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June 1 & 2, 2018 On Friday I left Venice via the boat bus that took me to the train station. I wasn't sure which stop to get off because everything is in Italian and I don't speak Italian. Some nice young kids helped me out. I found my train (destination is Rome) on track 4, found car 6 and my seat. About 5 other people sitting near me were also getting off at Florence. I set my watch to wake me before I got to the stop because I fell asleep. The train was super nice - quit different from my experience when I had been here when I was 23 years old.
The focus of the choir tour is to sing 2 pieces: John Rutter's Requiem and Rossini's Sabat Mater. We will have some sightseeing and we have time on our own to explore and two days in Verona. The choir here is formed from 10 choirs: 1 from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the rest from U.S.: San Diego, Florida, Montana, Santa Fe, Alabama, Phoenix, Laguna Beach & N.Y. There's about 170 people here to perform on June 4th.
I arrived in Florence at 13:30 and
found my hotel - Hotel Rivoli. My roommate Nancy wasn't here yet so I settled in and met the group at 19:00 in the lobby. Members of the Masterworks Chorale from San Diego are all staying at this hotel. We all walked to the square and met the other choirs and went to dinner. I was disappointed because the agenda said we were to have a meeting and then have dinner and meet John Rutter (composer of the Requiem we are singing). The restaurant was pricey and we didn't have a meeting and although John Rutter was there at dinner, we didn't get formally introduced to him.
On Saturday we had 6 hours of rehearsal: 9:00-12:00 and 14:00-17:00. John Rutter spent alot of time teaching us to form our mouth so we didn't sing flat, and we also worked on the pronunciation of the Latin Text. At times he would explain how he wrote a certain piece, and how some pieces were "bookends" of the entire movement and their significance. He also was hilarious in his explanations of the correct way to sing and the wrong way to sing. He was always very positive and encouraging.
When we
broke for lunch Nancy (my roommate who finally showed up last night after her eventful flight. They were on the ground in D.C. for 2 1/2 hours due to Hurricane Alberto and she missed her connection in Brussels) & I went back to the hotel to change rooms. Our first room was located at an intersection of 2 hallways & the elevator and was very noisy, even at night. We have a smaller but quieter room now - the last room on the hall and it overlooks the courtyard.
Back to rehearsal I learned that there are still people stuck in Amsterdam. Apparently there were many problems due to storm in U.S. and Europe and there are still about 30 people missing. The singing sounds wonderful and brought me to tears a few times.
In the evening I walked around with Diana & Mike. We found the Mercato and there's a food court on the 2nd floor. This is an amazing food court. Great food choices, wine, cocktails, beer, desserts, gelato. Then we walked around. There's so much interesting stuff to see around every corner. I had walked around the Duomo yesterday and we walked to it again
tonight. We made our way to the Ponte Vecchio just as the sun was setting. Then we saw some street chalk art. It seemed like there were musicians on every corner.
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