Italy Tour: Rome and competition!

On Wednesday, we arrived in Rome and took the quickest tour ever: only three hours! I would upload some photos of what we saw, but blogger refuses to cooperate right now. So sorry!

After our whirlwind, we bussed to Arezzo where our competition is being held. We took it easy on Wednesday night and then got straight to work on Thursday morning. After rehearsal in a mortuary (!!!), we went to a beautiful church and competed in the Mixed Choir Polyphony round. A few hours later, we competed in the Vocal Ensemble round (12 singers maximum). Both went well and we felt happy with what we did. Later that night we learned that we'd tied for first place in the Mixed Choir round, and won first prize in the Vocal Ensemble round! Additionally, the Vocal Ensemble won a special prize for best interpretation of the competition's compulsory piece. Good work!

Today, we had our work cut out for us: four competition rounds! First up was music from the Romantic period, followed by contemporary music, another round of modern pieces, and a folk music round, which took place outside. We worked hard all day and came out at the end of it with two more first place ties in both the Romantic and Contemporary categories.

We also learned that we are one of three choirs chosen to compete one more time tomorrow for the Grand Prize. We have fifteen minutes to show our stuff in competition with some of the best choirs in the world! Wish us luck!

On Sunday, we'll all be home! See you soon!

Italy Tour: Tortoli

Sunday was a lovely day full of much needed rest and relaxation...and the Mediterranean Sea.

After a great day and an intense rehearsal, we woke up fresh and ready to go on Monday, and headed to Tortoli last night to perform with the Coro el Leon de Oro (from Spain) in the Cattedrale Sant'Andrea.

The church was an amazing place to sing and the choir from Spain was a joy to listen to and perform with. The audience loved everything throughout the whole night, which really made us feel great! Afterwards, we were treated to pizza at a great Italian pizzeria, and then made another long trip home, arriving at about 3:00 AM!

Tonight, we head back to San Santurnino for one more concert, again with the Coro el Leon de Oro, and then tomorrow we fly to Rome, and then to Arezzo for the competition! Send us your good vibes!

Italy Tour: Travel, arrival, late nights, and more!

Can you believe we returned from Argentina less than a month ago and we're already in Italy for the Concordia Vocis festival followed by a competition in Arezzo? Neither can we! But we're happy to be here!

I am sorry there have been no posts until now, but the internet has been very fickle!

We left Salt Lake on Wednesday and traveled for about 25 straight hours. We were so excited to go!

We arrived in beautiful Cagliari and checked into Hotel Setar, which is quite a nice place that provides us with lovely food three times a day and an amazing ocean view.

We took it easy for the first day and then traveled by bus for about three and a half hours to Alghero. It looks like quite a beautiful town, but we didn't see much of it, as we got there just in time for our sound check in the Cattedrale di Santa Maria.

It was a very beautiful church and a good first concert for us. After another long bus ride (during which time our bus driver got lost!), we finally arrived back at our hotel at 4:10 AM! We think this might be a record for late night tour
arrivals!

Needless to say, most of us slept for most of Saturday to make up for going to bed just before the crack of dawn. We rehearsed hard all afternoon and then got ready for our concert in the Basilica San Saturnino in Cagliari.

This beautiful church is the oldest on the island of Sardinia, and dates back to 900 AD! It has an amazing acoustic, and the concert went very well. Even though it was extremely hot and everyone was sweating, the audience was enthusiastic and we gave our all---and it paid off!

Yesterday we relaxed a bit and rehearsed a bit, and we'll head to Tortoli today!