The Orange Regional Conservatorium paid tribute to their late friend and mentor David Singh with an open rehearsal on Friday.
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The Junior Jazz Band and the Big Phatt Jazz Band sounded off on Friday during an open rehearsal.
Musicians and the audience donned a beanie for brain cancer with funds raised donated to the Mark Hughes Foundation for brain cancer research, which Mr Singh had been diagnosed with.
“David brought such joy and enthusiasm to our team and he was a wonderful musician,” the conservatorium’s head of brass Gerry Ramage said.
Mr Ramage said open rehearsals were rare and there were only a handful of performances each year.
“It’s a chance to perform what they’ve been working on all year for a good cause,” he said.
David brought such joy and enthusiasm to our team and he was a wonderful musician.
- Conductor Gerry Ramage
Mr Ramage said he’d run the junior band for seven years and Mr Singh was due to take over as conductor.
“He was much more experienced than his age suggested, and incredibly passionate.”
Mr Singh’s wife Larissa Terrey said music had always been his passion and it was fantastic to see the conservatorium perform in his memory to raise funds for the Mark Hughes Foundation.
“The trombone was his absolute passion,” Ms Terrey said.
“He told me he got into it after a teacher demonstrated an amazing sound from the trombone that he wanted to be able to do.”
Ms Terrey said Mr Singh was diagnosed with brain cancer before his 21st birthday, but kept fighting for 5.5 years.
“He lived every second of every day,” she said.
Ms Terrey said her husband had made an impact despite only living in Orange for a few months.
The conservatorium’s music director Donna Riles said Mr Singh was popular among the students he taught how to play trombone.
“The adult orchestra enjoyed his passion as a conductor and his depth of experience with the music they worked on,” Mrs Riles said.
“We particularly enjoyed David’s efforts to spread the joy of music by visiting schools around the district, doing instrumental demonstrations, which is how we got into music.”