St. Cross, Winchester

On Saturday the 28th Mark and I headed south to Winchester to take part in another choir event. For this concert I joined the ranks of the Cambridge Taverner Choir, conducted by Owen Rees. Before the concert, over the course of three days, we blitzed through 21 hours of rehearsal singing works by Monteverdi, Gabrieli, Lotti, Caldara and Willaert. All of my absolute favorite 16th-17th century composers!!I had orginally developed a love for the genre when I was singing with De Spaera Mundi in Montreal, but have not had enough exposure to the works since 2003. It is my dream to one day sing pieces like the Monteverdi Missa In illo tempore or the Lotti Crucifixus on a weekly, or even daily basis!
The concert was absolutely sold out! Mark had been asked to be a boucer at the door just in case there had been people wanting to storm in to hear us. The church was lit subtly by candles, emphasising the 12th century archetecture that made up our surroundings. I can not wait to sing music like that again!!

Choir tour to Poland

On the 3rd of September I joined the ranks of the Schola Cantorum of Oxford for a three day intensive rehearsal session to prepare for the Wratislavia Cantans Festival.

We began rehearsal in the luxurious acoustic of St. Peter's Chapel in Oxford. It was a cold three days in preparations, but we managed to stay warm with several hundred cups of coffee! We blitzed through everything from Gibbons standards to Polish Korpian songs. After much coaching, we were able to make a pretty good phonetic rendition of the Polish dialect, and making me wish I had spent more time learning the International Phonetic Alphabet!We set out on this grand adventure at 4:00am by coach from Broad St. Oxford to Stansted airport. A little blurry eyed, but we made it to our hotel in Wrocław safely. Suddenly we were experiencing summer-like heat and humidity, as most of us donned winter coats and scarves. As it was such a beautiful day, despite sleep deprivation most of the group walked into the center of town to find a location for a relaxed lunch. I for one was a bit shocked at the lack of any other language other than Polish, which seems ridiculous I know, but coming from a province that permanently boasts two languages I expected to see some words that were not 95% consonants.Saturday, our first day passed swiftly. After dinner a few scattered groups of our choir marched the lengthy distance to the Cathedral to watch the open air concert with fireworks. I had a particular interest in attending the concert owing to the fact that my teacher was the soloist.

Milicz

Sunday, our first day post traveling was taken at a slightly more leisurely pace, but very structured none the less. We traveled at lunch time to Milicz which was the village hosting our first concert. With both a time factor and a language issue our lunch consisted of mostly cheese and plenty of junk food. Perfect fuel for a three hour rehearsal! The interior of the church venue had three levels of balconies above the ground floor. We were fortunate enough to use the first level of these for a three choir setting of the Magnificat by Szmanowski. Between the rehearsal and the concert we were taken for a formal meal at a restaurant W Starym Młynie (The Old Mill). Where most people were served carious fish caught in local lakes, I had a very interesting pasta-like dish served with a dill sauce. Well fed at this point, we returned to Kościół św. Andrzeja Boboli (the church of St. Andrew Boboli) and performed our very first concert in Poland.

Bardo

Day three was less languid than the first two. Just after breakfast we piled into the coach for a long journey to Bardo. There had been a few language misunderstandings from the tour organizer and the Polish festival representative, but none quite as spectacular as this: we had been told we were going to have a “walk” in the Bardo area. It was a steep hike to Mountain Chapel. I among many did not reach the summit, but was told it was a very beautiful view. The venue for our second concert was Kościół Najświętszej Marii Panny (Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary). Admittedly my personal favorite!Again, between the rehearsal and the concert we experienced a formal dinner. In this instance we were given far more choices and people were served dishes like a traditional cabbage and sausage stew or chicken schnitzel with several different cabbage salads. I was delighted to be served a plate of enormous pirogi! Of course, also surrounded by various cabbage salads. Despite being ludicrously full, we sang a very special performance for the audience in Bardo. We each received a giant sunflower as thanks!

Oleśnica

Tuesday, the fourth day of our tour was the busiest yet, beginning with a joint rehearsal with the Wrocław Philharmonic Choir in preparation for the Britten War Requiem on Saturday and Sunday. There were numerous performance practice differences compounded by the language issues, but we persevered for three solid hours. Once finished we sat in the beautiful blazing sun to eat lunch before being whisked away to our third venue in Oleśnica. Unlike the majority of our venues, we arrived at the Miejski Ośrodek Kultury i Sportu (Urban Culture and Sport Center) which had a theatrical stage as opposed to resilient acoustics. Although daunted by the challenge of making music which demands the effect of reverberation, we persevered. It was personally very exciting to be on a stage as opposed to the floor of a church. We stopped for a quick, but delicious meal before the concert. The restaurant was in the same building as the concert and boasted banners of Marilyn Monroe everywhere. We were given variations on the crêpe theme. I was given a mushroom and cheese filled crêpe covered in a yoghurt and raw garlic sauce. Thank goodness all but three of our choir ate the garlic, otherwise it might have meant a slow death to the intermittent ones who had not indulged! It was so delicious I’m hoping to recreate it in the not too distant future. Regardless of all the garlic, and the lack of acoustics the concert was well performed and well received.

Oława

Despite Wednesday being as full a schedule as Tuesday had been, we were roused with a spring in our step knowing it was the last Schola concert we were to perform on tour. We were confident in our repertoire and were beginning to understand the cultural significance of the chosen venues. That morning was consumed with another three hour joint rehearsal, followed by more sun worshipping during the lunch break and a bus ride to Oława. When we arrived for our brief rehearsal in Kościół św. Piotra i Pawła (the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul) it was evident that our concert, or at least the festival’s participation in the town was a special event. The whole church had been freshly painted, as had the town hall. At one point during the rehearsal a group of older women entered the church and began to, we assumed pray. It turn out they were part of a religious extremist group in Poland that feels churches should only be used as a place of worship and events like concerts have no place in them. They did not disturb us all that much, especially since we assumed they were arriving early for a service. What we did not know at that time is that they could have attended our concert and sporadically shouted things, or worse thrown things at us. In fear of that, the organizers called in a police guard to man the door. The church was pact, the music was great and we all went back to Wrocław feeling content.To celebrate our final Schola concert, we headed into town for some Polish karaoke! Many of our number tried to sing English sings translated into Polish, but when a word is so long it takes up two lines on the projection screen, net even phonetics can help you!!

Britten War Requiem

Thursday, day six of our tour was very relaxed in comparison to the previous days. Our only commitment as a choir was to join the rehearsal in Katedra Polskokatolicka św. Marii Magdaleny (Mary Magdalene Cathedral) with the Polish choir and also the Gabrieli Consort. As all of our previous meals had been eaten in a hurry, we chose to venture into town to have a long leisurely lunch in a restaurant which was known as excellent for its authentic Polish food. I enjoyed a large bowl of cream of corn soup with fresh bread; however I was very envious of those who had ordered onion soup which arrived in a bowl of bread! Our rehearsal felt like a very abrupt change from small ensemble singing. Schola Canotrum went to Poland as a group of 28 singers. The joint choir for Britten War Requiem totaled 250 members!Friday was much the same as Thursday with a four hour rehearsal. For this rehearsal however we were joined by all the orchestra. There must have been 500 people on stage at this point! The most impressive section represented had to have been the double basses, of which there seemed to be 7-10. During their very first entry the lowest note of an enormous organ!
Saturday’s dress rehearsal was less than productive, especially when the entire third row of sopranos, myself included nearly fell off the stage. On closer inspection it was noted that the stage had not in fact been in any way bolted together, nor was there any guarantee that the chairs wouldn’t fall off again during the performance. The temporary solution to this problem was a series of short 2x4s attached to the stage with two pieces of duct tape at either end of each. Most laughable, I must say was the furthest two platforms were covered in black fabric… Thankfully no physical injuries occurred as a result of the incident, but there was more than a few noses out of joint.
Both performances of the Requiem went well, but could have been better I think. It was certainly an incredible experience, especially on such a large, international scale! Tired, worn out and sung out both Schola and the Gabrielis emerged early Monday morning to catch our flights back to the UK. It was a very quiet bus ride to the airport.
Now returned safely home, I am slowly unwinding and rejoining various other choirs as the new, very busy season starts.