Background
The Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival began life in 1962 as the NSW School Band Festival. The event was organised by the Band Association of NSW, it was held at Chatswood Oval, eight brass bands initially took part and marching was compulsory. The following year the event moved to the Lane Cove Town Hall, the marching taking place in the car park with bands having to wheel around parked cars!
In 1964 the Festival was taken over by the Waverley Bondi Beach Band (now Bondi Brass), under the direction of Cliff Goodchild, then Principal Tuba player with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Under Cliff Goodchild’s guidance the Festival grew from a handful of bands to become the largest music event of its kind in Australia.
In 2009, NSW School Band Festival Ltd was formed as a company limited, to continue the work commenced by Cliff. With Richard Gill AO as Festival Patron we continued to expand and diversify, adding string ensemble and orchestral events as a result of requests from participating schools. In 2019, as our interstate and international entries continued to increase, it was decided to recast the SBF as the Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival (ASBOF).
The Festival caters for school aged concert, brass, and big bands, string ensembles and orchestras of all ability levels, from beginners to Australia’s most accomplished school ensembles. Each event is named after a prominent composer or musician who has contributed to the band, instrumental, or music education movement in Australia. The event level for which an ensemble is entered is selected by the school’s Music Director. Since 2015 (bands) and 2018 (string ensembles/orchestras) all ensembles playing in the Festival are required to perform a work by an Australian composer or arranger.
The flagship event of the Festival is the Percy Grainger Event, named after the renowned Australian born composer whose best known works include Mock Morris and Country Gardens. The Grainger Event is typically held on the first Saturday evening of the Festival. This event features the top secondary school bands and always provides entertaining music of a very high standard. All bands are asked to perform a 25 minute program, including at least one major Australian composition.
The premier for Big Bands is known as The Frank Coughlan Premier Big Band Event, named after Australia’s pioneering big band leader. This event features Australia’s top school big band ensembles, with well known Australian jazz musician and educator, John Morrison as the Artistic Director.
The Festival is a non-competitive event and, rather than being ranked, all ensembles receive a Gold, Silver, or Bronze rating which reflects their level of achievement for the particular event level in which they have performed. All events are adjudicated by professional music educators. Besides the rating, each ensemble is provided with an audio commentary of their performance by the adjudicator.
The Festival is staffed on a voluntary basis by members of Bondi Brass and their friends and family. The volunteers recognise the importance of the Festival in maintaining a high standard of musicianship in schools. In recent years school bands from Sydney, regional NSW, the ACT, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Singapore, and China have participated in the Festival.
The Australian School Band and Orchestra is held each year at the University of NSW and other venues as required.
If you would like to take part in the Festival either as a performer, sponsor, volunteer or simply come along to listen, please feel free to contact the General Manager through this site.
Contact Pat Devery, ASBOF General Manager admin@asbof.org.au
