On August 3, we shared a concert with the University of Mendoza choir, pictured below.
It was a difficult place to sing because the acoustic was so dry, but the audience was very, very enthusiastic. So enthusiastic, in fact, that they kept breaking into applause before our pieces were over! It was a fun evening.
The next morning, we headed to the airport to fly to Mendoza, but ended up having to wait through two cancelled flights. We spent around six hours in the airport, sleeping, playing games, talking...it was hard but everyone was a good sport about it.
When we arrived in Buenos Aires, we sang on a street corner downtown for passersby.
It was an interesting experience to sing outside! There was a dog that took a liking to us and kept coming up while we were singing and laying down in front of the choir to listen. Whenever we would finish a song, it would run off into the crowd barking...only to come back for the next song.
Then, on August 5, we headed to the University of Moron for a concert there and with the U of M choir.
It was so much fun! The audience asked for multiple encores and we were so happy to be able to share so much with them.
Next, we headed to Puerto Madryn for the main event: the World Choral Symposium! We were going to fly, but due to volcanic ash, we had to take a bus...for 20 hours! Fortunately, our bus was very nice, with large, comfortable seats that reclined quite far back so we could sleep. When we arrived in Puerto Madryn, we were a little disappointed to find that so much of the symposium had been cancelled. Because so many people had to take buses to get to the city, the symposium had to be shortened to account for travel time. Also, five of the 25 invited choirs decided not to come at all. But we still made the best of it and settled in for a few days of great music!
On August 8, we had our main concert in Puerto Madryn at a church in the afternoon.
The audience was standing-room only. At this concert, we premiered all the new works we'd commissioned for the Symposium: pieces by Ko Matsushita, Dan Forrest, Ola Gjeilo, Gyorgy Orban, David Thomas, Ivo Antognini, Josu Elberdin, and Eriks Esenvalds. They were all received wonderfully. We were honored to be able to premiere these works by all these composers, several of whom we have met and worked with over the years. We hope we did credit to their works!
During the afternoon, we had some free time in the afternoon and the whales were out in force, so a lot of us walked down the pier and did some whale watching. It was amazing!
Later that night, we sang for a Gala concert at the Symposium with 4 other world-class choirs and a vocal jazz group. The venue was a gymnasium. Literally.
We were fifth on the program, following a choir from Argentina, a girls' choir from Norway, the Philippine Madrigal Singers, and a choir from Sweden. It went very well, but it was probably the most difficult place any of us has ever had to perform. The acoustic was more than dry. It was frustrating, but ultimately a good experience.
The next evening, we headed to Trelew for an out-of-town concert as part of the Symposium. We performed at the Teatro Verdi.
The audience, as usual, was absolutely wonderful! We were so happy to be able to finish our time at the Symposium with such a great concert for such great people.
The next morning, we headed back to the church of our first Symposium concert to do a little recording, and then we hopped back on the bus for another 20 hour ride to Buenos Aires, where we grabbed a plane to Iguazu. We're currently settling down in our hotel and getting ready for some jungle excursions tomorrow. We'll be home in just a couple of days!
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