Sorry for the blog silence everyone!
The hotel in Tours had intermittent internet access at best, and it could really only be guaranteed by having a European cell phone. Needless to say, I decided to wait until I had a more stable connection before attempting to update the blog.
Day 8: Arrival in Tours
Spiritus arrived in Tours last Friday afternoon after five hours of travel from Dijon. Incidentally, it was the only day of the trip that we had rain. We arrived in the early afternoon ready to sing in both of our categories for the Florilège Vocal de Tours competition. Our guides for the competition were two local students: Mary and Anne, who would work with our own courier Marianne (really, I can't make any of that stuff up).
Category IV - Expression Libre
Spiritus began its Florilège experience late Friday afternoon with its repertoire for Category IV. This repertoire included the commissioned Quiet by Calgary composer Allan Bevan, Sunset from the Stephen Chatman suite of Due West, and the traditional French-Canadian folk song Alouette, as arranged by Robert Sund. I think it's fair to say that after five hours on a bus, combined with the nerves of this being Spiritus' debut at international competition and a relatively flat venue, we admittedly did not sing our best, but it was a great way to get started.
Category I - Chœurs Mixtes
There wasn't much time to rest to dwell on our Category IV performance: Category I came calling almost immediately after we finished our previous repertoire, and we still had to get to the Grand Theatre in downtown Tours! Thankfully, we were already dressed for the competition and were already warmed up. This repertoire consisted of Weinachten by Mendelssohn, the double-choir performance of Ave Maria by Victoria, and the haunting My Prayer by Bob Chilcott. This time around, Spiritus came ready to sing. In the words of Artistic Director Timothy Shantz, "that sounded a lot more like Spiritus".
Results from Day One of competition
That night, much of the choir found itself at a local Chinese buffet to await the results of the competition. A few glasses of blue Kir and a few plates of deep-fried Chinese goodness later, we received word that while we had not advanced to the Finals for Category IV, we did advance in Category I. That meant we couldn't have a late night, and we'd have to prepare another three songs.
Day 9: Renaissance Competition
Day two of competition began with Spiritus competing in the Renaissance competition. The venue for this competition was a picturesque former monastery on the outskirts of Tours situated in the midst of a The Renaissance group competed of eight singers: Krishan Power and Aaron Bartholomew on bass, Oliver Munar and Ben Kim on tenor, Boyd Hansen and Timothy Shantz as countertenors, and Katy Warke and Julie Crouch on soprano. The eight began the competition by singing the Ave Maria by Victoria that had previously been sung by the full chorus the day before. The octet was then pared down to a quintet (Julie, Boyd, Tim, Oliver and Krishan) for an additional two songs: Plaine de DeuilTriste Départ by Nicolas Gombert. The octet would then be restored for a performance of Dans le serain de sa jumelle flamme by Anthoine de Bertrand. It was a nice way to end the performance because Bertrand is buried at that monastery. Dennis Voth was nice enough to record the competition so I'll work on getting something posted, with some pictures from Tours.
Category I - Chœurs Mixtes, Day Two of competition
After the high from the Renaissance competition, it was time to prepare for the Final round for Category I. The repertoire would include The Fountain by Edward Elgar, the bold and brassy Benedictus from Giles Swayne's Missa Tiburtina, and the bell-tones of the Epithalame from Daniel-Lesur's Cantiques des Cantiques (which, incidentally, was recorded in Dijon at Eglise Saint-Symphorien and made into a video that has been posted to YouTube). Spiritus joined three other choirs in the Final round: the University of Maryland Chamber Singers, the University of Houston Concert Chorale and the Parahyangan Catholic University Choir from Indonesia. Spiritus definitely went for its performance and came away rather satisfied. However, later that afternoon, we found out that the adjudicators chose the University of Maryland Chamber Singers to represent the category in the final Grand Prix round of the competition, putting an end to Spiritus' competition. With that known, Spiritus enjoyed a rather spirited gathering in a parking lot adjacent to our hotel to celebrate the experience of our first international trip, which culminated in our first international competition at which we advanced to the final round of our category.
Day 10: Results from Tours
Sunday morning and afternoon were free for us to tour around Tours. But that evening, we returned to the Grand Theatre in downtown Tours for the results of the competition. Spiritus won second prize in Category I (behind the University of Maryland and tied with the University of Houston). We also won the French Ministry of Culture award for the whole competition, with special commendation for our performance of Daniel-Lesur's Epithalame. Congratulations to everyone for their hard work and dedication for this trip and competition!
For those who are curious, the Grand Prize winner of the whole competition was Harmonia Ensemble from Tokyo, Japan. Amazing group, in my humble opinion.
Farewell to Tours
After the announcement of the prizes, all the choirs congregated at the Place de la Résistance to each perform a few numbers for the families gathered there. Spiritus sang Train from Stephan Chatman's suite Due West and the French-Canadian standard Alouette, arranged by Robert Sund.
The day culminated in a mass choir singing Beethoven's Ode to Joy not once but twice, accompanied by a brass band. We then made our way to City Hall for a reception that featured a combined performance of Leonardo Dreams of this Flying Machine by Eric Whitacre with Spiritus and the University of Houston Concert Chorale, which both groups had prepared for the Grand Prix round. Before I left the hall, I also heard performances from the University of Maryland and the Parahyangan Catholic University Choir.
I'll have a final entry for this blog before shutting it down. It will feature our detour to the castle Chenonceau on the way back to Paris where the majority of the choir will enjoy a last night in France with the choir.
A la prochaine!
The hotel in Tours had intermittent internet access at best, and it could really only be guaranteed by having a European cell phone. Needless to say, I decided to wait until I had a more stable connection before attempting to update the blog.
Day 8: Arrival in Tours
Spiritus arrived in Tours last Friday afternoon after five hours of travel from Dijon. Incidentally, it was the only day of the trip that we had rain. We arrived in the early afternoon ready to sing in both of our categories for the Florilège Vocal de Tours competition. Our guides for the competition were two local students: Mary and Anne, who would work with our own courier Marianne (really, I can't make any of that stuff up).
Category IV - Expression Libre
Spiritus began its Florilège experience late Friday afternoon with its repertoire for Category IV. This repertoire included the commissioned Quiet by Calgary composer Allan Bevan, Sunset from the Stephen Chatman suite of Due West, and the traditional French-Canadian folk song Alouette, as arranged by Robert Sund. I think it's fair to say that after five hours on a bus, combined with the nerves of this being Spiritus' debut at international competition and a relatively flat venue, we admittedly did not sing our best, but it was a great way to get started.
Category I - Chœurs Mixtes
There wasn't much time to rest to dwell on our Category IV performance: Category I came calling almost immediately after we finished our previous repertoire, and we still had to get to the Grand Theatre in downtown Tours! Thankfully, we were already dressed for the competition and were already warmed up. This repertoire consisted of Weinachten by Mendelssohn, the double-choir performance of Ave Maria by Victoria, and the haunting My Prayer by Bob Chilcott. This time around, Spiritus came ready to sing. In the words of Artistic Director Timothy Shantz, "that sounded a lot more like Spiritus".
Results from Day One of competition
That night, much of the choir found itself at a local Chinese buffet to await the results of the competition. A few glasses of blue Kir and a few plates of deep-fried Chinese goodness later, we received word that while we had not advanced to the Finals for Category IV, we did advance in Category I. That meant we couldn't have a late night, and we'd have to prepare another three songs.
Day 9: Renaissance Competition
Day two of competition began with Spiritus competing in the Renaissance competition. The venue for this competition was a picturesque former monastery on the outskirts of Tours situated in the midst of a The Renaissance group competed of eight singers: Krishan Power and Aaron Bartholomew on bass, Oliver Munar and Ben Kim on tenor, Boyd Hansen and Timothy Shantz as countertenors, and Katy Warke and Julie Crouch on soprano. The eight began the competition by singing the Ave Maria by Victoria that had previously been sung by the full chorus the day before. The octet was then pared down to a quintet (Julie, Boyd, Tim, Oliver and Krishan) for an additional two songs: Plaine de DeuilTriste Départ by Nicolas Gombert. The octet would then be restored for a performance of Dans le serain de sa jumelle flamme by Anthoine de Bertrand. It was a nice way to end the performance because Bertrand is buried at that monastery. Dennis Voth was nice enough to record the competition so I'll work on getting something posted, with some pictures from Tours.
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| The remains of an archway at a rather picturesque former monastery: the site of the Renaissance competition |
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| Spiritus' Renaissance octet (L-R: Julie, Boyd, Ben, Katy, Tim, Oliver, Aaron, Krishan) |
Category I - Chœurs Mixtes, Day Two of competition
After the high from the Renaissance competition, it was time to prepare for the Final round for Category I. The repertoire would include The Fountain by Edward Elgar, the bold and brassy Benedictus from Giles Swayne's Missa Tiburtina, and the bell-tones of the Epithalame from Daniel-Lesur's Cantiques des Cantiques (which, incidentally, was recorded in Dijon at Eglise Saint-Symphorien and made into a video that has been posted to YouTube). Spiritus joined three other choirs in the Final round: the University of Maryland Chamber Singers, the University of Houston Concert Chorale and the Parahyangan Catholic University Choir from Indonesia. Spiritus definitely went for its performance and came away rather satisfied. However, later that afternoon, we found out that the adjudicators chose the University of Maryland Chamber Singers to represent the category in the final Grand Prix round of the competition, putting an end to Spiritus' competition. With that known, Spiritus enjoyed a rather spirited gathering in a parking lot adjacent to our hotel to celebrate the experience of our first international trip, which culminated in our first international competition at which we advanced to the final round of our category.
Day 10: Results from Tours
Sunday morning and afternoon were free for us to tour around Tours. But that evening, we returned to the Grand Theatre in downtown Tours for the results of the competition. Spiritus won second prize in Category I (behind the University of Maryland and tied with the University of Houston). We also won the French Ministry of Culture award for the whole competition, with special commendation for our performance of Daniel-Lesur's Epithalame. Congratulations to everyone for their hard work and dedication for this trip and competition!
For those who are curious, the Grand Prize winner of the whole competition was Harmonia Ensemble from Tokyo, Japan. Amazing group, in my humble opinion.
Farewell to Tours
After the announcement of the prizes, all the choirs congregated at the Place de la Résistance to each perform a few numbers for the families gathered there. Spiritus sang Train from Stephan Chatman's suite Due West and the French-Canadian standard Alouette, arranged by Robert Sund.
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| Spiritus' "cultural costume" |
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| Marian Zekulin enjoys some high-calibre choral performances at the Place de la Rèsistance in downtown Tours |
I'll have a final entry for this blog before shutting it down. It will feature our detour to the castle Chenonceau on the way back to Paris where the majority of the choir will enjoy a last night in France with the choir.
A la prochaine!
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