Keystone State Boychoir

With minimal wifi,  we will have to wait until we get home to see the rest of Laurie’s pictures.

Back in Helsinki after our third and final overnight ferry, with our final concert on Sunday night, and the end of tour.

St. Petersburg left a huge impression on all of us such that everyone is struggling to come up with words to express what we just experienced. From the Winter Palace to the Cathedral on Spilled Blood to the Hermitage,  it’s just so much larger than life.

We saw the city from the top of St Isaac Cathedral, from the water, and from walking between our various destinations. The scale of the city certainly reflects the dreams of the Russian Imperial family, especially Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, as we learned from various tour guides.

The Hermitage is a pretty good representation of the scale of St Petersburg, and the grandeur we experienced. To start with, it’s by far the largest museum in the world, with over 3 million objects in the collection. Add to that, one of the buildings is the Winter Palace, which has 1,057 rooms. One of the Ceremonial Halls that we saw was so big that boys decided the they could have played soccer in there when the weather was bad, and would have room to spare. And then there’s the chapel. So much gold…

Throughout, we’ve enjoyed our connections with Russians. Remember the response of the audience to the post-concert South African sing, where they sang back to us? That happened on Friday, too, in a most unexpected way. We had gathered on one of the bridges to head for some shopping at an open air market near the Cathedral on Spilled Blood. The bridge is a natural destination for wedding photos, with the cathedral in the background. As the photographer captured the bride and groom’s special day, Mr Fisher called the boys to standing order, and started Shumeyela, and the bride and groom started dancing, clearly loving the serenade for their photo session. Then the grads surrounded another couple and sang “In the Still of the Night”. As the boys started walking away, the groom, the bride and a couple of their friends broke into song themselves, a beautiful song in that incredible Russian harmony. We returned the gesture, and the grads sang Salvation is Created, in Russian. Cheers back and forth, with good wishes for the bride and groom, and for our safe travels.

Final view of the port of St Petersburg, with a vestige of Soviet days – Wiley pointed out the sign that reads Leningrad in Russian

 

 

 

When last we blogged, Keystone State Boychoir was enjoying a final day in the idyllic quiet of Rättvik, Sweden.

Since then? Two overnight ferries, 600 miles across the Baltic Sea, a brief stop in Helsinki, and now? Russia!

There’s been lots of informal singing, lots of rehearsing. Boat Adventures! A brief pass through Helsinki, with more to come on Sunday.

And then we got to Russia.

St Petersburg is beautiful with a grandeur and scale unlike any other city. Our first day was taken up with getting everyone settled in four different hotels, and then in getting ready for the biggest concert on this tour at Kapella Hall. St. Petersburg deserves nothing but the best for KSB, including a great venue, even if we have to rent it ourselves.

What you can’t see in pictures, or even in videos, is how great the choir sounds on this tour, and how enthusiastically the boys have been received by the audience at every concert, each one more than the last. Last night was no exception! The Russians LOVED the choir, from the prelude — our two talented pianists, Ben and Immanuel each played a piece —  to the end, an additional 45 minutes of singing in the courtyard outside the concert.

Over the past couple of years, the South African set has moved from its longstanding place at the end of the concert to a post-concert party outside the venue. On this tour, Mr Fisher has been introducing the final(ish) song, Shosholoza by asking the audience to name a song with a similar place in their country’s culture as Shosholoza for South Africans. Last night, the Russians did more than name the song – the whole audience sang the song themselves. It’s a rare moment on tour when the audience sings back to the boys!

A final note to highlight one of our boys who has been a star on this tour, and who leaves us today, not only from the concert tour (heading to Italy for a performance) but also (for now) from KSB, as his family is moving to Texas. Immanuel Mykyta-Chomsky joined KSB as a trainer in 2009, is one of the 8 Sopranos, and for this tour, is our accompanist. In addition to being a standout singer, Immanuel is an accomplished pianist, and an amazing young musician. His sight reading of the 1st movement of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms during rehearsal last week will be the stuff of KSB legends. While we say goodbye to Immanuel today, we expect that we haven’t seen the last of him wearing a KSB jacket, at least as an accompanist!

Lots of sightSINGing today!

Once again, the wifi is very slow, but at least we have some!

We’ll be adding photos to this blog, hopefully tonight. For now, keep an eye on facebook and instagram for pictures!

 

 

 

 

Update – Pictures uploaded!

Quick post about yesterday, our last day in Rättvik!

After morning rehearsals, we headed into town for some shopping, then to the summer luge – fun!

 

 

It’s been a perfect weekend of Swedish tradition and basically Boychoir Camp!

On to our next adventure!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning, ancient bells rang, (oldest bell — from the 15th century), church boats arrived carrying villagers from around the lake, fiddlers played traditional music, as the locals gathered for their Sunday church service, many in the Swedish attire specific to Rättvik. We learned each town has its own style, with unique color scheme, patterns of stripes, and needlework. The lace is handmade, and women weave the front piece of the skirt. The men of Rättvik wear long black coats, and yellow pants gathered at the knees, with three red pom-poms, though no one remembers why. We experienced Swedish Sunday morning, much as it has been for a centuries.

KSB sang for a well attended service, perhaps in part since many people had seen the choir at the concert the night before, which by the way, was fantastic. The chemistry between choir and nearly full house was electric, with every song better than the one before until the place nearly exploded after Praise His Holy Name. They liked it so much that if there’s enough of an audience, we’ll sing in Rättvik church again Monday night.

 

Between Friday’s Midsommar celebrations and today’s service, we’ve had a real taste of traditional Sweden. Later today, we encountered another reality of Sweden in 2016. When Europe was inundated with those escaping ISIS last year, 160,000 people sought asylum in Sweden, second only to Germany. As a result, even small towns like Rättvik are housing a few hundred Afghani and Syrian refugees.

While considering the possible audience for another concert, we learned that no one from either of the refugee camps, both within walking distance of the venue, heard the boys sing Saturday night. Through the music director here, we connected with people who speak English at both camps, with a plan to bring the grads to sing a couple of pieces at the camps, with an invitation to Monday’s concert.

Dinner time would be an obvious time, but it’s Ramadan, and sunset isn’t until after 10:30pm, so we should come earlier. After a nice reception from a dozen or so men at the first camp, who enjoyed the boys’ singing, we were told at the 2nd camp that there didn’t seem to be much interest in Monday’s concert. A few women and their children sat at an outside terrace of this hotel—turned refugee camp, so we figured we’d just sing for them. Then the boys started Zikr, and some curious men came outside to see what was going on. As the boys moved on to sing In the Still of the Night, a man asked if they would sing Zikr again, saying that it was so beautiful, that it would mean so much to them, so how could we refuse. 2nd round of Zikr finished, we said good night, and hoped to see them at the concert, but the men were so pleased that out came cookies and dates for the boys, handshakes and hugs, and plenty of pictures. Not sure that many will show up at the concert, but once again the power of music…

 

On the way home, the traditional tour ice cream treat – MAGNUM BARS! – and a walk on langbyggvaggen, literally the long bridge to the Steamship dock, where we had to test just how shallow the water really is.

 

While the grads were at the refugee camp,  the trebles had a great game of capture the flag, had sectional rehearsals beginning  working on the First Movement of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms for next season, followed by more food and their own round of ice cream!

 

Hard to believe but we’re half way through this tour!

As predicted, there are days where the wifi is not very robust, or we’re travelling, or there are May Poles to be raised, or all three.

Hope you’re enjoying all the posts on social media!

Thursday, June 23, 2016

After another morning rehearsal on our last full day in Stockholm, the boys toured Stockholm City Hall! We had excellent tour guides, and got to see the room where Nobel Prize winners have their luncheon! We even learned a trick, how the Nobel Prize winners walk down the staircase so elegantly! (hint: look at the star!)

After the Tour, some of the Grads went shopping at a real Swedish department store while everyone else enjoyed glass (ice cream!) on the waterfront, before returning for a final rehearsal and performance at Kungsholms Church with our hosts, Stockholms Gosskör.

The performance that night was packed! No room for the boys to sit! Immanuel, who is our accompanist for this tour, gets to sing sometimes, too, and rocked the Chichester solo. Of course everyone joined in for Shumayela!

Friday, June 24, 2016 – Off to Rättvik!

A little rain didn’t dampen our farewells to our friends in Stockholm, as we said so long for now, in hope of continued friendship between our choirs. On our way to our next destination, Rättvik. On the way, a stop to see the Dala Horse, the traditional wooden toy of this region, now an iconic representation of both Dalarna and of Sweden.

Riding in a double decker bus with luggage trailer, the four hour ride went by quickly, and the boys arrived in Rättvik, a town of about 10,000 people on the shores of Lake Siljan. It’s a perfect place to spend Midsommar, the biggest holiday of the Swedish year other than Christmas. We’re staying at Stiftsgarden, a retreat center and hotel on the lake. Their claim to fame (beyond being boychoir tour heaven) is that Desmond Tutu stayed here while working with the Church of Sweden and the Swedish government during the struggles to end Apartheid)

And it really is boychoir tour heaven, with great food, nice dorms, and plenty of room to run and have fun!

Glad Midsommar! (In Swedish — Happy Midsummer!)

“So grads, you know how in the US, wearing flowers in your hair is something girls generally do? Well in Sweden, guys wear flowers too. Follow me to pick flowers, and then we’ll make wreaths out of them.”

pause. hold my breath.

“Cool! Where are the flowers?”

Gotta love these guys, far from home, jumping happily into the local tradition, and in no time, flowers woven into wreaths, maypole raised, and KSB clumsily but happily learn several traditional Swedish Midsommar dances.

Midsommar continued with the holiday meal, followed by the Rättvik Midsommar Parade, complete with horse pulled wagons filled with locals in their traditional Swedish attire, marching violinists, and hundreds of people, clearly going somewhere together. It’s another Majstångresning (Maypole Raising – yes, it’s June. Not quite sure what the deal is with that), so we join the parade and watch the raising of a 40’ maypole, then another round of dancing, less clumsy this time since they’re the same dances that we learned earlier.

 

Midsommar concluded with a concert in the church where we sing on Saturday, plus some more dancing — this time “Cotton-eyed Joe” and “The Electric Slide” on the Stiftsgarden pier — plus late night grilled hotdogs, and an a cappella Baba Yetu for those gathered for an evening prayer service, around 11:00pm, still plenty of daylight.

 

Though it doesn’t get all the way dark, with about four hours of twilight until sunrise comes again, no one had any trouble falling asleep!

Saturday, June 25

It’s Saturday afternoon now, the grads are having their afternoon rehearsal and the trebles are on break. This morning, the traditional church boats arrived, once the only way that residents of the various villages around the lake got to church. We joined the service for one piece, in hope to spread the word for tonight’s concert. With 700 people in attendance, we’re looking forward to a good audience tonight!

 

It’s another perfect summer day in Stockholm, low 70ºs during the day, cool enough for another layer after dark, which happens for a minute around midnight! Hard to believe we are already on our last day in this beautiful city. The boys have gathered for the morning at the rehearsal home of Stockholm Gosskör, to be followed by a tour of City Hall to see where the Nobel Prize winners have their banquet every December. Tonight will be the final concert here, a sharing with Stockholm Gosskör.

Wednesday started with a musical treat for KSB and several members of our host choir: a morning workshop with Katarina Henryson and Morten Vinther of The Real Group, the Swedish equivalent of The Pentatonix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After rehearsal the boys visited the salvaged Swedish warship, Vasa, expected to be its era’s greatest warship, except it sank on its maiden voyage in 1628, and remained at the bottom of the Stockholm harbor until 1959. To preserve the ship, the museum is pretty dark, so here are some guys enjoying a picnic lunch in the park outside the museum! Click here if you are interested in more about the Vasa

 

Wednesday wrapped up with a concert at the Anglican church, with the typical KSB encore – Shumeyela and Shosholoza. The choir is sounding great!

I’m on my way to make final preparations for our next stop, Rättvik, where boys will enjoy, Midsommar, one of the biggest holidays in the Swedish year. Everyone is happy and well, with jet lag behind us and a weekend of outdoor fun ahead of us!

 

Greetings from Stockholm, Sweden!

Put yourself back on Saturday night in Verizon Hall, with the thrill of Fitz’s Concert Mass, the joyful end of Praise His Holy Name, the peak of this incredible 2015-16 season. Take all of that and use it to fill the sails of this concert tour, and you get an idea of how everything is going in Stockholm!

Despite everyone being kind of bleary eyed on Sunday, the excitement from the Gala Concert was in the air from the moment we were back together again, and got us through the long travel day. We arrived in Stockholm yesterday afternoon, and reunited with Stockholm Gosskör, who had visited us a year ago on their tour to the US. Boys report that they’ve got terrific homestays.

Our first full day in Stockholm started with a morning rehearsal then the first performance of the tour – a lunch time concert. We’ve done some sightSINGing, and are now heading to an afternoon rehearsal, after which, the boys will be back to their homestays, who have just started their summer vacation.

More tomorrow!

 

Luggage lined up and ready to go!

 

 

 

Some of the guys with their homestay families. It’s especially fun since this is a return visit and we know each other already!

 

     

 

 

Well I have been to many, many cities of the world. It takes a lot at this point for me to be taken with a city, but St. Petersburg. WOW! It lives up to its reputation and more.

And as always, its the people you meet in a city that make it special. Irina, director of the TV and Radio Dethor of St. Petersburg, is my new BFF. Despite language barriers, we immediately connected. The joys and trials and tribulations of children’s choir directors are universal!

I so look forward to KSB’s visit to St. Petes. We’ll spend a night getting there on a ferry from Scandinavia, and then spend two magical nights in the city. We’ll do a concert in the Kappella Hall, and very famous venue with wonderful acoustics which is associated with the great Russian musicians Mikhail Glinka and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In addition, we’ll visit landmarks like St. Isaacs Basilica, the Hermitage, and my favorite the Church of Splitting Blood. Yes, that’s the actual name of it.  But I bet everyone’s favorite part will be walking along the River Neva. So beautiful.

Be sure you’ve signed up for Instagram and follow us at keystonestateboychoir. Twitter too – follow us at @ksboychoir. There will be a big KSB announcement tomorrow evening. But if you want to be the first to know, you have to follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

In just a few hours I’ll be arriving in St. Petersburg. Called Leningrad in Soviet times, this city is an incredible blend of Russian and Scandinavian cultures that makes for one of the most unique cities in the world. And KSB will take it by storm on June 30 – thru July 2nd.

I am arriving on the HRP “Maria” – a prominent member of the Russian royal family in the late eighteen and early nineteen hundreds. Once I’ve arrived,  I will have crossed the entire length of the Baltic Sea on three different ships. Seen one Baltic cruise ship, you’ve seen them all?  Sure, but you boys are still going to love it.  Everyone knows that boys never tire of three things: boat rides, food, and ta ti-ing.

You might have noticed I’ve been a little quiet. I did make one stop at an unknown location.  Wanna know?  Tune into Instagram on Sunday, November 1st to find out.

 

Or at least on the cruise ship Mighty Viking.  That’s how we’ll get to St. Petersburg. It’s an overnight boat, three beds in a cabin. Restaurants on board, and a casino.  If you win, you have to give half to KSB.

This is way fun.  Boys, you’re going to looooooooove it.

Please be sure to sign up for Instagram.  Breaking concert tour news will be posted on Instagram in the coming days!