Tuesday 14 January
Teaching Composition in the classroom – a special event led by Paul Stanhope.
16:00-17:30: Seminar with Paul Stanhope
17:30 – 19:00 Dinner – supply own meal from local vendors or bring your own
19:00-20:00 In-house concert, featuring world premiere performances of new works

Gondwana Choirs has a long history of commissioning new work and supporting the creation of a body of work especially for young Australian voices. Over the 30 years since Sydney Children’s Choir was first established, hundreds of works have been premiered by our choirs, and many emerging and established composers have developed their choral style in collaboration with our artists.
In 2011, we established the Composer School as part of National Choral School, and this is a truly unique opportunity for emerging composers to develop their craft during two intensive weeks in January. Under the expert guidance of leading composers Paul Stanhope (Associate Professor, Sydney Conservatorium of Music), participants in the Composer School will be mentored in the first week throughout the entire creative process, including composition, revision, rehearsal, workshopping, performance and recording.
Composers receive a brief to each write a piece in just seven days for one of the resident choirs at National Choral School. Each composer is mentored through this process by Paul Stanhope, leading to a concert in which each composer’s piece performed by their choir.
Join us to hear the results of this work – participants of this Professional Development session are exclusively invited to attend this in-house concert of the new works, listen to the composers as they are interviewed by Paul about their inspiration and process, and attend a special seminar with Paul Stanhope before the concert. In this exclusive seminar, Paul will cover the following areas:
How to encourage and up-skill the next generation of choral composers.
What are the challenges and skill-gaps for students interested in pursuing composition study?
How can teachers participate in life-long learning in this space?
This session is particularly suitable for teachers of senior music students, especially those preparing compositions for HSC or similar, and also those potentially aiming for tertiary study in composition. This is a new addition to Gondwana National Choral School – share this with your music education networks and help us spread the word!
Completing this session (Course code GNCS2020 – Day 3) will contribute 2.5 hours of NESA Registered PD addressing 6.2.2, 6.3.2, 6.4.2, 7.4.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.