Thursday, July 8, 2010

Guest Blogger Series: The Arrival in Florence

Greetings readers!

As you may have read in my previous post, I was able to get one of my fellow Belle Canto choristers, Amy B. to guest blog for me while they are on tour in Italy. She has already composed her first entry (they left on Tuesday) and I've posted it for you to read below. If you enjoy more travel related posts, another chorister from Belle Canto, Kate, is updating her travel blog daily so you can check out some of her stories and pictures as well!

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The ARRIVAL IN FLORENCE

GUEST BLOGGER: AMY B.












Well, it has been over 24 hours since we all arrived in Italy, so I figured it was time for my first kick at blogging……:

We flew into Florence at 1:00 yesterday afternoon. And, it is a beautiful place – gorgeous old buildings, stone streets, frescoes and sculptures everywhere…. not to mention the gelato! I think Italy and I are going to get along just fine.

Now, I am under no illusions: I know that I am here to work – to sing my face off and to “face off” against other choirs (particularly “the choir in the Czech republic” – the subject of a future blog post, I’m sure). But so far, this has been a very laid back tour…. more like a vacation I am casually taking with some acquaintances of mine, all of whom happen to sing… the exact same repertoire as I do.

Actually, there hasn’t even been any singing yet! A few singers, scattered amongst the regular plane passengers, might have been heard practicing their parts in hushed tones, of course, but nothing all together (like a rehearsal in the airport, for example). One of my roommates copied the text for one of our pieces onto her itinerary for the day, so that she could review it as we walked. Over breakfast I did hear a couple of singers discussing the German text they may or may not have memorized yet, but this topic was quickly overtaken by talk of how everyone slept, what we might see at the Uffizi and, most importantly, what kind of gelato we might have today. But, so far anyways, none of this has resulted in any actual singing.

I think we have all just been overtaken by this place….it’s really the only explanation. How else could 24 choir girls from Canada completely lose track of their objective? It is so hot here (38 degrees for the last 2 days) and every street and statue and building has a history to hear about. Couple this with good food and (in case I haven’t already mentioned this) GELATO, and I can hardly remember the words to verse 2 of Tamburinshlagerin.

I’ll bet the choir from the Czech republic is rehearsing right now….with no gelato in their tummies.

8 comments:

evelinbest said...

Well, I don't know about the choir in the Czech Republic, but the one in Hungary has been rehearsing all week... and we're all exhausted. We got the weekend off and have been ordered to rest. We still have one more rehearsal on Monday and then it's off to Gorizia on Wednesday.
I envy you for the Gelato especially because we won't be allowed to have any till the end of the competition... (but our conductor does not have to know about the frappuccinos....)
Looking forward to meeting you and hearing you sing...
See you soon,
Evelin

misssable said...

Thanks for commenting again Evelin!

I hope you had a very fruitful week of intense rehearsals. I, myself, am not in Hungary, but make sure to say hi to my choir for me! We're the ones who are going to be boiling in black uniforms!

evelinbest said...

Hey!
Too bad you couldn't come to Italy, but look at the bright side. You won't be sweating like a pig in a choir uniform which is what all the choirs will be doing.
I'm sure your guest blogger and all your fellow choristers will keep you updated (when they're not too busy eating all that ice cream...).
:)

misssable said...

True enough, I will not be sweating like a pig in my choir uniform.

Hungary can get pretty hot in the summer, is your choir uniform breezy enough to enjoy wearing in the summertime? I remember being in Debrecen a few years back and I was drying the heat then as well :)

evelinbest said...

Our uniforms are not what I would call breezy... And it's definitely not something we will enjoy wearing in this heat. Man,it's gonna be tough. It's hot as hell over here in Budapest and it's gonna be even worse in Italy.
Ah well...

misssable said...

Ah, at least all of the choirs are in it together. Nobody really thinks of having a breezy uniform until they realize that they are dying of heat in the one they have picked.

Have a great festival and if you by chance happen to have internet make sure to come here to send me a comment. I'd love to know what's going on at the festival!

evelinbest said...

You're right! One for all and all for one, right?
If we sweat, let's do it together... :)

I'll write when I'm not busy spying on other choirs and their performances.... hehe...

you'll be with us in spirit.
:)

misssable said...

Indeed, all for one and one for all!

I'm glad to hear that you'll be spying on choirs. Be sure to look up my women's choir: Belle Canto. Not sure if we're in the same classes as you guys, I'm not sure if they're separated by age range but they're entering an early music ensemble category, a romantic class, 20th century and a folk song set. Should be interesting!

Even if you're not able to fill me in on what's going on I'd love to hear who were you favorites of the festival so I can look the choirs up! I trust your ears and your excellent Hungarian choral training :)

Have a safe trip to Italy! You must be leaving soon!