Day 13 - Senior Children's Choir Competition... Second Place!
Another very full day of competition and hard work! We woke up at 7:00 am (an extra half hour of sleeping in compared to yesterday!) and ate another hearty breakfast, complete with calisthenics and vocal warmups. Special thanks to the chaperones who cooked scrambled eggs to make sure everyone got their protein! Soon we were back on the bus headed through the scenic Welsh countryside back to Llangollen, the air buzzing with arpeggios and lip trills.
We warmed up in the historic St Collen’s church, a 13th-century building with a remarkable carved wooden roof dating back to 1450. Bob worked on some phrasing details in Sireli, improving our breath support for a beautiful soft tone, and we finessed some of the trickier passages in Magic Strings. Then it was back onto the coach for the short drive across town to the Eisteddfod grounds. This time, the routine was familiar: the few minutes in a locker room holding pen, the pre-competition energy building, and the nerve-wracking experience of hearing the two choirs before us.
Finally, it was our turn! The singers walked out under the bright lights onto the massive pavilion stage, cleared of risers so that we could do our Magic Strings choreography, while Sue and Eric quickly prepared the piano. They delivered an exquisite rendition of Sireli, complete with beautiful phrasing and magical hushed dynamics. Next up was Magic Strings – hands down the best performance this choir has ever done of this piece, over the two decades that it has been in our repertoire. The musical detail was flawless (even “drops,” for you choir alumni out there!), the choreography vivid, and every singer completely committed. We walked off stage knowing that we had delivered our absolute best as a choir, and brought Ensemble to one of the strongest performances in its history.
You can watch the competition performance from today on the Llangollen.tv website: http://llangollen.tv/choirs/?lang=en Select the category “Senior Children’s Choirs,” and you’ll find our video.
After walking off stage, we went through another round of media interviews, in both Welsh and English. Abby S. spoke eloquently about our choir’s history with Magic Strings, and we made the obligatory goblin noises for the camera! After a brief spell watching the barbershop competition and a break in the competitors’ tent, it was time for the nail-biting experience of watching the rest of our competitors in the senior children’s choir category. We admired the performances of ensembles from England, Wales, South Africa, the Philippines, and the USA, and noting the wide variety in repertoire choice, vocal production, and choral style.
Our lunch break offered another opportunity to explore the diverse food and shopping offerings on the festival grounds. Then, it was back into the pavilion tent for the adjudication. This time, David Hamilton – a well-known composer and conductor from New Zealand – took the stage to deliver the comments and rankings. He singled out Piedmont for special praise in the comments section, saying that we had offered a “stunning performance” of Magic Strings, and that Erica’s choreography had worked very well on top of a strong musical performance. Our score this time was 91 points – a strong improvement over yesterday – but second place to the 93 points of a high school male chorus from Shanghai, which took the first prize in the category. Another four points behind us was the children’s choir from the Philippines, who took third place. Although the kids were a bit disappointed, we are very proud of our performance this morning, and pleased that the adjudicators recognized the extraordinary musicianship and commitment that went into Magic Strings.
After the adjudication, we headed back to our dorms in Wrexham for a brief nap, and then back to the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet from a few days ago for another feast! The kids were excited at the chance to have another delicious and filling meal (don’t worry, parents, we restricted the number of desserts!). Then we headed back to the Eisteddfod grounds once more to participate in the flag ceremony and hear the evening concert. Choir officers Lucy Dunn and Owen Klein joined the procession of flagbearers to the stage to the accompaniment of one of the famous Welsh male-voice choirs, carrying the Stars and Stripes proudly behind Estonia, India, and South Africa and in front of Zimbabwe. We heard another Welsh male chorus and the first competitor in the solo young artist competition – a wonderful tenor who sang Stravinsky and Strauss – before boarding the bus back to the dorms.
We should take this chance to recognize our amazing bus driver here at the Eisteddfod, Gary, who has been incredibly supportive and has really become a member of the choir family! He has driven us everywhere from Lichfield to Llangollen, lived with us in the dorms, joked with the singers and chaperones, made us restaurant reservations, and come to our concerts and competitions! A thespian who just starred in Guys and Dolls and a cathedral bell ringer in his spare time, Gary greeted all 50 kids and chaperones BY NAME as they boarded the bus tonight (yes, he has already learned them all!) and then serenaded us with a song from Guys and Dolls as we waited to pull out of the parking lot. THANK YOU GARY!!!
The kids had some free time tonight to relax and hang out with each other before going to bed. The chaperones pulled out their computers so that we could watch the competition videos together – the kids loved seeing how committed and passionate they were on stage (check out the close ups of Mia A., Kyle M., Nuala G., and Emily S. in the Magic Strings video!). Tomorrow we’ll be singing one more short performance on the main pavilion stage, making some time to hear the Chinese high school choir and Indonesian university choir, and then participating in the famous parade through the town of Llangollen. To bed – wake up tomorrow isn’t until 7:45!
Click through the slideshow below to view some highlights from today:
