Day 12 - Folk Competition... Second Place!
This is it – competition day! We woke up bright and early (6:30 am – yikes!) to eat breakfast and prepare for this moment we’ve been working towards all year. Our group is spread across six floors of a university dormitory, with the kitchens all above each other, and we could hear the sounds of each group stretching, doing calisthenics, and doing vocal warmups to prepare for the big performance. This is the first of two competitions we are entered in, the children’s folk category, and we will compete in the senior children’s choir category tomorrow morning.
After a short bus ride, we arrived at the Eisteddfod grounds and walked to the nearby St John’s church for our warmup rehearsal. We spent an intense half hour correcting pronunciation on Sue’s beautiful arrangement of The Bells of Rhymney (after being coached on our Welsh town names by one of our hosts) and brightening up our stage presence on Eric’s arrangement of Johnson Boys. After walking back up the hill, we headed into a series of holding pens that served as the queue for the competitors. The kids were awed by the intensive media coverage – the entire event takes place in a massive pavilion and is broadcast by the BBC and Llangollen TV, with serious production values! While we were waiting, Bob, Sue, and Eric were asked a series of questions about stage placement and our songs so that the cameras (mounted on huge booms around the arena) could get the best shots.
The energy was electric as we stood backstage, listening to an amazing Filipino choir in elaborate national costume deliver a set of two folksongs. Finally, it was our turn! We headed out onto the stage under the glare of the lights to deliver our two numbers. The kids delivered a stunningly beautiful, heartrending performance of Sue’s arrangement of the Bells of Rhymney, complete with chaperone Shauna Revelli on the violin and handbells spread throughout the choir. We followed that up with a rousing perfomance of Eric’s arrangement of Johnson Boys, complete with country twang and playful choreography. Definitely our best performance so far this year!
You can check out the beautifully produced video of our competition performance on the Eisteddfod website: http://llangollen.tv/?lang=en (Click on choirs and then childrens folk and scroll down and look for it!)
After the competition, we lined up to participate in the media interviews – one in Welsh and one in English. One presenter spoke to Bob about our performance of Bells of Rhymney (they loved the Welsh connection), and then the kids crowded around a giant globe to shout, “We’re from San Francisco USA!” In the second interview, Abby Sanchez and Natalie Ung were asked about how they thought the competition had gone. The presenter also spoke to a tongue-tied Calin who just beamed at the camera adorably! It was interesting to see just how staged the media interviews actually are – we did the globe scene at least four times until it was perfect.
After a brief spell in the reception tent, it was back into the pavilion to hear the results! First, the Norwegian judge offered critiques of each choir. We were excited to hear her praise our healthy vocal production, beautiful tone, and stage presence – something previous adjudicators have flagged for improvement, and something we have worked very hard on this year. We were asked to work on our phrasing and dynamics for future performances. Then, the scores were read, but in the order of performance rather than ranking – way to heighten the tension. We were all on the edge of our seats as another member of the jury made his way through the list. We won second place, only 0.7 points behind the Cantabile Girls Choir from England, and the kids let out an exuberant cheer! A few points behind us was the Filipino choir that sang before us in the competition.
Bob headed up to the stage to accept the prize (and to slip the other winning conductors brochures for next summer’s Golden Gate Festival!). Then it was right out the door to the nearby Globe tent for a 20-minute performance, featuring favorites of our tour repertoire including Johnson Boys, Sireli, Wana Baraka, and the Latvian flax song. The media folks asked a South African choir who had also just competed to join us on stage for a picture, but it turned out that both groups knew the South African folksong Shosholoza. Abby S. started us off and all 70 singers burst into song, the South African choir in their colorful uniforms showing us the choreography! It was an amazing experience, and was captured in full by the ever-present TV cameras.
We let the kids loose for lunch on the festival grounds, where they enjoyed the diversity of the international food stands – Welsh beef, burritos, curry, falafel, and much more. Then we headed back down to the church for a rehearsal for tomorrow’s competition, in the senior children’s choir category. We spent time working on the phrasing and dynamics for Sireli (with the judge’s comments in our mind) and touching up some tricky parts of Magic Strings.
After rehearsal the kids spent a quick half hour exploring the scenic town of Llangollen, which is perched beautifully above the rushing rapids of the River Dee. Then it was off to dinner near our dorms – the boys loved the opportunity to dig into some racks of BBQ ribs! – and then another early bedtime. We’ll be waking up early again tomorrow morning for another high-intensity day of competition and performances.
It was such a special experience to rank so highly in the folk competition. Although we’ve done well in folk competitions before, to place second amongst such an array of outstanding ensembles with amazing national traditions – from the Philippines, South Africa, Estonia, Wales, and England – was a great honor. And, the performance illustrated the deep bonds of our choir family, with both pieces arranged by PEBCC composers and with our alum and longtime chaperone Shauna accompanying us on the violin. Looking forward to another early start tomorrow, and another exciting day!
Click through the slideshow below to view some highlights from today:
