Simon’s Town School band triumphs at Artscape gala
Following a stellar appearance by the Simon’s Town School band at the Artscape Schools’ Arts Festival last month, the band was invited back to perform at the prestigious festival gala last Thursday, August 29.
The annual Artscape Schools’ Arts Festival offers pupils across the Western Cape a platform to showcase their artistic talents.
The festival is dedicated to promoting arts in education, encouraging participation in various creative disciplines, and providing a professional stage for young performers.
The event aims to inspire both audiences and artists by celebrating diversity, creativity, and the importance of the arts in shaping future generations.
Simon’s Town School acting principal Lucrecia Harrison said the school is a combined educational institution that offers music as an extracurricular activity across all phases, with a core focus on jazz.
Supported by a dedicated team of passionate music teachers, she said, the school’s music programme aims to deepen pupils' understanding of jazz as an art form, exploring elements of jazz theory, history, and improvisation techniques.
“The school's jazz band, featuring percussion instruments, bass guitar, drums, keyboard, and a vocalist, has become a shining example of this commitment,” she said, adding that the first performance at the festival on August 23 impressed the judges so much that they were invited to the gala.
“This is a rare honour reserved for only the festival's top performers,” she said.
Ms Harrison also accepted a participation certificate on behalf of the band, celebrating their outstanding achievement.
“These young musicians have made our school community very proud. The Simon's Town School staff and School Governing Body congratulate them and thank the music teachers for the excellent work they have done to ensure that the band was well prepared to perform at this level and platform,” she said.
