Milkwood Steiner School

Senior Ensemble and Darwin Symphony Orchestra

Over many years, Milkwood Steiner School in Darwin has developed a rich and wonderful relationship with the Darwin Symphony Orchestra. In 2020, this has included collaborations on the Darwin Symphony Orchestra Kids Classics; a concert series designed to introduce young audiences to orchestral repertoire.

This week, Milkwood’s Senior Ensemble performed two performances alongside the DSO Education and Outreach ensemble in an adaptation of Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale as the royal drummers, as a string ensemble and choir. This story of a man, the devil and his violin was skilfully adapted as a narrated, musical tale in verse, for younger audiences by DSO’s concertmaster and Education/Outreach officer, and Milkwood’s inspiring violin teacher, Tara Murphy. Tara is a graduate of the Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem and The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and has won many accolades for her work.

The Senior Ensemble’s performance in A Soldier’s Tale came just a week after Milkwood’s Senior Choir featured in the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall’s DSO and Djari Project collaboration, and another exceptional performance with the DSO at the Darwin Entertainment Centre.

The choir performed new works in ancient languages including Galpu (Aboriginal language from N.E. Arnhem Land), Old Norse and Hebrew, composed by Galpu clan elder, Guwanbal Gurruwiwi, and Milkwood’s Principal, Netanela Mizrahi. These works were developed for youth choir and premiered by Milkwood Students and The DSO. Their opening piece Miyapunu may be viewed online as part of the online festival for inclusive trade: 

https://www.gtpalliance.com/festival/miyapunu-by-guwanbal-gurruwiwi-and-netanela-mizrahi