Con High Class of '76 30 year reunion
Please come to the
CON HIGH CLASS OF ‘76
30 YEAR REUNION DINNER
Friday, 22 December 2006 at 7.30pm
at
Lebanon & Beyond
Shop 3, 187 Alison Road Randwick
(opp. Alison Park)
RSVP by 8.12.2006 to Lillian Armitage (Danilo)
Banquet $26 per person
BYO (Corkage $2)
.....
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Philip Peipman
I got a message from our orchestral director that you had tried to get in touch with me during the past week.
I understand a big reunion is in the throws of being organised.
As I am now living here in Tallinn, Estonia and working in the National Symphony Orchestra since 2001-after leaving Australia-I am afraid I am unable to attend.
As background information...I have been married for the past 15 to my Estonian-born wife Taivi, and we lived in Australia from 1991-2001. Since completing my degree at the Con, I have been working continuously as a teacher of violin and viola at the Scots College, Bellevue Hill from 1981-2001. Since then I have decided to move from Australia and landed a job with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, of which I have now been a member for 5 years. The orchestra celebrates its 80th anniversary in December this year. The chief conductor is Nikola Alekseyev, who is > assistant conductor of the St.Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and our > Artistic Director is Paavo Järvi. My grandfather's brother was the concertmaster of the orchestra during the 1940's....
I have many fond memories of the Con High school, though I must admit I found it quite difficult settling in and making friends there. (After finishing school I became interested in politics and intellectual life, and found a very good friend in Robert James Stove, who was one year below us and with whom I have kept correspondence).
I also did the occasional gig with Leonie who was always kind enough to include me in the odd freelance job.
Though I never really managed to blend into our class scene very well (probably because I was an unknown quantity and remained so..), I fondly remember you all, and hope that you enjoy a very pleasant evening together. I sincerely hope that someone will put together a brief of the evening and some background as to what people are doing.
Kindest regards and best wishes,
Philip.
I understand a big reunion is in the throws of being organised.
As I am now living here in Tallinn, Estonia and working in the National Symphony Orchestra since 2001-after leaving Australia-I am afraid I am unable to attend.
As background information...I have been married for the past 15 to my Estonian-born wife Taivi, and we lived in Australia from 1991-2001. Since completing my degree at the Con, I have been working continuously as a teacher of violin and viola at the Scots College, Bellevue Hill from 1981-2001. Since then I have decided to move from Australia and landed a job with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, of which I have now been a member for 5 years. The orchestra celebrates its 80th anniversary in December this year. The chief conductor is Nikola Alekseyev, who is > assistant conductor of the St.Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and our > Artistic Director is Paavo Järvi. My grandfather's brother was the concertmaster of the orchestra during the 1940's....
I have many fond memories of the Con High school, though I must admit I found it quite difficult settling in and making friends there. (After finishing school I became interested in politics and intellectual life, and found a very good friend in Robert James Stove, who was one year below us and with whom I have kept correspondence).
I also did the occasional gig with Leonie who was always kind enough to include me in the odd freelance job.
Though I never really managed to blend into our class scene very well (probably because I was an unknown quantity and remained so..), I fondly remember you all, and hope that you enjoy a very pleasant evening together. I sincerely hope that someone will put together a brief of the evening and some background as to what people are doing.
Kindest regards and best wishes,
Philip.
Lynette Williamson
'The Bare Bones' Fran Robinson
Him indoors, outdoors
Exploring being the punk I never was at a party last week
Me indoors
Rebecca and me trying to cook
WELL, AS SOME OF YOU MAY KNOW, I left Australia the day
after my last higher school certificate exam and I have lived in
England ever since. I don’t know that I would have done this
if my parents hadn’t bought me a one way ticket...
After an initial miserable year au-pairing in Brussels I
moved back to England and went to art college for 4 years.
The first year was in London doing a foundation course at a
college where sex, drugs and rock n roll was part of the
curriculum. Life became a lot more serious when I moved to
Canterbury to do a 3 year BA in Graphic Design.
Since then I’ve worked as a freelance designer. I spent 15
years living in London, renting desk space in and around Soho
and then I moved to Cambridge about 9 years ago. Although
I’ve done all kinds of publishing work, the bulk of my work
has always been for Classical Music publishers, designing
covers for sheet music.
Over the years I’ve worked for Boosey and Hawkes, Schott, Universal Edition, Fabers, Peters Edition,Novello, International Music Publications, Trinity College,
etc. I’ve worked for a couple of these publishers (Universal
and Booseys) for nearly 25 years.
A few years ago Universal Edition became my main client
as I now design the covers for the head office in Vienna as
well as the covers in London, so I am in daily contact with the
Austrians. Unfortunately, my German hasn’t seemed to
improve as a result... I’ve also been designing a lot of concert
programmes and posters lately.
Like the rest of you I sometimes think I’d like to do
something else other than be stuck behind a computer screen
all day, but – what???
I married Andrew in 1988 (a graphic designer like me) and
we had a girl in 1992 – Rebecca – who is now 14. We live in
Cambridge about 10 minutes walk from King’s College and
have a spare room if any of you want to come and visit!
Him indoors, outdoors
Exploring being the punk I never was at a party last week
Me indoors
Rebecca and me trying to cook
Michele Strong
Michele Strong
As you probably remember I was kind of mediocre cellist at school.
When I left I moved on to the double bass, and found that mediocre bass players are far more in demand!
After having lessons with John Gray for a couple of years and playing with the Con orchestra etc I went to London in 1980 to do a year's
orchestral training course in London.
When that finished I decided to stay in the UK and moved to Scotland, where I freelanced with the BBC and Scottish National Orchestras and toured around with Scottish Ballet.
After a marriage which sadly didn't work out I moved back to London, started applying for jobs.... and got sub principal bass in the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
I've been here since 1985!! It's not a bad job. We do varied work, and have gone on a lot of tours. Apart from London every couple of years for the Proms we've been to Southern Ireland,
Germany, Poland, Hong Kong, New York, Florida and Korea.
We have quite a bit of free time, so I teach two nights a week at Belfast School of Music and am bass tutor for the Belfast Youth Orchestra every Saturday morning. I'm also member of a double bass trio that gives concerts for nursery and junior primary kids.
Northern Ireland is a beautiful place. Very green. (It rains a lot!). Despite the adverse press coverage of Belfast over the year I've never been involved in any of the troubles, and now it's just like any other UK city.
I married again in Belfast and it lasted seven years... no children luckily. Now I'm with someone else and am very happy, and have decided to leave marriage alone!
In my spare time I've taken up sea kayaking, which is great!
I've managed to get back to Oz every few years and I 'd love eventually to find a way to move back! Australia will always be home.... It's not easy to follow the Sydney Roosters from here, but I try!
I've kept in touch with Ros, Leone and Pierre and have seen them whenever I've been in Sydney. I did get to an earlier reunion held by Paul, and have also kept in touch with him on and off... Actually he's the only ex-class mate who's come to visit me in Belfast which was really nice.
Here's a couple of photos of me taken on my last visit to Sydney
in June/July this year.... One in the Green Room at the Opera House,
and the other taken with my Dad at the airport.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Martin Lass
And here are few paragraphs about the last thirty years! My god, has it been THAT long?! Not being able to attend, I have taken the liberty of writing a little more than I originally intended! It replaces the conversations I would probably have had if I had been there. If you or somebody else could read it out or make copies and pass them out, I would be most grateful!
Here goes…
Just out of high school, I was married to Inge Verhoef, an American pianist studying at the Sydney Con at the time. It was a marriage/partnership/friendship made in heaven. Cheapest wedding ever, though! $30 for rings, $50 for a home-made wedding dress, Mum made the cake, and we had it in my parents' backyard, next to the dunny and chicken coop! Nonetheless, we celebrate our 29 th anniversary in January! Soul mates forever. (We finally had our honeymoon after 28 years!, in Scotland, which we both love.)
Did ACO for four years, as well as casual SSO over a period of 15 years, then ETTO (Opera/Ballet orch.) for several years. Then did "New Faces" talent show on channel 9… major career shift into popular music. After this, did Sydney club circuit for many years, television appearances, touring Australia, CD releases, etc.
Currently, for the last eight years, I have been performing around the world as an entertainer on passenger cruise ships. I have increased my composing over the last so many years, launching an original music CD in the USA, and promoting my music for film and television use. I have also written a Broadway-style dance-musical along the lines of Riverdance, and am working to get this off the ground through my New York contacts.
Flashback to my early twenties, Inge and I had three children: Alex (26 now), Saskia (24 now), and Eliza (22 now). Now, Alex lives in London with his girlfriend, and the two girls both live in New York. After living in New York ourselves for five years, Inge and I are now back in Australia (none too soon! The Bush was beginning to give us a rash!), but recently moved to Bangalow, NSW, near Byron Bay. Major sea-change,
tree-change, I think they call it! Late-period Baby Boomer migration!
Anyway, in my late twenties, at the height of my violin successes (and failures… we went through some tough times), I took up the reigns of my languishing spiritual aspirations once more. Became a professional astrologer (while still performing for a living) and spiritual healer/counselor/facilitator/lecturer. Wrote numerous self-published books on various astrological and spiritual topics, as well as spiritual poetry. First professional publication came out in Oct 2005 through Llewellyn Publications… about Chiron, planet of wounding and healing.
Trained in various spiritual and healing schools and disciplines over a period of nearly twenty years. Last December, after major personal revelations, I started a new project—a major coming together of all the pieces of myself, my life, and the world around me. It combines everything that I've learned, that I am, and that I do—music, astrology, spirituality, healing, science, mythology, metaphysics, etc—under the one umbrella of what amounts to a new mystery school/spiritual way of life. It will officially open its doors in the first half of next year. I envision that this project will occupy the next fifty years of my life! (I was never one to think or plan short term! Mars in Taurus!)
In the meantime, Inge and I are building a new house (again?! Are we crazy??) on two acres within a hundred-acre intentional community in the hills above Byron. We have five lovely cats (our children now, really!): one Burmese (chocolate), one Siamese (lilac), one Oriental (brown), and two Egyptian Mau cats (specked tabbies). Inge, too, is having a major life/career/focus/lifestyle change in her midlife.
All in all, we have been blessed in our lives so far, and we know it and acknowledge it. I think this is what has kept us both so young.
For me, I still occasionally think back to our class and our school days together, with fondness and gratitude, knowing that each one of you helped shape a different part within me—more than I was aware of at the time. Only recently have I understood that our class—as with any school class or other such close-knit group, family, or community—was a hologram of everything that we would each eventually become, each one of us expressing another blessed aspect/facet of this greater hologram.
Moreover, I have come to understand/know/experience that this hologram—the individual within the group—mirrors the greatest law of the universe: the law of the eternal and simultaneous Many and One, from the atom to the cell to the human organism, to communities, to nations, to races, to planets and solar systems, to galaxies, and beyond. Call it Universe/Source/Spirit/God/Love/Oneness/Absolute/Whatever… it's all connected, all serving a higher purpose and plan, and all One, even as I already suspected in my nascent pondering in high school, and even though I was unable to put my finger on it or express it at the time. Thank you, each one of you, for being a part of the journey of my life!
Love and Light,
Martin
Here goes…
Just out of high school, I was married to Inge Verhoef, an American pianist studying at the Sydney Con at the time. It was a marriage/partnership/friendship made in heaven. Cheapest wedding ever, though! $30 for rings, $50 for a home-made wedding dress, Mum made the cake, and we had it in my parents' backyard, next to the dunny and chicken coop! Nonetheless, we celebrate our 29 th anniversary in January! Soul mates forever. (We finally had our honeymoon after 28 years!, in Scotland, which we both love.)
Did ACO for four years, as well as casual SSO over a period of 15 years, then ETTO (Opera/Ballet orch.) for several years. Then did "New Faces" talent show on channel 9… major career shift into popular music. After this, did Sydney club circuit for many years, television appearances, touring Australia, CD releases, etc.
Currently, for the last eight years, I have been performing around the world as an entertainer on passenger cruise ships. I have increased my composing over the last so many years, launching an original music CD in the USA, and promoting my music for film and television use. I have also written a Broadway-style dance-musical along the lines of Riverdance, and am working to get this off the ground through my New York contacts.
Flashback to my early twenties, Inge and I had three children: Alex (26 now), Saskia (24 now), and Eliza (22 now). Now, Alex lives in London with his girlfriend, and the two girls both live in New York. After living in New York ourselves for five years, Inge and I are now back in Australia (none too soon! The Bush was beginning to give us a rash!), but recently moved to Bangalow, NSW, near Byron Bay. Major sea-change,
tree-change, I think they call it! Late-period Baby Boomer migration!
Anyway, in my late twenties, at the height of my violin successes (and failures… we went through some tough times), I took up the reigns of my languishing spiritual aspirations once more. Became a professional astrologer (while still performing for a living) and spiritual healer/counselor/facilitator/lecturer. Wrote numerous self-published books on various astrological and spiritual topics, as well as spiritual poetry. First professional publication came out in Oct 2005 through Llewellyn Publications… about Chiron, planet of wounding and healing.
Trained in various spiritual and healing schools and disciplines over a period of nearly twenty years. Last December, after major personal revelations, I started a new project—a major coming together of all the pieces of myself, my life, and the world around me. It combines everything that I've learned, that I am, and that I do—music, astrology, spirituality, healing, science, mythology, metaphysics, etc—under the one umbrella of what amounts to a new mystery school/spiritual way of life. It will officially open its doors in the first half of next year. I envision that this project will occupy the next fifty years of my life! (I was never one to think or plan short term! Mars in Taurus!)
In the meantime, Inge and I are building a new house (again?! Are we crazy??) on two acres within a hundred-acre intentional community in the hills above Byron. We have five lovely cats (our children now, really!): one Burmese (chocolate), one Siamese (lilac), one Oriental (brown), and two Egyptian Mau cats (specked tabbies). Inge, too, is having a major life/career/focus/lifestyle change in her midlife.
All in all, we have been blessed in our lives so far, and we know it and acknowledge it. I think this is what has kept us both so young.
For me, I still occasionally think back to our class and our school days together, with fondness and gratitude, knowing that each one of you helped shape a different part within me—more than I was aware of at the time. Only recently have I understood that our class—as with any school class or other such close-knit group, family, or community—was a hologram of everything that we would each eventually become, each one of us expressing another blessed aspect/facet of this greater hologram.
Moreover, I have come to understand/know/experience that this hologram—the individual within the group—mirrors the greatest law of the universe: the law of the eternal and simultaneous Many and One, from the atom to the cell to the human organism, to communities, to nations, to races, to planets and solar systems, to galaxies, and beyond. Call it Universe/Source/Spirit/God/Love/Oneness/Absolute/Whatever… it's all connected, all serving a higher purpose and plan, and all One, even as I already suspected in my nascent pondering in high school, and even though I was unable to put my finger on it or express it at the time. Thank you, each one of you, for being a part of the journey of my life!
Love and Light,
Martin
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