The 2025 Victorian State Schools Spectacular (VSSS) returns for its annual extravaganza for two shows on Saturday 13 September 2025 at 1pm and 6:30pm at John Cain Arena. Celebrating its incredible 30th Anniversary, tickets to this year’s VSSS are on sale now and selling fast at ticketek.com.au/spectacular
Since the inaugural VSSS in 1995, Victorian students have had the opportunity to take part in the Spectacular where it has seen talent such as Vanessa Amorosi, Opera Australia soprano Nicole Car, Tina Turner the Musical lead Ruva Ngwenya, The Voice winner Harrison Craig and award-winning music theatre star Max McKenna all having been a part of the VSSS during their school years.
In 2025, 2500 Victorian students from 200 government schools have begun an extraordinary 7-month creative journey, which will culminate in the state’s budding creative talent taking to the stage as circus artists, musicians, singers and dancers as well as further students taking on the incredibly important behind-the-scenes roles in stage management, audio, lighting, vision, costumes, and production.
This year’s production, On Air, takes flight, soaring to new heights of artistry! It celebrates the universal element of AIR—every breath, breeze, and whisper that connects life on Earth. Through music, dance, and performance, the show explores themes of confronting fears, embracing self-belief, and sharing tales carried on the wind, from lullabies to legends. The spectacle opens with a breathtaking tribute to air, featuring Victoria’s premier aerialists dancing high above John Cain Arena’s stage. The journey continues with the return of the First Nations Ensemble, presenting their new piece Cicadas, led by Na Djinang Circus. VSSS is also thrilled to showcase the award-winning Pese Mai vocalists, performing songs in multiple First Nations languages.
Carefully curated through suggestions from the students, there will be over 42 musical items in this year’s show featuring music from Sheppard, Max Richter, Queen, Gotye, Ibrahim Maalouf, Sergio Medes, Karl Jenkins, Gloria Estefan, Top-loader, Connor Price and Six60 amongst many others. The orchestra will also be playing specially commissioned original music by Kai Chen Lim.
The 2500 students are made up of Principal Vocalists, Principal Dancers, Backing Vocalists, Victorian State Schools Choir, a 75-piece orchestra, 1200 mass dance students and 1100 in the mass choir. Providing the experience of a lifetime, participating primary and secondary school students work with industry professionals across several disciplines as part of the preparation and performance of the Spectacular providing a unique training opportunity for students onstage as well as backstage in areas like stage management, audio, lighting and video.
Students in the VSSS train and perform under the guidance of industry professionals who make up the Creative Team including Creative Director Neill Gladwin, Musical Director Chong Lim AM, Dance Director Yvette Lee, Creative Producer Simon K Patterson, Costume Designer Isaac Lummis, and award-winning Lighting Designer Paul Jackson.
Creative Director Neill Gladwin shares,“This year our student cast gave us song themes of flying, floating and soaring; music that was truly on air. From these ideas the 2025 Spectacular was born – transcending the terrestrial and embracing the stratosphere.
The Spectacular brings strength and empowerment to the students, and their journey and experience in hand brings strength to their teachers and families. Strong happy communities are healthy communities. Worthy of celebration.”
Dance Director Yvette Lee adds,“Seeing the students’ progress over the year from rehearsals until the big day is one of the greatest joys to watch. Their energy and passion is evident in every dance rehearsal and their excitement on show day explodes as they live their best life on stage. They learn so much during this process and I am thrilled that I get to see them flourish throughout the entire process and overjoyed as some of them continue into the world of the performing arts after their school years.”
Supporting the Victorian Government’s Education State targets, the Spectacular ensures more students reach the highest levels of achievement in the arts, music creativity helping to create happy, healthy and resilient children, building pride and confidence in our schools.
The Spectacular will be performed twice on 13 September and broadcast at a later date, with tickets on sale now at ticketek.com.au/spectacular
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