He goes all right, does he, Mum?

Yeah, look, he started as a boy treble and you can hear he's not a boy treble anymore.

I think that's the beautiful thing about it is you watch these children grow through the program.

They grow artistically, but they've got a sense of poise and purpose that really only long-term engagement in the arts can give you.

And I reckon if you're eight or nine or ten and you can stand up and perform in front of 2,000 people... and not miss a beat and do it with real concentration and integrity, you're pretty set for that adolescent part of your life to be able to concentrate, do well in school, lead your community, be gainfully employed.

And a lot of the times we attribute a lot of those characteristics to things in sport.

But actually the arts has a profound capacity to do that and to do it over a really long-term... situation.

But if we can get kids on the right track at the right time, it shows them that the right track is the way to go, not the wrong one that's going to end up you being incarcerated.

I have to put my hand up and say educated at Brigidine schools my whole schooling.

There you go.

Aren't they just remarkable? They were remarkable women.

I look back now, they were tenacious and intelligent and they never told us what we couldn't do.

That was my experience.

And they really had a passion for making music and giving us performance opportunities.

I had obviously a family structure that really believed in it.

It's the confidence to achieve great things in the future.