After a major storm overnight, there were reports of severe damage but the area we are staying in had little or no effect. Although it was a quiet Saturday morning (and the traffic was supposedly easier to manage) the fallen trees did hold us up a little. We arrived at our group rehearsal for another session with Aaron Jensen, followed by a workshop with highly regarded choral conductor, Philip Brunelle. We rehearsed a new piece that had only recently been performed and will perform it tomorrow night at the Serenade! Festival Concert.
Finding a quality place to eat to cater for all of our needs (in one spot) has been tricky, but today our bus driver Dennis, delivered the goods - found a fantastic place just down the road from our hotel (funny that no-one else ever told us!) Salads and all kinds of goodies - everyone dived right into the healthy stuff!
We then had a short rehearsal at the Church of Epiphany in the heart of Washington DC before a concert in benefit of the Welcome Table Choir. This church organises activities for the homeless, including a choir (which we sadly did not hear) and the Organiser of that choir spoke and then sang a gorgeous song for us. It will be posted on the YAV website.
We opened the concert, followed by the Minnetonka Chamber Choir, Boston City Singers and the Voices of Namibia closed the concert. A highlight (apart from our performance!) was Imilonji KaNtu Choral Society joining the Boston City Singers on stage for a song about Nelson Mandela that we had learned yesterday. Very quickly the entire Church was on it's feet singing and dancing along. Oh, what a feeling!
Following this concert, we travelled out to the beautiful town of Annapolis. Many areas of America are beautiful, but this area was just gorgeous. Very hard to describe how pretty and beautiful it is. I hope some pictures do it justice. We watched the concert in the Church and were very impressed by the Zvonky - Praha Choir from the Czech Republic. The Colombian choir - Verata E Liberi - looked liked they had found their feet after a very tiring schedule for their young children. Their songs were great fun, with audience participation and clapping. The evening finished with Countermeasure, who always delight us!
A steady one hour trip back to our hotel, with the promise of a free morning to rest up for the BIG concert on Sunday.
Were a little concerned about your safety during the storms. They were reported here on the local TV News reports.
ReplyDeleteYour Blogs are excellent. Following all of you each step of this wonderful journey.
My Grandchildren have also been checking regularly and have access to the photos sent on Facebook.
Thanks