Day 8 - Goodbye Slovenia, Hello Italy
Wednesday June 24 - bus ride to Bruneck, Italy
With a fairly early morning arrival, we said our goodbyes and gave hugs to Carmina Slovenica, sang Homeward Bound, and were off on the bus. We had a great few performances with Carmina Slovenica, and those homestays that were able to come take us to the bus this morning, gave our kids big hugs, and waved through tears goodbye.
We were off to Bruneck, a very tiny town in the Italian Alps, so close to the German border that the signs are written in both Italian and German. This very cute ski town is all you would imagine a quaint little Italian ski town to be. Our hotel is beautifully decorated with planter boxes on the individual rooms balconies, and looking out one side of the hotel, you are right at the foot of the Alps.
The kids enjoyed a fun afternoon of a few hours, unloading their bags, swimming in the freezing cold pool, and just "hangen out."
We had our first traditional, multi course Italian meal, consisting of lasagna for appetizers, salad, pork cutlet with rice and carrots, and then some vanilla ice cream. This huge dinner was hurried, as we had to get to the Gustav Mahler Concert Hall for the opening concert of the festival. We are one of four choirs that were asked to perform tonight, along with Coro Maschile San Martino Valle de Casies (male choir of Italy), Poliot Choir (treble voices of Russia), and Cantando@Bloem (mixed choir from South Africa). Everyone sounded really great! The kids had so much power and energy behind all 5 of their pieces. Their first piece, Eatnemen Vuelie, had everyone on the edge of their seats. The audience was a bit confused with the two contemporary pieces, Hubble and Ticking Time, and there was some chatter throughout the audience because they are not your "traditional" type pieces. When I mentioned this to Bob, he said, "Good! We did our job!!" While waiting for our bus to head back to the hotel, a member of the Icelandic choir came up and was quite complimentary, saying that our kids are making their choir's visit, worth the trip! They were very impressed! Quite an honor to be one of 70 choirs to be asked to perform at the opening concert!
Click through the slideshow below to view some highlights from today:
