We're Home!!!

Just wanted to leave you with the good news that we all made it back to the States (and through customs with our olive oil, leather goods, and wine) just fine! Now it's time to catch up on some much needed rest after a busy travel day and get ready to hit the books again on Monday. I hope you have enjoyed our updates from abroad, and thanks for reading!

Ciao!

Cliff Johnson

Few Last Pics...

Hi all!

Well, it is late and we are leaving for the Milan airport soon, but I thought I would post a few last pics from Florence... Visit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36348845@N00/sets/72157600037532011/

to see what we've been up to! Hope you all have enjoyed the blog postings, and we'll see you very soon!!!

Cheers,

Cliff Johnson

Final Thoughts

WHOA! These past seven days have flown by! Rome, Assisi, Florence, and...finally Como.

We assembled mid morning and departed from our religious institute to reach Como! Sadly the day was gloomy and rainy and many slept on the bus. However the trip itself was through beautiful hills and valleys. The fog was resting in the lush green valleys...Picturesque! We made a quick rest stop at self-service restuarant "Autogrill" for lunch. Though you might not think a rest area would be excting, personally I thought it was quite amazing. It spanned over the freeway and included a largeish supermarket where many of us picked up a chocolate bar for the road (p.s. - Chocolate over in Europe much better than the states). After our own slice of Italian life adventure at the Autogrille, we continued on to Como.

We arrive in the late afternoon and had a few hours to explore the cute little town on Lake Como. We walked around the square, some of us tour the Cathedral, or strolled by the lake, or shopped for those last minute gifts. We ressembled at 7pm to go to our farewell dinner.

The restuarant it self was very nice. A team of waiters meet us and took our jackets and we sat down on the beautifully set tables complete with cream colored table clothes. We began the meal with little chicken salads or tomates and cheese salads, water, juice, wine, bread sticks and rolls. The first course was risotto followed by chicken and mixed fresh vegetables. Each course was more and more wonderful. Then desert...an ice cream with nuts and other wonderfulness, words cannot describe!

In between courses Paul made remarks about the trip and thanked the many people who made this all possible. Our chaperones, Sara our fearless tour leader, the wonderful bus drivers who navigated the narrow streets of Italy, his wife Sue, the student executive board, Bro Adams, the lugage crew, the bloggers, and all of us! We all put a lot of time and energy into this tour and it paid off in amazing ways.

We returned to the hotel for a few hours. SOme of us will sleep, other have ventured out in the night for a last trip to a pub, and other will just hang out and stay up talking about all the awesome times until 3:15 when we will begin our journey home.

Over the last few days we sang in amazing cathedrals and churchs including St. Peters, we saw ancient ruins, experienced Italian food, wine, and culture, and sang A LOT!!!

THANK YOU Paul! Thank you mom and dad! Thank you Italy, its been swell, but all good things come to an end.

Florence Concert

Our Wednesday concert in Florence...

Florence Pics!

Duomo in Florence

Firenze and Castelfiorentino

Buongiorno tutti!
Yesterday was a tremendous day filled with yet more sights and songs – when will it ever stop? I am David Brand, a junior classics major and music minor transforming our experiences of yesterday into words for you today.
After a relatively generous time for sleep we assembled in the lobby of the religious institute and set out for the Galleria dell’Acadamia on foot. We waited in line for several minutes upon arrival, tolerating and in some cases buying from the street vendors who were selling copies of paintings of magnificent views of the Ponte Vecchio over the Arno.
Finally we entered l’Acadamia and stepped into a gallery filled with century-old instruments: basses with three strings, ancient violins, a guitar/piano – a small lute-like instrument with 5 strings, mostly double-strung and with the same number of keys on its side where a modern electric guitar might have a volume and tone control dials – harpsichords with open soundboards with wide wooden bases and metal tuning prongs forming slight semi-circles like marble columns framing a huge piazza.
After we had our fill trying out the three-note harpsichord plucking action the museum had constructed for hands-on learning purposes, we made our way to a large hall lined on either side with half-finished statues carved from marble. At the other end of the hall loomed Michelangelo’s statue of David, a magnificent oeuvre which completely enraptured me to the point of forgetting the existence of the statues I was passing in my excitement to see the real David up close. After I took in the David, I went back to the half-carved statues. They were eerie human figures climbing out of a large piece of marble anthropomorphizing before the viewer’s astonished eyes.
Michelangelo’s true love was sculpting and his David shows unbelievable classical realism. From the poise and anticipation shown by the left half-bent knee and the right hand cocked against the thigh, to the small detail of the veins and tensing muscles, the David is worthy of having two copies (at least) in public places in Firenze.
One other sculpture is worth noting; in an adjacent room was exhibited (among other works) a statue, whose subject was a shoe. Much comment was made in reference to Paul’s arrangement of the Fats Waller tune we are singing, entitled “Your Feet’s Too Big”. The song contains the following lyrics: “carved out of stone there’ll be one great big shoe!” We were pretty excited about that shoe, even though it was cast of bronze.
After l’Academia we had free time. Most of us ate at one of Firenze’s many pizzerias and restaurants and then took naps. I managed to see Florence’s synagogue, a magnificent sight. After so many churches, it was a refreshing change (not that I was getting bored with so much going on!) to see a synagogue. However, if I had not been prepared for seeing a synagogue and hadn’t seen signs, I would have, at first glance mistaken the building for a church! The high dome with smaller spired domes flanking it gave the building an ornate feeling I was not expecting of a synagogue. The inside was patterned with colorful contoured designs on the walls that crawled up forty feet, and the floors were of colored marble with a Star of David pattern.
At 6, we traveled an hour by bus to the town of Castelfiorentino where we ate dinner in a large restaurant and changed after into our concert dress. We then walked one minute to the 11th century church where an ornate and golden “coffee grinder” of a shrine served as a background for our last concert of this tour. We were grateful for the Monteverdi choir of the town for performing three pieces before us, which were incredible – their small size (about 20) did not mean they gave a small performance – the pieces they sung were done so with tremendous agility and subtlety. The last piece they performed was composed by their own director and was astonishing. It was such an enjoyable piece for us all and – quite to our astonishment – Paul managed to successfully request the piece for our own chorale next year!
We performed most of our repertoire, and did not fail to send shivers down my spine, not least with the stunning ending of our finale, “Ezekiel Saw de Wheel”.
We exchanged gifts with the Monteverdi choir and upon opening their hefty present after the concert we found ourselves with a large quantity of instrumental and vocal performances of baroque, classical, and romantic music on CDs (I’m not sure there was any contemporary…)!
We traveled back to Florence and arrived around midnight at our rooms filled with the wonderful times we’ve had on this incredible trip and fell asleep with dreams of Lake Como in the morning.

Getting hungry and starving for more of Italy,
David

A day in Florence!

Hi all!

Thanks for waiting it out until we got this post up. The internet in Florence has been a bit tricky, but have no fear... Maya's here! So we'll start with that - my name is Maya Klauber and I'm a junior. This is actually my second tour that I've been able to take with Chorale, and it seems like it just keeps getting better. Every night we find ourselves saying "this was the best day ever". The language is beautiful, the country is gorgeous and the food is the best in the world. And yes, I can (and will) spend time talking about all that, but first let me start you off with the single funniest encounter I've ever had:

So it was yesterday...a Wednesday afternoon on the sunny streets of Florence. My group of friends decided to roam a market place in the Piazza Santa Maria Novella. It was total sensory overload- from the smell of fresh pizza to the brightly colored clothing hanging in each stall. The streets were bustling and filled with smiling people making large hand gestures. The vendors beckoned us over, promising the lowest prices in all of Florence and selling everything from lighters with the Pope's face on them to fine jewelry. So there I was, walking through this scene when, from within a stall, a suave voice called out to me:

"You remind me of a jellyfish...°

I know I must have looked completely stunned, as I stood there (face to face) with this ridiculous suitor

"Excuse me?" I replied

"Yes, a jellyfish...soft. cute. lovely.°

Now if that wasn't the single most hilarious pick-up line any of you have ever heard, I urge you to try to beat it. Or how about the man in the pub that came over to talk to me, but would only speak through a walkie-talkie?! My verdict is that Italian men are incredibly vocal about their feelings and generally express them in some pretty foolish ways.

Moving on, though, yesterday was a great day. We all went on a walking tour in the morning until lunch time, stopping at various points of interest in this beautiful city. We walked near the river and saw the Pontvecchio bridge, looked at gorgeous statues in the center of town and learned that Michelangelo's David has an extremely large right hand so that it can support itself. The tour concluded at the Duomo - the largest and most famous church in all of Florence. The outside is laden with greens, reds, blues and golds, and the inside is just as breathtaking. After speaking with the guards, Paul managed to get us 60 seconds of singing time in there...no words can decribe that sound or that echo. Although we were whisked out of there pretty quickly, we planted ourselves on the front steps and sang 4 songs for a crowd that seemed to multiply by the second. We took the opportunity to pass out flyers for our concert last night, which was in San Stefano al ponte. The show was beautiful and it's been said that it was our best one musically - particularly "Deep River", one of our African American spirituals. We actually nearly knocked Paul off the stage.

We love and miss you all and rest assured- we are all happy and consistently filled with pasta :)

Ciao,
Maya

Colby in Italy, Day 3: The Wheels on the Bus go round and round and round...

Nine in the morning and all seventy-two of us were mobilized out of the Oasi San Giuseppi, Rome, and back into the bus for a four-hour trip to Florence in the province of Toscana. The fact that we weren't allowed to check into our rooms until the afternoon prompted the powers that be to schedule a stopover in the small town of Assisi, which happened to lie along our way, to see two of Italy's most famous religious landmarks: the churches of Santa Maria dell' Angeli and San Francesco d' Assisi. St. Francis was an Italian of noble blood who renounced riches and became a monk in the first half of the twelfth century, becoming famous for his philanthropic work and famous sermons--some to humans, others to animals, even. During his lifetime, he restored a small 4th century church in the small hamlet of Assisi, below the mountain; later, an Italian architect of the Baroque period built around this tiny stone church a massive cathedral, which became Santa Maria dell' Angeli. In the years following the death of St. Francis, two basilica were built to commemorate him; the first, which was older, was built above his tomb, while the second was erected several years later and connected by a stairway to the original basilica below. We didn't get much time there, unfortunately, but were shuffled in and very quickly out, as we were late for Florence. It was a tiring day, certainly, but it's past; now, we ready ourselves for two concerts and extensive exploration of this magnificent italian city.

Canaan

More Pictures from Rome!!!

Hi all!

Hope you all are enjoying our updates from Italy! Here is a link to my Flickr website to see some more pictures from the trip.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36348845@N00/sets/72157600030792014/

Enjoy!!!

Our Monday Concert

At our "standing ovation" rousing concert on Monday night at the Chiesa Santa Maria della Scala in the Trastevere section of Rome.

Monday Pics

On our tour at the Vatican - in St. Peter's.

Monday in a City Called Rome

Friends, Romans, Countrymen-

You are about to read an account of one day in the lives of 65 singers touring Rome- through the eyes and ears of one junior music major from Newton, Mass named Avi David... Welcome to Rome, via my head.

Avi: (roughly 8:46am) "What are you most excited for today, Paul?"
Paul Machlin: (roughly 8:47am) "After yesterday...?"

Could anything top yesterday's experience, singing at Mass in THE MOST IMPORTANT CHURCH IN THE WORLD??

We woke this morning at the chipper hour of 7am in order to pack in a full day of exploring, singing, and living. As we waited outdoors in the brisk Rome air for 3 members of Chorale who slept through their alarms to get dressed, I chatted with some of the singers themselves.

My question: "What are you most excited for today?"
Answer: by anonymous female: "ET phone home!"
(Footnote: Later conversation clarified that this female was exploring the metaphorical relationship between the scene in ET in which ET's magical finger heals that poor boy's bleeding finger and that semi well-known painting by a man named Michelangelo entitled "The Creation of Adam." Maybe Paul will be interested in teaching a course in this subject matter next fall?)

Around 9am we arrived at a site called "Musei Vaticani" (For those of you who aren't fluent in Italian like we singers all are, a proper translation of this title may be something like "Vatican Museum"). As we waited for our tickets to enter the museum, several chorale members engaged in a philosophical enquiry into the true nature of the mullet, and whether its bold re-emergence into European pop culture is benefiting society as a whole. And the verdict:

"the mullet is NOT cool"
"disgusting"
"hip"
"stylish"
"hairstyle? I though a mullet was a fish" (Can you guess who said this? Yes, it was Paul)
"this just proves that Spain should not..." (the writer of this blog removed the end of this quote because it could potentially be seen as offensive... Billy)

What stimulating conversation in the Vatican.

Anyways, I think it would be safe to say that most of our lives changed drastically for the better upon the entrance into our lives of a superhero named Giancarlo. Giancarlo was the tour guide for half of us through the Vatican museum. He was witty, funny, insightful, knowledgeable... basically an ideal tour guide, and human being. I knew he was going to be a winner from the beginning when he said: "Let the good times roll" more than 17 times in a row. For the whole tour we wore headphones that were wirelessly hooked up to his microphone- a very funny sensation. For 3 hours Giancarlo produced all thoughts that occurred inside my brain. It felt I was looking at artwork and thinking about it to myself, but in an Italian accent, with insight that I didn't know I had.

The artwork in the Vatican was far beyond spectacular and the stories behind the art added a new dimension to our appreciation. This anecdote seems appropriate right about now: In the 18th century, one conservative Pope added fig leaves to several sculptures of naked humans, covering their genitalia. For many other sculptures, he simply chiseled off the genitalia. After much research and many controversial claims, Giancarlo assured us that there is a box somewhere in the Vatican filled with genitalia of all of the sculptures. He told us that there is a possibility that the genitals may be re-attached someday, but this might induce hostility between the statues for the most sizable you know what.

Among the other tidbits of knowledge Giancarlo imparted upon us, he explained why we go to museums: Just as we go to a restaurant to feed our body, we go to a museum to feed our spirit. We need to take care of our spirit just as much as we do our physical body, and art provides this type of nourishment. Brilliance.

After a couple hours we exited the museum and entered a semi well-known room that some connoisseurs may have recognized as the "Sistine Chapel." Mind-blowing. The room is covered in Michelangelo's artwork and embodies a spirit of pure awe and genius. There's nothing else to say about it. If you haven't been there, go.

We ended the Vatican tour with a quick visit to St. Peter's Basilica, where we had sang the previous day. Again, it was stunning, humbling, overwhelming.

Our eventful day continued with a short performance at Palazzo Margherita, the US Embassy in Rome, for the US Ambassador to Italy and his posse. It was great fun. We sang and then they tried to convince us to become diplomats, and may have been successful in a few cases.

After some free time to feed our spirits (and bodies) with the art form that is Italian pizza, we headed to Chiesa Santa Maria della Scala for our first complete performance. By the 9pm concert, many of us were thoroughly fulfilled with the exciting and meaningful events of the day, and growing tired. But when we started to sing, the large and astonishing cathedral provided the most beautiful resonance, and the Chorale just SHINED. We fed off the growing audience and Paul's enthusiastic, focused and blissful face to produce an angelic sound that brought tears to many eyes. On the bus ride home after the performance, Paul summed up the night:

"There was one point during the first set when I was transported. I had a transporting experience. I don't know where I was, but I was somewhere else."

I think I can speak for the Chorale when I say with the deepest respect and humility: Thank you Paul. Thank you for getting us here. Thank you for your tenacious dedication, musical brilliance, and faith in us to sing in such a spiritually infused and historically important environment. Singing in the Vatican has been life altering.

We are currently Florence bound. Be well folks! We love and miss you all.

Some Sunday Sightseeing

A sweet view from our sightseeing early in the day on Sunday...

St. Peter's Square

Here's a shot of the group after our amazing performance at Mass at St. Peter's!

Our first full day in Italy

After a much needed night's rest, the chorale began the day with some sightseeing. Our double decker bus dropped us off at the Roman forum: the sight of many famous ancient ruins. Some students visited the Circo Maximo - the location of famous cariot races. Others strolled around and visited churches, including one where St. Valentine's skull is on display (Thanks for the details, Jen Myers). Others visited the Colosseum. I spent all my time there because I wanted to see the inside of the great structure. By the time we finally got in, we almost immediately had to leave again in order to catch the bus. At first I regretted not having enough time, but I guess no amount of time is really ample enough to totally explore the entire city.

After our sightseeing we went back to the hotel to practice some music and then set off for the Vatican to sing at a mass at St. Peter's Basilica. I think our experience would best be described as intensely beautiful and wonderfully insane. There was no way to prepare for this event so we all approached it with as much flexability as possible. In almost every way, things worked out in our favor. We thought we'd only be allowed to sing two or three songs at the most, but in the end we did all six possibilities, including a Gregorian chant and pieces by Poulenc I thought would not be accepted. The standing arrangement was not ideal, but we managed. The acoustics were amazing, sending warm echos of our singing back to us, but it was almost impossible to hear the people singing around you. I think the most terrifying music experience of my life was singing one piece that started quietly with all basses. I literally could not hear anyone else. We were tightrope walking without a net. Luckily, we somehow stayed together amd the piece was a success.

The entire trip was bizarre. Our bus parked in an underground lot that looked like it should be for a mall. When we rose to the street we were in St. Peter's Square before I even knew we were in the vatican. After singing several songs on our way to the church, we finally entered the structure. The baroque extravagence of the building was overwhelming. I think the most striking thing was the biblical verse set in giant golden letters around the great dome. "Tu es Petrus" it said, from Jesus telling his apostle Peter that he will be the rock of the church. These happened to be the lyrics to our final song and it was awesome to look up at the giant letters in some sort of holy karaoke. As we hit the final magnificant chord of the song, I knew we had done a very good job. We were complimented in both Italian and English by many people including Basilica regulars and professional singers.

After this incredible experience, we were dropped off at the Piazza Trilussa to have dinner on our own. I expected to walk a short distance into the center of the city, but I was surprised to find no shortage of delicious looking restaurants, pubs, and bars in the immediate area. A group of eight of us found a place where we could eat outside on the street. I was able to sample my first true Italian pizza and everything they say about it being completely amazing is true.

We have many more opportunities for sightseeing, singing, and pizza on the rest of the tour. We are all looking forward to it and I hope you are looking forward to hearing about it.

First 36 Hours

Greetings from Italy! It was a long journey through Boston and Frankfurt but we have finally made it to Rome. We got into around 11 yesterday and checked into our accomodations, Oasi san Giuseppe, outside the city. We had a little time to explore the area around our hotel before heading into °Old Rome° in the afternoon. Most of us visited the Pantheon, the oldest surviving complete structure in Rome (27BC). Other highlights in the area included the Piazza Navona, Campo di Fiore, and the Area Sacra, home to a sizeable urban feral cat colony maintained by volunteers. We explored narrow streets, turning corners to be surprised by ruins, markets, or churches. Everyone enjoyed sampling real gelato and expresso too! We all met for a group dinner at a cafe featuring a 4 course meal before heading back to get some well-deserved rest. It was daylight savings time here last night so we have lost another hour but look forward to making up for lost time in the Roman Forum area this morning before we sing at a mass at St. Peters this afternoon.

Ciao ciao,
Jenn Mizen