The FAME Festival held at International House in Parkville, Melbourne in the first week of January 2005 was by all accounts a great success. A very large collection of players (more than 70) from Victoria, New South Wales, Brisbane, Canberra, Western Australia and New Zealand (Auckland and Dunedin) assembled to rehearse intensively under the careful guidance of Robert Schulz for five days for the purpose of performing in a concert at Melba Hall, Melbourne University, on the evening of Friday the 7th of January. During the week of rehearsals, many old friendships were renewed, many new friendships were made and virtually all performers gained in their skills. Much alcohol was consumed! Many players, far from exhausted by the rehearsals throughout the day and evening, pulled out their instruments and had jam sessions into the wee hours of the morning before, reluctantly mooching off to bed.

The rehearsals were both hard work and great fun; Robert's dry with and abundant sense of humour kept everyone laughing (a great way to instil discipline) and Jan Gillingham's spontaneous group exercises to loosen up tensed muscles kept everyone agile and supple.

The food at International House was reasonably good and the accommodation comfortable but spartan.

The concert went very well with almost a full house. The first part featured two pieces performed by a somewhat depleted Melbourne Mandolin Orchestra (they played vigorously to make up for missing players) and a somewhat augmented Concordia Mandolin and Guitar Ensemble (players from Mandolins in Brisbane played with Concordia for the occasion). After interval the FAME Festival Orchestra performed a varied and interesting concert featuring a recent composition by Robert Schulz, a violin sonata with a young and extremely talented violinist, Holly Piccoli whose playing and huge smile were entirely captivating. This piece is a wonderful addition to the mandolin orchestra repertoire and was played to perfection. Judging by the audience response, the concert was a great success. All the players celebrated that evening and toasted the organizing committee lead by Jinette de Gooijer for the successful FAME Festival.

FAME held its AGM the following morning and it was amazing to see that virtually everyone attended, hangovers notwithstanding! Jinette de Gooijer was nominated to take over the reins as President from Zan Mazanec and Lea O'Brien from Canberra bravely accepted a nomination to become FAME's new secretary for the next 12 months. Geoff Barber had been such a capable and effective treasurer that no-one dared to wrest the position from his willing hands and he offered to stay on in the role, much to everyone's relief. Plans for the FAME concert tour of Germany and Holland in May 2006 were discussed and to ensure that adequate preparation was possible, it was decided that the next FAME Festival should be held in January 2006 rather than in 2008. Again Lea O'Brien made an offer which was too good to refuse - that Canberra should host the 2006 FAME Festival. When plans for this event are further advanced, details will be made available on this website.

During Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning before the FAME Festival closed, informal rehearsals and more detailed discussions about the proposed FAME concert tour were attended by Robert Schulz and FAME Festival players interested in participating in the 2006 tour.

On the Saturday evening a cocktail party and in-house concert were held in the main lounge room of International House and some hilarious skits and musical "items" were performed as well as some very polished playing by various groups.

The 2005 FAME Festival came to its conclusion at lunchtime on Sunday, 9th of January and sad farewells were exchanged before the players went their separate ways. However, apart from our personal memories, souvenirs of the FAME Festival are now available with the release of the official recording of the 2005 FAME Concert as well as a 2005 FAME Photograph Album of digital photos on CD. These are available for a small fee by contacting Jinette de Gooijer.

Danny Silver