Your trusty blogger is back with Friday and Saturday’s news.
Friday:
After a final run through in the morning, we had the chance of a dress rehearsal in Spital, which, though miniscule, has an incredibly beautiful baroque church and beside it a magnificent baroque room with the most amazing acoustics. You can hear the crystal clarity of the choir in the clips marked Barocksaal. We have also loaded a few stills of the room itself so you can get an impression of its grandeur.
We were so proud of the girls and we knew that they were on tip top form for Saturday’s performance. The Barocksaal is part of the museum and the angelic voices soon attracted a crowd of appreciative onlookers.
The museum also has an exhibition of gingerbread houses; each building in Spital has been made to scale by the villagers. We couldn’t resist taking some photos. A whole new perspective on home baking.
Saturday:
Sadly we had to say goodbye to Spital and make our way by train back to Salzburg on Saturday morning. But first we had to tidy up our rooms… armed with black plastic bags, Mrs Roberts, Mrs Morgan and I went into battle, picking our way through a tidal wave of stray socks, abandoned t-shirts and packets of Haribos, we eventually managed to restore some sort of order, although we are not sure that our songsters will return with matching socks or their own wardrobe! We will draw a veil over the state of the bathrooms- the jumble of toiletries was a sight to behold!
We have loaded a few shots of our departure from Spital; martialling 80 teenagers on to a tiny local train was quite a challenge, but luckily we had reserved carriages.
Once back in Salzburg, we returned to the hotel and, getting off the bus, bumped into Mrs Hewitt who had arrived earlier- it’s a small world!
After a quick lunch, SERIOUS but SERIOUS preparations for our concert appearance began accompanied by the hum of hairdryers and the drumbeat of stockinged feet rushing up and down the corridor in search of vital elements of the beautification process – don’t worry dads GETTING READY is a girl thing! As you will see from the photo taken in front of the St Ursula Gymnasium, it was worth it; the girls looked so elegant and poised, and Mrs Hewitt was thrilled.
The warm up over, Dr Wild positioned the choir to best effect and then they had a quick run through for each conductor to get a feel for the sound. We were performing in the school multi-purpose gym which was big enough to take a large audience. Although the acoustics in the school were not as good as in the Barocksaal, the enthusiastic audience made up for it.
In celebration of the occasion, the Austrian girls and many members of the audience were in their national costume- Dirndls for the ladies and traditional Trachtenhemden and Lederhosen for some of the fathers.
The concert was a huge success and Rhythm of Life brought the house down as you can hear! To round off the evening, we were all invited to a meal back at the Langenloiser Hof where we started the tour. It was time to say goodbye and the photos make it clear that the music had brought the girls together and firm friendships had been made.
Having arrived home, your trusty blogger is now signing off; I am sure you are hearing everything at first hand. Your daughters were a credit to you and their school; they worked with a will during all the rehearsals and impressed all the musicians with their concentration and enthusiasm. One of the aims of the project was to try to transcend national and linguistic boundaries through music; the girls’ eagerness to make new friends, try out new language skills and to learn from one another showed what open-minded, adaptable and positive young citizens they are. They were brilliant!
I am delighted that you have enjoyed our Comenius blog, but for now it's auf Wiedersehen
Your trusty blogger
Ps Hello to Emma’s granddad who has been reading the blog eagerly!
