Keystone State Boychoir

Another short post today. We have an early morning departure and we all need the extra sleep! More to come this evening!

The giddiness ensues on our final day at PICFest.

We were all giddy today when we realized that we had had our final rehearsal the night before and all that was left before our evening concert was a short church performance and some free time!

The singers did a wonderful job at the church service the morning. The parishioners were thrilled to have them there and were so complimentary on their performance and their behavior.

Reese sings the “I am His Child” solo!

After lunch we had some free time to head to the U of O bookstore which doesn’t sell books so much as it sells U of O gear. I won’t give too much away, but I think our parents can expect some yellow and green gifts in the near future…

Mr. Conlon’s chap group.

Too cool for school (bus).

Following our shopping escapades, we went back to our dorms to change into formal attire and relax for a bit before a light dinner and our concert.

The PICFest Choir!

The Gala concert was fabulous! Everyone was dressed in their formal attire and we all looked great standing on the risers together! They also sounded good. It sounded like several months of rehearsal went into those pieces as opposed to the actual several days we spent!

Boys waiting for the bus to pizza.

Pizza was next on the agenda! We all headed to a pizza joint on the river for way too much pizza and dessert.

And then came our goodbyes! The hardest part of all was saying goodbye to all the friends we’ve made here, especially our friends from the Philippines. We’ll all stay in touch be we very much hope we’ll be meeting them again someday (Did you get that, Mr. Fisher????).

The prompt was “extreme enthusiasm.”

Tonight we packed up and have are ready to head out bright and early tomorrow morning for our day trip to the coast then on to the Portland airport to fly home.

More details about our Gala Concert tomorrow plus the coast!

Just a short post today- long day today and another one tomorrow.

We can’t believe that PICFest is almost over! Fitz and I had to really think about what day of the week it was and when we realized today was Saturday we couldn’t believe it. Good thing we have our tour journals to keep us on track!

Rushing to the concert- can’t miss it!

Watching Hail Mary the Queen perform.

We had 2 very productive rehearsals today, our evening one with the instrumentalists. The sound coming from that rehearsal room is stunning! It’s phenomenal how much you can achieve with these guys in just a few days. At the end of our final rehearsal together, Dr. Snow pronounced, “You’re ready.” Encouraging words indeed!

We love our new friends from the Philippines!

After lunch we rushed to make a concert featuring the Hail Mary the Queen Children’s Choir at the Hult Center and the hurry to get there was absolutely worth it. These kids are so talented and their director, Theresa, is incredibly kind and wonderful with her singers. We asked if they would ever be interested in visiting the east coast and we were met with an enthusiastic “YES!” (Did you get that, Mr. Fisher??)

A very fitting hat 🙂

Following the short concert, we walked to the Saturday Market, a fascinating flea market with handmade trinkets and gifts, live music, and dancing hippies! What an entertaining afternoon for our singers!

Taking the city bus into town- like NYC subways but everyone is MUCH nicer.

Back to campus we went for dinner and our final rehearsal and then an ice cream social!

Tomorrow is our big Gala Concert! We can’t wait- wish you could all be here to enjoy the fruit of this fun and intensive week of music-making!

College cafeteria breakfast was almost as good as dinner except no ice cream bars this time 🙂

This morning we met Dr. Sandra Snow, our conductor for the week! This singers enjoyed working with her, commenting that her enthusiasm was infectious. The mass choir sounds great, too! We have our first performance all together tomorrow evening- looking forward to that especially after tonight’s song sharing.

We spent a lot of our day in various rehearsals- some with Dr. Snow and some with just our gang and Fitz. It was a long day, but everyone was a trooper and the grand finale of the day made it all worthwhile…

After dinner, each choir here at PICFest (there are 5!), performed a short solo set of our own repertoire. Since our PICFest choir is comprised of singers from several different groups, the kids were a little nervous since we’ve only had a few days of rehearsal time leading up to this evening. However, it would be an understatement to say that they knocked it out of the park.

Sitting in the front row, I didn’t realize what was happening behind me as they performed “I Need You to Survive,” but when a chaperone motioned for me to look, I saw that the whole house was on their feet, singing and clapping along with unprecedented gusto! What a thrill of our singers to have the experience of a giving a performance so rousing that everyone was compelled to jump to their feet!

Working and being around these choirs so much, you understand that they are talented, but sometimes you start to take that for granted. Tonight was a nice reminder to myself and our parent chaperones just how awesome our singers are. Definitely an unforgettable moment for us as the adults as well as for our singers!

There are several excellent choirs here at PICFest, but a standout for many reasons is the Hail Mary the Queen Childrens Choir from the Philippines! They closed tonight’s sharing with some absolutely stunning pieces as well as the crowd favorite “One Thing,” made famous by boy band One Direction. If you have the chance to look them up, you should! One of the most professional, kind and welcoming choirs I have ever met and great performers, too!

Tomorrow we sing a mini concert with the PICFest mass choir preceding Haydn’s “Creation” at the Hult Center. Time for all of us to get some rest! More to come tomorrow!      

Bleary eyed and excited, members of Pennsylvania Girlchoir and Keystone State Boychoir filtered into the Philadelphia International Airport at the unrighteous hour of 5:45 am to depart for our long-awaited tour to PICFest 2015.

PICFest, or the Pacific International Choral Festival, is an 18 year-old tradition in the small city of Eugene, Oregon. Drawing from childrens choirs not only all over the US, but all over the world, PICFest has established itself as one of the most prominent choir festivals in the country. This is not the first time PICFest and Commonwealth Youthchoirs have met! The Motet Choir of the Pennsylvania Girlchoir attended PICFest in 2006!

After a bumpy start (Terminal E, NOT D- sorry!), we quickly proceeded through security and on to our gate. After some breakfast snacks, we boarded and the waited on the tarmac for another hour! However, our stoic singers took advantage of this waiting opportunity to catch up on some sleep. I think all of us, singer and chaperones, were glad for that.

A quick 2.5 hours later and we found ourselves in Minneapolis for roughly 30 minutes before boarding our final flight to Portland.

One more trip on a coach bus and we finally arrived in Eugene. We are astounded at how beautiful Oregon is. Everything is so green and lush! The weather here is equally stunning- warm and sunny but 0% humidity! Take that, Philly!

A quick luggage drop off in our rooms at the University of Oregon, orientation, and then, the most anticipated moment of the day: Dinner.

For those of our singers who have never eaten in a college cafeteria before, this was a real treat. The options were abundant and all quite tasty. Not one singer should be able to return home and say they didn’t eat enough because I think most of our singers ate enough tonight to last them the entire week. Oh, and we had ice cream bars for dessert- need I say more?

We then spend some time on the lawn watching some college kids play volleyball and just chatting with each other before heading into our last event of the night, the welcome ceremony.

After the welcome ceremony with PICFest artistic director, Peter Robb, we headed in for the night, totally exhausted from our 22 hour day. Nighttime showers and bedtime rituals ensued and it wasn’t long before the faint pillow talk faded into silence.

One last note, if you weren’t already aware, we are setting Commonwealth Youthchoirs history as the very first combined PG/KSB tour! So far, so good!

We are so psyched for our day with conductor Sandra Snow tomorrow- time for all of us (yes, even Kelly) to get some sleep! More updates and photos to follow tomorrow night! Goodnight from the Pacific Northwest!   

It is set! On Christmas Eve 2015 the Keystone State Boychoir will make its triumphant return to Antarctica. KSB made history in 2009 as the first choir in history to travel to and perform in Antarctica. The boys sang at the Chilean Christmas Party with several other countries’ scientists and their families in attendance. It was a surreal experience for all. On our return trip, we will bring a harp and harpist along and perform Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols. This will be another historic first – serious music in Antarctica. Below are a few photo highlights of our first trip, but none of the boys pelting me with snowballs. Uncool! No, very cool. (Get it. “Cool.” As in Antarctica is cold “cool.”)

Then you will love Isla Magdalena. This is a little island a few hours from Punta Arenas, only accessible by boat. The island is inhabited by a colony of penguins. The boys will be able to observe them up close, much like they did the kangaroos in Australia.  Way cool.

Penguins are cool. And so is KSB. And that’s why KSB should visit Isla Magdalena

Three fingers tall. This penguin is obviously a singer.

Penguins, penguins and more penguins…

Feet 6 inches apart! Not 7! 6!

One of Chile’s Natural Wonders of the World, the “Gateway to Antofagasta” is something like 35 million years old. I feel a little younger now – but just a little. This is one of the many amazing sites KSB will take in during its tour of the Northern Chile.  No boys, we can’t climb it. (I already asked 😉

Portada (“Gateway”) de Antofagasta

I hadn’t been on the ground more than an hour and a major earthquake tremor was felt in the Chilean city of Antofagasta and throughout northern Chile, Peru and Bolivia. Locals I met with in planning our concert tour feel quite strongly that I had caused it. I take this as a great compliment!

Indeed musical tremors are being felt in this desert city as I and various cultural entities explore the possibility of a major collaboration with KSB, the choir of the Catholic University of the North and the Orchestra of Antofagsta. We are envisioning a Christmas Concert as a gift to the city at a breathtaking outdoor venue that has the Huanchaca ruins of an old silver mine as the backdrop. Stunning!

Ruins of old silver refinery in Antofagasta

….but the weather and the people are both so warm that it doesn’t matter much now! There are many places in the world to which I love to travel but not many where I feel like I’m home. Chile is one of them. Many wonderful memories of our first concert tour have been flooding back – makes me really psyched to think about KSB returning next December.  

Volcano in Frutillar where KSB will perform

Last time, the boys never saw the breathtaking volcano in Frutillar, my first stop in my tour planning journey. Of course there it was today, in all its glory. I will NOT accept clouds covering this volcano on the second KSB concert tour. I will climb up the volcano and wave the clouds away myself. Otherwise NO one will believe me when I say there is a gigantic volcano right in front of us.

Machu Picchu – KSB’s next venue!

Heading abroad tonight to plan KSB’s triumphant return to Chile and Antarctica!  This time around, we’ll also hit Peru where we’ll sing at one of the 7 wonders of the worlds:  Machu Picchu!  Why don’t you come along? Check in daily!