Aoiz

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Last night's concert, the last prior to the competition, was in Aoiz. At the risk of repeating myself, the audience was lovely, and the choir rose to the occasion in a room that was less acoustically friendly than the churches we've been performing in thus far.

After the concert, we went into Pamplona for dinner, where we encountered our first other choirs. One was a male quartet from the Netherlands. We all sang for each other. They were stupendous! They are not here to compete, only to perform in the festival. Daniel had a few minutes to speak with them, and managed to forge enough of a connection to get one of their arrangements. Look out, Menharmonics! Then as we were leaving, we saw that a Filipino children's choir was in the other dining room. All three ensembles sang for each other again (the kids were awesome, too). The whole choir was delighted to finally have a chance to have an exchange with other singers, and the bus was buzzing with excitement as we drove back to Zarautz.

As noted earlier, we spent the earlier part of the day in San Sebastian, a seaside resort not far from Zarautz. It is truly a lovely town, and was thronged with Spaniards yesterday, as it was a major holiday weekend (related to All Saints' Day) here in Spain.

Today is the big day! We compete in the block that starts at 4 PM local time. Think good thoughts for us!

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