Day 6 - Concerts in Maribor
Monday June 22 - First full day in Slovenia
We had a later start to our day today which was nice. The kids met us at the Union Hall, which was to be our hall for this evening's performance, at 10:00 for a rehearsal, both Ensemble and Carmina Slovenica combined, as well as our own. Following our rehearsal, we went to a little square where we gave a brief outdoor performance. The kids sounded great and were energized and happy.
Following the concert, we went to the Carmina Slovenica office where they had a nice display of the choir's past visit and Project Attacca back in 2007. There were photo and video archives that many of the kids liked checking out.
They then were let free to go explore downtown Maribor with their host families, eat ice cream, go shopping, and check out the big Euro Park mall that was across the river. Some kids came back with some fun stories of their adventures. Austin, Michael, Ko, and Lucy went on a cool mountain ski life then self controlled roller coaster type contraction. Others got several scoops of gelato, and then Marisa and I saw Rachel, Emi, Genevieve, Emily G., Mia and Carmen doing some shopping at the mall. Genevieve was really excited about the "European" style shirts that she found and bought a few!!
We had a dress rehearsal call time at 6:00 where Bob spent some time warming up the kids before the show which started at 7:30. We sang our set of about 9 pieces, and following our set, two of the younger choirs from Carmina Slovenica performed and then Karmina's group, Koncertni, performed. We finished the concert with four joint pieces, Igraj kolce, Sambalele, I'm Goin' up a Yonder, and Praise His Holy Name! The kids left the walls ringing with powerful song, and the concert, although quite long and late, was very well received.
The host parents took our singers out to dinner or home for the rest of the evening, to hopefully celebrate a very fun and successful two concerts today! Off to get some rest, to prepare for tomorrow, which might include a little rain in the forecast! Fingers crossed for a nice, dry, outside day full of festivities, sightseeing, and singing!
Click through the slideshow below to view some highlights from today:
