Closing Blog: Baden and Prague

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Prima Voce has returned from a spectacular tour of Vienna and Prague. In the last ten days, they have seen amazing sites, and they have given 8 concerts (consisting of 16 totally memorized a capella pieces) for standing room only crowds, with an enthusiastic response at each performance. They received a silver designation at the competition, with a score of 88.6 out of 100. Not bad for our first international choral competition against some of the best choirs in the world who train specifically for this sort of competition! Two of our most exciting performances were at Esterhazy Palace in Haydn Hall, and two performances in the church for which Mozart composed his Ave Verum Corpus. But most importantly, they made some incredibly high level choral music and represented the university and the US with a great deal of dignity and class! Congrats to all!

I got just a little behind with the blogging toward the end of the tour: There was absolutely NO time spent sitting around with nothing to do. There were absolutely NO concerts that were sung to anything less than a packed, enthusiastic crowd. Much of this, in part, is due to our tour company making arrangements with significant venues, and in incredible amount of pre concert publicity. There were people all over the streets in Prague standing with handbills about our concert, passing them out. There were posters with our pictures and concert details at each venue. Our performance at the Baden Festival was all over the news in Vienna, and we literally ran into people in Vienna who knew all about our upcoming performance in Baden, and who had heard our recording played as part of the promotional materials and our recordings played on the radio stations in Vienna. In Baden, the entire community came out in throngs for our concerts, and at all concerts, we were received with enthusiastic standing ovations! There was pageantry, fireworks, and celebration of choral music. There is a love and appreciation for good choral music in each of these places, the likes of which we never see in the US. It was close to being the equivalant of hosting a superbowl, final four, or world series. I think this was probably what impacted me the most as a choral conductor, seeing this sort of support and deep passion for the arts, and particularly for choral singing. Even our "informal" concert at Esterhazy palace became a full blown concert, as huge groups of tourists congregated in the hall to hear us sing in the amazing acoustics, and the Esterhazy folks asking us to keep singing on so that their busloads of tourists could hear the wonderful acoustics in Haydn Hall.

A VERY special concert for me was the mass service at the St Stephan's Church in Baden; the church for which Mozart composed the Ave Verum. Little did I know the distinction that being accepted at the Ave Verum Festival held, and the jurying that took place upon subitting our recording to even secure a position in the competition. According to Wolfgang Ziegler, the founder and admiistrator of the competition, he purposefully keeps the numbers very small and the choirs very good, in an effort to hold this competition as one of the most prestegeous choral competitions in Europe. Then, in addition to this, being asked to perform the mass for this historic church which, by the way, is the most presteeous church in town, and is Herr Ziegler's own church, was quite a great honor. We sang SIX pieces in the Mass service and Herr Ziegler's comments following the Buchenberg magnificat were..."to perform the Buchenberg at such a high level and NOT to have been named the Grand Prix winner of the competition....???????" He truly seemed to be appreciative of our music and that we were willing to bring this music to be a part of the mass at his own church.

Another very special concert for me was the joint concert (Vienna) with Chor Weidling at the Stift Klosterneuberg, and the wonderful collboration that we experienced with Herr Helmut Kunkle and his choir. I can not remember a time when we have been so appreciated and truly enjoyed the post concert gathering with the choirs. We ate and sang song after song! Then they presented us with gifts, and wished us well for our upcoming competition (which, of course, they all knew about due to the incredibly focus with advertising.)

Another important note:every one of our pieces sounded beautiful in the amazing acoustics of these fine cathedrals. I was thrilled to hear our soloists' voices literally fill each of these rooms with striking beauty! Patrick Rooney's pieces was particularly beautiful in these halls.

May I also mention, all of the fun times we had? The final riverboat dinner cruise on the Moldau River was spectacular! What a fun way to celebrate a great tour!

Prima Voce has matured musically, and has certainly bonded in a very special way. I would like to tell each and every one of them that they have made our University very proud. Special thanks to our wonderful tour company, Cultural tour consultants, and Melissa, Johan and Marcus! Also, thanks to our graduate students, Karen and Chris, supportive parents and faculty who made this possible, and Prima Voce singers, who continue to make me proud to be their director. Next year, we will make the ensemble just a little smaller. We were a bit larger this year, due to the numbers needed for traveling. At this point, we are considering touring again, establishing a pattern of international travel every two years, with a domestic tour on the alternating years. This is an ideal sized group for travel. Also, we have already been invited to be the "Chamber Choir" for the Greeley Phil in January, 2013 as they present a Mozart Concert. More to come...

Job well done, Prima Voce!

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