And We're back!

Please excuse the long delay from the last post until now. During this time the most critical and the most amazing stuff happened, and we didn't have access to Internet to say a thing about it. So in case anybody is still checking up on this blog, there will be more posts and some more pictures forthcoming.

Let me begin with the most important part of the trip--singing the Brahms Requiem! I wish you could have been there; you would have been proud of the Rocky choir. The best way I could describe it is to tell you what the maestro, Dian Tchobanov from Vienna, said of our group's participation. He told us later in the evening that we brought a "noble sound" to the concert; he has heard the choir sing for a number of years previously and he was very complimentary about our being there. I really wish you could have seen us. There will be a video produced of the concert eventually, but for now here is a clip of another group performing one of the 7 movements that we did, so you can get an idea of what we were up to.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aWdjK2Qgmj8&feature=related

or my favorite movement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg7sU5B_ibM&NR=1


Having the opportunity to perform with the Bulgarian choir was a real blessing for us, and in many ways gave us the opportunity to even have a European choir trip. One of the issues a small school--even with the generous support we received--has is taking a balanced choir on tour. There is no way to guarantee that you'll get equal numbers of sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses. Our group found itself coping with that issue, with almost half of our participants from just one section. Singing with the "complete" Bulgarian choir afforded us the opportunity to take along whomever wanted to go and could come up with the money, so thanks Bulgaria!


Don't get me wrong though, we weren't without our own tunes. We had a couple opportunities, such as in St. Stephan's Cathedral in Vienna, to sing on our own pieces that we brought with us. Those times were all really wonderful and gave us a cozy sense of who we were. The idea that we were across the world, far from all that was familiar to us, but together...then seemingly out of nowhere, on some spontaneous impulse (or perhaps inspired by the amazing chambers in which we stood) we would jump into a choir formation and begin singing. Every single time we did this the busy and frantic pace of tourists would come to a halt to focus in on the music filling the room. The solemn and mournful would perk up and enjoy a sense of peace and relief found in the comfort of the lyrics, and we would remember our fortune and blessings--no matter what else, lost luggage, delayed flights, late nights, squabbles, or otherwise frustrating events, we were singing really beautiful music in really beautiful places. We have much to be grateful for!

Musings by Jesse

St. Stephan's Cathedral (Stephansdom"), Vienna, Austria (we sang here once!)