Keystone State Boychoir

I have arrived in Rattvik, THEE place to be for the mid summer festival in Sweden.  Thanks to our friend Karin, director of the Stockholm Boychoir, we have been booked at Stiftsgarden, a retreat hostel in Rattvik.  The boys are going to be in SUMMER HEAVEN.  Where do I begin?  As hostels go, the accommodations are five star.  There is a terrific dining hall, chapel for rehearsals, lounges to hang out.  The property sits on the breathtakingly beautiful Lake Silijan, one of Sweden’s largest.  It also happens to be the site for all of the mid Summer festivities in Rattvik.  How awesome that we will be there to witness and take part in this century old tradition of marking the longest day of the year.  Oh yes, the boys will be dancing and singing around the maypole.  We’ll be learning all of these customs come the new year as we prepare for this tour.

And talk about outdoor summer fun.  There’s swimming in the lake, a trampoline, a football pitch (I don’t even know what that is), a volleyball area, a playground, canoes, table tennis, bicycles, kick scooters (I’m afraid to ask), hiking trails (Nordic walking poles provided!), and a jetty that, well, jetts out way into the lake.

We have a Saturday night concert planned in one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen – grand like a Cathedral but a charming Scandinavian way. We also will take part in an outdoor Sunday service.

Umm…hate to sound like the boys, but this is going to be AWWWWWWESOME.

More later…

Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, Sweden is everything you imagined that perfect picture of a Scandinavian airport to be.  Modern, but not sleak – contemporary with a nod to mighty Nordic history.

And there’s free internet and free carts.  Can you imagine that at JFK! Not!

Waiting for my luggage and picturing what it will be like the next time I’m here.  With scores of KSB boys asking now long until the luggage belt starts moving, when they can change money, where the bathroom is, when can the start shopping,  and most importantly, are there McDonalds in Sweden. (Hopefully no)

More later…

 

 

I’m currently 36,000 feet in the air heading towards Stockholm Sweden to begin a pre trip for the KSB 2016 Concert Tour of Sweden and Russia. I fly into Aurlanda Airport and then immediately board a train for Rattvik, four hours outside of Stockholm.

This is the Swedish countryside, and THEE place to be during the annual Scandinavian summer solstice celebrations.  How cool that we’ll be there for it!  Our good friends at the Stockholm Boychoir have arranged a very cool place for us to stay, as well as a concert and an outdoor service.

More later…

I’m currently 36,000 feet in the air heading towards Stockholm Sweden to begin a pre trip for the KSB 2016 Concert Tour of Sweden and Russia. I fly into Aurlanda Airport and then immediately board a train for Rattvik, four hours outside of Stockholm.

This is the Swedish countryside, and THEE place to be during the annual Scandinavian summer solstice celebrations.  How cool that we’ll be there for it!  Our good friends at the Stockholm Boychoir have arranged a very cool place for us to stay, as well as a concert and an outdoor service.

More later…

The bus will be here in about 2 hours, so just a quick update.

I could not have wished for more for the boys this week. Many thanks to Peter Robb, Artistic Director and Founder of picfest – so glad to be part of the fulfillment of your dream of an all boy picfest! Our deepest appreciation to Maestro Malvar-Ruiz both for the depth of his dedication to the boys’ voice and for his thoughtful, light-hearted, inspiring instruction. Looking forward to seeing you back in the Mid-Atlantic! And three cheers for the terrific boychoirs we sang with, from the youngest boys from the Bay Area’s Ragazzi Boys Chorus and Calgary Boys’ Choir to the Boychoir of Ann Arbor, with their small but mighty TTBB section and the largest group, Florida’s Singing Sons Boychoir who could match KSB in post-concert energy, which is saying something.

We are all brothers now!

Everyone made great friends while singing with the other choirs, both the formal rehearsals and the non-stop singing everywhere else. I am sure that boys will see each other again, starting with Patrick, who found out that one of the Ann Arbor boys will be in his Freshman class at University of Michigan, studying vocal performance as well!

As for today, the boys could not stop singing.

Final rehearsal this morning, then off to Eugene’s Saturday Market, where KSB held an impromptu South African jam to promote tonight’s concert.

Of course, the concert, which was a perfect conclusion to all that the boys learned from the conductor, and from each other, and throughout the season at KSB. And congrats to Greg and Jimmy representing KSB as soloists!

After the concert, we shared a bus to dinner with most of Florida’s Singing Sons Boychoir’s tenors and basses, and sang back and forth, one of ours (Zikr), one of theirs (a Sea shanty) one of ours (Jai Ho) one of theirs (a Christmas piece) to which we answered with a falsetto Hodea from Ceremony of Carols and then one they all knew, Circle of Life from Lion King. After dinner, we shared a bus back to the dorm with Boychoir of Ann Arbor, with lots of shared rep – Hello Mary Lou, Prayer of the Children, and Brothers Sing On.

And one final song — an old KSB favorite, Hold Me Rock Me, back at the dorm, as the guys took their pins off, pinned them to their ties, and handed in their jackets for the season, with tears and hugs for our four seniors, Jimmy, Thomas, Patrick and Theo.

As always, thank you for entrusting your sons to us, and in case you don’t always see it at home, every single boy is everything you would want him to be when he is with us: helpful, respectful, friendly, disciplined, and fully engaged in what we are offering at KSB. I love traveling with all of them – and our three resilient and resourceful chaps as well! Can’t thank Pete Davis, Bob LePera and Bill Hoyt enough for their good natured patience in keeping this little army on the move this week!

They are all a great group of guys – or as you might say at the University of Oregon, a great group of ducks!

See you at the airport!

In the timelessness of the tour bubble – it just occurred to us that it’s Friday, and there’s only one more day!

Last night, all the choirs gathered again, joined by a local men’s choir, the Eugene Gleemen, this time for a chance to watch Fernando work with each choir on one piece in their repertoire. With members into their 80s, Eugene Gleemen, were just back from TOUR. Think about it. “Choirboys” going on tour into their 70s and 80s!

Once again, KSB brought their A game, as the Chamber Choir guys sang D’Animals. Fernando ended his session with them noting that we’re neighbors, and that he looks forward to seeing us at home, for which he and I laid the groundwork.

As for today’s music making, instruction has been turned over to Male Ensemble Northwest , a vocal ensemble made up of music educators/choral conductors committed to encouraging male singers in schools throughout the region. The grads are wrapping up an energetic session with the ensemble – imagine two hours with a dozen Mr Fisher’s leading a tag-team rehearsal, with a most kinesthetic approach to vocal instruction. The room is exploding with teenage boy choral energy! The trebles are up next, with a tutti rehearsal tonight.

For fun today, we went to a local pharmacy called Hirons. Ask your son about it when we gets home!

University of Oregon’s Hayward Field is hallowed ground, where Nike was invented, and where the US Olympic Track and Field Trials are held. It’s only open to the public from 6:00 – 9:00am, but that didn’t deter our two runners, John and Jaleel who went for run before breakfast.

Looking forward to our final day, and to the concert tomorrow night! 

Not much to say about the concert other than it was TERRIFIC! with praises from all for KSB’s performance. And really, it was an honor to share the stage with the other boychoirs, some SATB, some just treble, but all doing what we do – making excellent music with a great group of boys.

Imagine the post-concert reception: You know that thing that happens when our boys can’t stop singing after a concert is over? Lobby of the Kimmel Center after the Jerusalem Youth Chorus concert comes to mind…

Now multiply that by five boychoirs, and you’re there. South African, improvised, Festival rep — you name it!  This is the first all BOY PICfest, so the post-concert Jam seemed like a novel experience for the organizers, who had dreamed of this night for a long time. For the directors of the boychoirs, especially those of us with changed voice boys, a “welcome to our world” moment.

The tenors and basses from KSB, Florida’s Singing Sons and Boychoir of Ann Arbor can’t get enough of singing together, so when Fernando announced that the tenors and basses would be released after the mid morning break, they all headed to a lounge with a piano and kept singing together for the rest of the morning. By the way, when we saw each other perform last night, we all realized that we sang with the Boychoir from Ann Arbor at the Baltimore Boychoir Festival last year.

It’s a free afternoon, so KSB and Florida Singing Sons headed to a park to play ultimate frisbee, or to keep the card game going, and now they’re off to go swimming. We’ll be back to the singing tonight. Everyone is healthy, happy and having a great time!! 

 

 

 

Here in Eugene, we see signs of the earliest settlers, from the Oregon Trail to the Eugene Pioneer Cemetery that we pass on the way to rehearsal. With the music staff back in Philadelphia, our singers are have struck out for new KSB territory.

The music making is under the baton of picfest conductor Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, but what about tonight’s sharing, where each choir presents a 20 minute set? In the spirit of pioneers, KSB will be blazing a new path – performing under the direction of one of their own, Jimmy Paolini!

Along with Thomas and Patrick Flynn, and with treble support from Calvin Wamser, Jimmy led two rehearsals we had for our own repertoire. As an educator, there’s nothing more satisfying than what I am witnessing. From every single boy – excellent musicianship evident everywhere, starting with Jimmy as he works with a new accompanist to rehearse each group. Focus. Self-discipline. Generosity. Encouragement, but holding each other to the high choral standards of KSB. The 9 trebles traveling with us are being coached by the Anonymous 8 boys, passing on what they have learned about small ensemble singing to their younger brothers. I have lost count of the ways that boys remind each other of what Fisher/Fitz/Hoenig/Sheridan say about breathing, diction, dynamics, performance, that tricky part where the coda is different and so on.

This is exactly what we strive for: excellent musicianship, leadership, collaboration, boys who have internalized thousands of hours of instruction, now making music their own. 

We rehearsed three pieces with Mr. Malvar-Ruiz this afternoon (each choir has their own 30 minute workshop with him) The boys impressed the Maestro with how well prepared they are, and he clearly enjoys, as he says, what any conductor would want for his choir, ownership of the music. This team of pioneers are on their way!

More after the concert tonight!

PS – Last night all of the picfest boys went to the Oregon Bach Festival for a concert. Andy Neale did a little research on the three pieces we were hearing and imparted that what he learned on the way to the concert. (Best factoid: Mozart wrote the symphony we heard — his 25th — when he was 17!)

KSB was treated to seats in the front four rows of the beautiful venue, so it was a good thing the boys had taken naps after dinner! The concert concluded with Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass (renamed Nelson Mass-dela by KSB), and then a CY reunion with Zerrin Martin, former conductor of PG Trouveres, who is singing with the Oregon Bach Festival choir!

…and we’ll get a serious picture one of these days! For now, they are having too much fun!

 

How can you tell?

Lanyards on, always with a tour buddy.

Jobs assigned, no technology in sight.

Old friendships deepening, new friendships forming.

Card game that was paused when we came home from the last trip has restarted

Smiling Chaperones

Life lessons learned — like what to do when you are waiting! 

Even a tiny tour moment – one of the suitcases full of garment bags is on its way back from ALASKA right now! Good thing we don’t need formal attire until Saturday. 

The boys made a strong first impression, and have had the highest praises from the PICFest Staff and from festival conductor Fernando Malvar-Ruiz even before the first rehearsal.

Why?

Because the boys were so totally SILENT when we moved into our dorm rooms at 2:00am — so much so that the other choirs thought we hadn’t arrived! Maestro Malvar-Ruiz said that their silence spoke volumes about the boys’ character. Well done, KSB.

We’ve had our rehearsal making great music together, this time with boys and young men from four other great choirs, and there were even Philly Cheesesteaks (Philly Beef Sandwiches?!) for lunch.

Hoping to make as good an impression with our music as we did with our silence!

What a week!

The Gala Concert last night was breathtaking! Still can’t stop thinking about their stellar performance. Most impressive was the Haydn “Laudate Pueri”which sounded pretty rough on Day 1 but was truly outstanding at the concert.

This morning we said our final goodbyes to any group still on campus. It was a little emotional since we’ve made such wonderful connections with these groups! I think we’ll all carry this experience close to our hearts for many years to come.

After a not at all chaotic check-out, we boarded the bus for a day-long trip up the coast and then into Portland.You may be thinking, “what’s the big deal about the coast? How different can it be from the Jersey shore?” Well, it’s a lot different- just ask your singer when you pick them up tomorrow!

The singers had a blast exploring Florence, Newport, and Lincoln City- all beautiful and unique coastal towns. It was the perfect way to end our time here in Oregon. Many singers expressed how much they enjoyed their time in Oregon and some were even talking about looking at college out here (Parents: if you’re worried about the distance, know that out-of-state tuition is around 16K! Maybe some extra incentive….)

Once back in Portland, we headed straight to the airport to catch our red-eye back to Philadelphia. We are tired but excited to go home and sleep in our own beds!

More photos may come later next month when we get them from PICFest and other groups in attendance, but this is our official last entry for #PICFest2015! This experience has been incredibly enriching and rewarding for our singers and we know they’ll be talking about it when they get back home!

Goodnight from Delta flight #503!