TravelStream™ news feed for member tlloyd on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/tlloyd en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:34:43 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/2/1247455026/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/2/1247455026/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/2/1247455026/tpod.html Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:34:43 -0400 BCCS - Singing City 2009 Tour to Brazil

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Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Having a full day and a half after our last performance gave us a little chance to just enjoy the city, the beaches, the historical sights, the food! Most of us played the role of tourist in the morning, taking the special train that climbs up to the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue at the top of Mount Corcovado. The ride through the rain forest on the way up was only surpassed by the wonder of this massive and imposing structure, benignly overlooking the city and its harbors, lakes, and beaches.

Then we also visited the national Cathedral - a massive and modernist design that proved awe-inspired even to those who prefered traditional cathedrals. We finished the morning (divided into separate, smaller groups) taking a brief but intensive course in African drumming of the Maracatu style taught by four eager young students of stye. African shakers and bells were combined with European-style field drums, reflecting the amalgamation of two very different influences on the music.

The traditional "farewell dinner" that night was another sumptuous barbeque, this time with a sushi bar included. The dinner finished off with three rousing musical send-offs to our three extremely engaging and professional guides, followed by a rousing tongue-in-cheek comeback to Jeff Brillhart's mid-week admonition to avoid drinking before a concert ("185 millian Brazilians can't be wrong, and they manage many more complex rhythms than we can even attempt!").

On the busride back to the hotel, one bus, at the suggestion of guide Gentile, once a "blues" musician himself, we stopped by Rio's equivalent of Philly's South Street - a several block area overflowing with young people going in and out to hear the best samba and popular bands of the day. Their youth and the midnight start time of the performances were too much for us older hands to give into, but it was an interesting departure from the more "high class" night life of the Ipanema neighbor hood where we stayed.

The next day left plenty of time to walk the beach or fit in last-minute shopping before leaving to catch our plane. But many of us longed for yet one more day to just put up our heels and relax at least one more day before our rude return to the "real world" ahead of us. We all felt very fortunate that so much on this tour went so well - the music, the collaborations, the food, the schedule, the audiences - we have much to be thankful for! - TL


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/2/1247452783/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/2/1247452783/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/2/1247452783/tpod.html Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:58:48 -0400 BCCS - Singing City 2009 Tour to Brazil

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Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This morning was the occasion for our second community-service oriented visit, as quiet capably arranged by ACFEA. These are opportunities to make a connection with people who normally who would not be able to attend our tour concerts, but who can inspire us with their love of music and creativity in the midst of tremendous economic obstacles.

This time we visited a special academic, arts, and sports program in the middle of one of Rio's largest slums, the Vila da Olimpica da Mare. After a brief tour we were treated to performances by a troupe of very young ballerinas, a sensual pas de deux by two teenage dancers, and a duet from Phantom of the Opera performed with expressive vocalism by two high school age singers in spite of having to perform without accompaniment because of a CD malfunction. The high school choir then performed several pieces with some challenging jazz harmonies, including an arrangement of "Yesterday" in their best English. Given the lack of choral education in the culture generally, we were quite impressed with what these young singers could do under the guidance of their quite able director.

We then came forward to sing for the assembled students sitting on bleachers in the semi-enclosed field house. One of our selections was the last performance of "Stan Still, Jordan" - we had had to purchase a pair of bongo drums for this piece upon arrival since they were too difficult to travel with. When we found out that the Vila had an very strong music program that could make good use of the drums, we decided to leave them with the students at the close of our performance.

That night, we performed in an absolute gem of a church - the Church of Our Lady of Carmel (the same one who inspired the church we often perform in in Doylestown!) It was similar in many ways to the baroque churches we visited in Ouro Preto, only the interior color sceme was much simpler, and the use of paintings much more restrained and refined. The sight and sound of the church really took our breath away, and once again ACFEA came through with a capacity audience. Despite the usual raft of bronchial and throat congestion that afflicts about a third of the singers at this point in the tour, the combined choirs gave one of their best performances yet, with our gifted vocalists giving especially remarkable solo turns.

That night, about 2/3s of the group allowed themselves to play tourist, attending the celebrated "Samba Show" tracing the history of this African-based dance form with a truly awe-inspiring team of drummers and dancers after yet another tasty barbeque meal. It was a very full day, but a very gratifying one - now that we had given our final performance, we still had a day and a half to enjoy the romance, sun, sand, and great food of Rio - TL

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Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I have to write quickly about our first concert - at the Teatro Municipal Dom Pedro - a wonderful audience - a stellar boy choir to open the concert - great response and dancing in the aisles to Balaio and "Hallelujah, Salvation" - it was a very old theater with many interesting quirks, but for the most part the audience inspired us to sing our best, and it was a great start to our week and a half of concerts together.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/2/1247451369/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/2/1247451369/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/2/1247451369/tpod.html Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:31:39 -0400 BCCS - Singing City 2009 Tour to Brazil

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Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Much to the relief of BCCS singers who had taken bus rides on our Romania/Hungary/Slovenia tour that took twice as long as expected, bus travel on this trip was minimal, except for our journey back to Rio after heading due north from the airport to Petropolis, Juiz de Fora, and Ouro Preto. Other than wandering around a few road blocks in Juiz de Fora on our way to our post-concert dinner, all bus rides had been 2 hours or less and ending as scheduled.

The trip to Rio was no exception - much longer, but coming in two hours under the scheduled 10 hours. And it truly was a scenic ride. Mile after mile of rolling hills and steep cliffs of varied terrain with only occasional villages along the way, with the final steep descent from Petropolis to Rio finishing the day. Night falls early in Brazil, at about 6 (it's winter there, though it doesn't feel much like winter). So we arrived in Rio just before dark, in time to look out our hotel windows onto the lit-up beach, with a few people still running up and down.

Even at night, despite warnings beginning long ago when we first started considering Brazil, that this was a considerably more dangerous country to travel in than most, families were dining at street corner restaurants well into the night, and people were out on the street and the beach. After a day in the sun, strolling up and down the beaches, and visiting the favellas as well, we began to feel the affection for the city one of our guides, Gentile, himself a native "Carioca" (resident of Rio) expressed frequently by saying with a smile that "Rio is the BEST!"

In the end, after three days, we had one picked pocket to record (by one of our younger members who decided to walk alone with a friend on the beach later at night). But with its high-end apartment buildings, restaurants, lights, and pristine beaches, the Ipanema neighborhood we stayed in was something like a cross between Rittenhouse Square and San Francisco - certainly not a place to take security for granted, but at least as safe as those cities and equally beautiful. The rooftop pool with characteristic "Caiperinha" cocktails served at the bar certainly helped! ...more to come....TL

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Ouro Preto, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Our third stop was in Ouro Preto, another very different and distinctive slice of Brazil. Named after the 18th century gold rush that led to its founding, this is a perfectly preserved large town on the top of a hill, with steeply graded cobblestone streets lined with shops, restaurants, small hotels, and churches with their original facades and mostly their original interiors from two centuries ago. Specializing in custom made jewelry with locally mined jems and a wide range of cooking and decorative items made with local "soapstone", there was much shopping to be done, with lots of negotiating and friendly exchange with local merchants. I was also impressed that the town had many stores devoted to things that only locals would be interested in - home appliances, bedding, hardware, etc. - there were many tourists in town, but most were from Brazil, especially in July when the schools are out.

Our hotel was also quite different - because of the nature of the town, there weren't any hotels within the town with beds for 86 - in fact, even our buses had to park just outside of town and allow smaller vans to bring us into town. So we stayed on a "farm-hotel" about 20 minutes outside of town in a beautifully wooded area on top of a mountain ridge - something like an Adirondack lodge but with tropical vegetation - and fabulous Brazilian food and wine - spectacular views, lots of beautiful places to walk, a friendly dog, and a very relaxed pace. We all pinched ourselves to be in such an idylic location nearby such a fascinating, historical city! - TL

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Ouro Preto, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Our concert hall for Ouro Preto was the Municipal Teatro, the oldest performance hall in continuous use in the world, with the exception of our own Walnut Theater in Philadelphia. Seating only 300 chairs set-up on three balconies and a small orchestra section downstairs, this room has a unique sense of historical intimacy - like a large living room where you can touch everyone there in the audience in that moment while also imagining that you can touch the many people who have attended performances there over the last 2+ centuries - there was a different music, dance, or theater performance at the Teatro every night in July!

Like the two stages before this one, the "rake" of the stage (tilting downward from the back) was considerable, and took some adjustment (especially after the wife of one of the conductors voiced some concern that her spouse might be lost to the orchestra pit if he didn't stay put!)

The sound of the choir was warm and wonderful in the hall, and the audience was even more so. One of the highlights of this concert was the one performance of the bossa nova numbers "Desafinado" and "Meditacao" by our combined chamber choir, with Jeff B at the piano. It went more smoothly than we had any right to expect, and was very well received, most especially because of Jeff's particularly inspired accompaniment at the piano, setting just the right mood for this elusive and seductive style, in the perfect room for its haunting melodies.

The concert ended again with "Hallelujah, Salvation, and Glory," with this audience even more ready to "rock and roll" than the previous ones.

The concert began with a brief performance by the local university choir. They performed admirably for having been going for only one year, but one of the biggest surprises for me on this trip was how weak the tradition of choral singing is in Brazil, on the college, school, community, and professional levels, compared to other Latin American countries, like Venezuela and Cuba, where it it is much more established. This makes it all the more remarkable that our touring company, ACFEA, was able to turn out such large and enthusiastic audiences for our concerts. - TL

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Juiz de Fora, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Dear friends, I´m actually writing this after having just arrived in Rio (pronounced by the locals as ´Hi-u´) on Wednesday evening, because internet was not easy to come by in Juiz de Fora or Euro Preto, both of which are farther inland and up in the mountains - beautiful landscape -

Our concert at the grand Teatro Cine in Juiz De Fora on Tuesday night was our largest audience to date, in a spectacular old hall. We again were joined by a host choir, this time the choir of the university in Juiz de Fora, directed by Andre Pires, who is well known and beloved for his distinctive conducting and arranging for over 30 years. We were fortunate to also sing ``Balaio` the spiritual ^Roll Jordan Roll^ with his choir. For their own set, they came out in black shirts and slacks with various green and yellow scarves and accessories (the national colors). They sang Maestro Pires arrangements with an unusual intensity, all, including the conductor, wearing black make-up on their lips - he explained that this was part of a mask, as the words and music had mostly to do with poverty and social justice issues, as well as romantic love. Their performance was powerful and moving to all in attendance.

There were about 40 children at the concert from the SOS homes we had visited the day before, and it was a wonderful reunion to see them again and sing this concert as a benefit for their program.

For lunch and dinner in Juiz de Fora, we ate at a variety of ^chop^ houses with various savory meats brought sizzling to the table with generous amounts of wine. Juiz is a non-tourist city, so it was fun seeing a slice of real small-city life in Brazil - we have been very warmly treated all around.
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Juiz de Fora, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Today is the 4th of July, and so it felt a little strange for some to be away from the US on our national day - but we had a special surprise in strore. The day started out with a very relaxed bus ride of a little over an hour to Juiz de Fora, a mid-size city and our first stop in the state of Minas Gerais, where tomorrow night we will perform a benefit concert in a historic theater, our largest venue, as a benefit for the Aldeias Infantis SOS program in Brazil, a wonderful program that provides a well organized and supported group home setting for children from troubled homes. Today, we visited that program and met with the children, first in small groups, and then all together to sing for them a couple of our songs, as requested. We aso brought along many school supplies as requested to help their program. But what we received in return was much greater.

Because it is the 60th anniversary of this program worldwide and 20th anniversary in Juiz de Fora, the head of SOS for Brazil was there to welcome us - and when we were done singing they asked us to turn towards the center of the nine houses at the site for a "special surprise" - they started playing the "Star Spangled Baner" while they hoisted the US and Brazilian flags side by side - and then a short fireworks display began! As we dabbed tears from our eyes and shouted Obrigado! (Thank you) they led us to another area where they had a special dinner for us with local specialities and much talking and dancing with the children - visits from outsiders are rare here (once every 2-3 years), and our tour company, ACFEA, paid for the fireworks and dinner to celebrate a major donation they are making to SOS along with the benefit concert, which several of the children and "social mothers" will attend tomorrow. As we left, the children followed us all the way to the bus with many hugs and kisses, dancing and singing. It was an unforgettable and very special blessing we all received, which will be a great inspiration for tomorrow night's concert. - Tom

ps - pictures coming tomorrow morning!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/2/1246563932/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/2/1246563932/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/2/1246563932/tpod.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:52:27 -0400 BCCS - Singing City 2009 Tour to Brazil

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Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

We all arrived safely, close to on time, and none the worse for wear! Not much to report yet, but our first stay is at a relatively new, very tropical looking hotel on the outskirts of Petropolis, the city built for King Petro II for the summer months of the year - beautiful grounds surrounded by steep hillsides and tropical greenery - and lots of birds - bright yellow finches and bright green hummingbirds (the official colors of Brazil!) - three very articulate, informed, and charming guide - a welcome-dinner tonight and our first concert tomorrow - more news to come! - Tom
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/bccs_2007_tour/1184051820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/bccs_2007_tour/1184051820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tlloyd/bccs_2007_tour/1184051820/tpod.html Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:16:03 -0400 Bucks County Choral Society 2007 Choir Tour to Romania, Hungary, and Slovenia

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Ljubljana, Slovenia

The end of a tour has special dynamics of its own. They differ with each trip depending on the particularities of the journey, but I've found that the positive and not-so-positive energies generated as the end draws near. On the positive end, people have gotten to know each other and be as comfortable with each other as family. Laughter in the back of the bus flows freely, as does the wine and conversation at dinnertime. Inside jokes take the form of lists of trivia questions "How many "m's" in Immodium?" / "What's the conversion factor between real hours and "Heidi - time" (our tour agent's Vienna representative who was the one who underestimated travel times by 5 hours on two separate days (the time was only off by 2 hours on two other days)"Who forgot their shoes for the Budapest concert?" (answer: yours truly; though in truth, I didn't "forget" my concert shoes, shirt studs, and cummerbund - I expected the bus to stop by the church an hour before the concert as planned after I went ahead on my own to meet the organist ahead of the bus - but plans changed, and it took an emergency cab ride by our faithful guide Edward to fetch them from the bus and arrive back at the church five minutes before I walked on (I was ok going out brown-shoed and loosely buttoned-up, but Edward insisted on giving it a try). Edward, expressing continuing laments over the fate of his beloved Romania commented that he loved traveling with American tourists because they were much "happier" travelers than the more dour Romanians.

In these and other ways, travelers cope with the tension of the inevitable glitches with levity - getting a bit "punchy" but staying loose at the same time among caring family (fellow travelers become as intimate as family in many ways, but not intimate enough that you not quite likely to let yourself completely lose your composure in a fit of pique).
But it's also a time when minor irritations than would have blown over earlier in the trip trigger complaints that can become magnified in an instant. Our nine hour trip from Budapest to Ljubljana, Slovenia (five hours longer than projected by our tour company) added greatly to this factor. We were clearly spending two much time on the bus. The next morning, our planned trip to Bled went ahead with a German-speaking guide (we borrowed a student intern at the hotel to do the translating) and without the promised pre-paid voucher. (Our guide Edward used his expert negotiating skills to work out a new voucher with only a half-hour delay - the boat trip to an island with a medieval church in the middle of this beautiful, crystal clear lake was priceless in the end!)

But the good news was that Slovenia in general and Ljubljana in specific was a very pleasant surprise. As soon as we crossed the boarder from Hungary, every house, restaurant, and business had window boxes overflowing with cascades of flowers on every window. The capitol city itself is heaven for those who love to stroll around old towns designed for pedestrians. Gelato stands (only 1 Euro per scoop) were ubiquitous, and reasonably priced shops with interesting souvenirs appeared just in time for last minute purchases (too much time on the bus, not enough time for shopping was the typically American complaint in many quarters of the bus). And the weather was gorgeous. Our guide Edward was in love - he kept asking the locals how much apartments went for. It seems that Slovenia under Tito faired better than other eastern block countries, and after Tito somehow managed to survive the horrors of Milosovic, who quickly lost interest in Slovenia and turned around to attack Croatia instead.

The rehearsal in the Franciscan church that afternoon was another story - the most difficult rehearsal of the tour (which is usually the case with last rehearsals!) The church and organ were quite similar to the one in Budapest, but the organist and the promotion of the concert were not. The organist refused to play unless we sang from the choir loft, and sensing a melt-down with no happy escape would result if I pushed further (she seemed to be quite the sensitive type). We headed up to the loft, where we crowded onto built-in choir risers on one side of the organ. The choir still sounded magnificent in the church, but it was very difficult hearing the organ being that close to it.

This may seem an incongruous thing to say - that one can't hear a huge instrument when standing right next to it, but the sounds of an organ come from a large range of locations, and unless you have a little distance, it can be difficult to hear clearly enough to stay in tune. The rehearsal began to disintegrate, coming to a head when the ever-so-patient director lost his cool with the bass section for singing consistently too loud. A switch of the sopranos to the outside steps and the basses to the inside seemed to solve the problem momentarily, and by the time the concert came around, the level of intonation was generally much better, though there were still times when it was hard to tell what key the organ was in.

The audience for the concert turned out to be very small - the only promotion we saw any sign of was the enthusiasm of a few students from the university choir who were unable to persuade as many of their fellow students to come as they had hoped (but we still had some wonderful conversation after the concert). With over 800 choirs in a country of only 2 million people, our tour organizers had been unable to find a community choir for us to sing with who might have also brought an audience.

But when we came down the narrow spiral staircase from the choir loft to sing our closing set of spirituals from up front, the audience applauded us all the way to the front. "Hark I hear the harps eternal" rang out resoundingly in the cathedral space. "In bright mansions" was more heavenly than it had ever been. I caught myself looking up to the glorious painted ceiling in the middle, and choir members say they saw several audience members in a similarly prayerful pose. The silence at the end was precious, and the longest we had allowed ourselves yet. This spiritual, and our encore "Swing low, sweet chariot" had become "our songs" on this tour - the musical moments that will long hold all the memories together.

Thank you for following along with us on our journey. We're waiting in the Venice Marco Polo airport now, ready for the long flight home, bringing much more to share with you when we see you soon in person. As long as the flight will be, the cliché seems somehow truer than ever: it's a small world, after all. - TL
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