The wind band of Xili Primary School from Shenzhen won the Gold Award of the 2019 Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival (ASBOF) held at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Auditorium on August 4 in Australia. ASBOF is one of the most significant music education events in Australia and is held annually throughout July and August. More than 300 teams have participated in this year’s events. Participants were divided into primary, secondary and senior groups of symphony orchestra, concert band and jazz band categories. The wind band of Xili Primary School was the first Chinese team to participate in ASBOF since its establishment and has received a warm welcome and great attention from the organizing committee. This year’s events called for each team to play four consecutive compositions in no less than 18 minutes. The Xili wind band performed four compositions with strong Chinese characteristics and received thunderous applause from the audience. One of the four compositions they performed, “Harmony and First Step,” was composed by conductor Chen Wei and musical director Jon Steinwinder. At the event’s awarding ceremony, the students’ extraordinary performance and good temperament were highly praised by the attending experts. Xili Primary School has been committed to building a modern demonstration school for international exchanges and providing a platform for students’ personalized growth, the school authority said. (Zhou Ting) | 