hosts the annual festival on behalf of Catholic Education in this state. May the tradition continue, as the students from Catholic schools throughout the state demonstrate increasing levels of participation and improved performances at the festival as the years roll by.