Postlude

Some words from our Director, Mr. Smith:

First of all, thank you, parents/guardians, for entrusting the welfare of your children, young men and women, to our (Kathy, Frank, and my) care. Thank you Select for your wonderful performances. Thanks to Frank for his descriptive, creative, and artistic blog.  And his amazing accompanying.

Words aren't enough to describe our trip. Wow, fantastic, awesome, mind blowing, life changing. When words aren't enough, music can express what can't be said with words. 

After we arrived back at AHS on Thursday and all the parents and students departed, Frank and I were left, waiting for our rides. Each of us was humming "Ubi Caritas... Where There is Love, There is God." I just listened to the blog post of us in Baptistery in Cremona singing "Ubi Caritas." I heard our enjoyment for, love of, experience of, appreciation for Italy, the people, the food, Colin, the travel, and each other. But above all, the love of music. The Ardsley High School Select Chorus made the music of Mozart, Gershwin, Palestrina, Berlin, Bernstein, all the composers, come alive. We breathed life into the music for our Italian audiences. For this gift of music, I am truly grateful.

Spencer

Arrivederci Italia!

This morning we were out of the hotel by 8:30 and on our way down one of the small and narrow streets toward the workshop of Federico Fiora, a Cremonese violin-maker. 

It was not the home of Antonio Stradivari as I had thought it would be, but the techniques used by Mr. Fiora, like most of the violin-makers today and for many years past, are exactly the same as those used by the three great violin-making families of the 17th and 18th centuries: the Amati, the Guarnieri and the Stradivari. Mr. Fiora took us through all the steps necessary in the crafting one of these fine instruments, describing the selection and methods for forming and shaping the maple (from the former Yugoslavia), spruce (from the Dolomite region of Northern Italy), and ebony (Africa). When the description of the process was completed and all out questions had been answered, one of our own -- Katherine Evans -- was invited to play one of Federico Fiora's hand-made violins!  

After leaving the workshop, we made our way back up the street to the cobbled, central piazza of Cremona which is surrounded by medieval buildings and dominated, of course, by the large church and clock tower. The clock, we were told, was built in the 12th century and is still working today; someone still winds it everyday. Across the square from the clock tower was the baptistry, an octagonal building also dating back to the 12th century. To walk inside one had to pay an admission fee. But our guide offered some vocal music instead of a monetary payment, and her offer was accepted. Have a listen and a look for yourself.

Inside the church, or Duomo, we sat down to listen to our guide as she explained the meanings behind the frescos on the walls that surrounded us. Unlike da Vinci's mural of the last supper, which was painted on a dry wall and therefore has to be restored fairly often, the more lasting Renaissance wall-artwork type is the fresco, which actually means "fresh," since the artist would paint into wet plaster thereby setting the design and colors to dry and set along with the actual wall itself. 

A visit to Cremona would not be complete if one didn't get a chance to see and hear an authentic Stradivari violin being played. Inside the municipal hall we were led through a small gallery which housed violins dating from 1655 through 1715, violins made by Amati, Guarnieri, and Stradivari. According to our guide, each of these rare instruments must be played on a regular basis in order to maintain their 'health' and thus keep them 'alive.' So, a local violinist has been hired to come each day to play and demonstrate an instrument for museum patrons. (Unfortunately we couldn't get Katherine an opportunity to play one of these!)

Everyone was on his or her own for lunch and we were expected to meet in the lobby and ready to walk to the Church of Sant' Agata (built in 1077) for rehearsal.

Dinner followed afterward and our concert began as scheduled at 9 PM. Two local choirs performed before us, each an extended piece of their own choosing -- the local church choir (perhaps the Choir of Sant' Agata), and a faculty choir from a local music school. Both were very fine. By the time we performed the church was almost completely filled with what had to be close to 400 or more people on hand to listen to the Select Chorus.

Exceptional would be a good adjective to describe the performance tonight. It seemed to me that every time they sang the music, from when I first sat down with them on January 25, through the kick-off concert on February 12, to the Scuola Grande rehearsal and performances in Venice, and finally here in Cremona, the sound quality, dynamic range and overall tonal coloring and interpretation would grow exponentially. Mr. Smith truly selected an eclectic and perfectly rounded program to feature these high school students' voices, and the applause they received at each performance, particularly tonight's was proof enough as to how successful this trip truly was!

As I attempt with words to round off this fantastic week I've had, not only spending time with my students in Italy, going on long walking tours and accompanying their beautiful voices in rehearsals and performances, or even standing with some of them in the village square late at night just chatting like old friends, I am struck again at how fortunate I truly am. I remember them as 5th graders, some of them as kindergarteners and 1st graders at day camp; I remember them as Troubadours, always giving me far more than I could ever expect in both rehearsals and performances. But after this trip I'll always remember them in a new and special way. For a week we existed together, far away from our regular stomping grounds, and I've seen your children living together, helping each other out when help was needed and never asking for something in return. I've witnessed their sense of responsibility, how they always arrived at our meeting spots, in unfamiliar and sometimes unusual cities and towns, sometimes after many hours of having been on their own, always on time and with smiles on their faces and laughter on their lips. They have grown a lot since middle school, and it's been a true joy to spend this time with them once again.

Thanks go to Mr. Smith for having me aboard, and special thanks go to you all for entrusting me with your children's safety and well being.

Everyone's asleep now… we're to expect our wake-up calls at 4:45 AM, have breakfast at 5:30, and be on the bus rolling away from Cremona at 6:00 AM in order to make our flight out of Milan. We'll see you in Ardsley tomorrow afternoon!

~ Frank

Milan

One of Milan's many squares

Teatro alla Scala

As scheduled, we returned to the Hotel Impero shortly before 10:30 this evening after spending the entire day in Milan. This morning we rolled out and onto the highway by 9:00 AM and within an hour and a half found ourselves leaving the bus (and our driver, Lorenzo) alongside the walls of the Teatro all Scala, or as we know it in the USA, La Scala Opera House. 

Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside either the theatre or the museum that followed, but after ascending the staircase whose walls were adorned with numerous opera bills from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, we entered the main lobby ready for our tour. It was interesting to find out that since its opening in 1776, this lobby had served not so much as a gathering place for theatre goers to chat and discuss the performance at hand, but rather as a gaming room where gambling, along to plenty of smoking and drinking were the norm. In fact, the orchestra section of the house, which today holds some of the most expensive seats, was nonexistent, and was an area where patrons would dance during performances rather than simply stop and pay attention to what was happening on stage. We each got a chance to walk into one of the many boxes to look out into the house, which today was hosting a rehearsal of Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman). The La Scala museum held many artifacts of the theatre such as books and music dating from the various periods, portraits and sculptures of some of the greatest composers and singers who'd performed there over the years, as well as many old and antiquated musical instruments. Franz Liszt's piano sat in one corner of one of the rooms. 

Galleria

Afterward, Colin walked us through the magnificent Galleria which stood just across the square and into another, far larger piazza where the great Cathedral of Milan stands, otherwise known as the Duomo. 

Il Duomo

We had free time from that point to find some lunch before we re-grouped and made our way to the church of Maria della Grazie, where we viewed one of the greatest works of art in the world: Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, a mural painted on the wall of the old refectory, or eating place of the monks of the time. (An appropriate subject to paint in a room like that, don't you think?) Again, no photography allowed.

Posing with "Leo"

Back to Duomo Square and more free time to shop and take in the sights of central Milan. We had dinner a half an hour later than planned since yours truly mistook our 6:15 meeting time to mean 6:45, but our pasta pancetta and veal dinners, along with some extraordinary dessert choices made it all seem ok. Many of us slept on the long bus ride back.

Andrew, Colin and Jeff jump for joy!

Tomorrow we'll visit a demonstration of violin-making as well as hear a live performance of Stradivarius violin made in 1715.

We perform tomorrow evening as well.

More tomorrow night, our last night in Italy.

Go west, young man/woman

1:00 AM in Cremona.

(7:00 PM in New York)

On the Ferry

Card game aboard

Another long day, but one that brought us some 140 miles westward across northern Italy. Our journey began as we exited our coach bus and watched it roll on board a large ferry on the other side of Lido Island. As it rolled ahead, we all followed behind on foot and climbed aboard up to the top deck to enjoy a thirty minute sail across the Venetian lagoon. We watched as old Venice passed on our right and then faded into the morning sunlight, while at the same time we turned our heads forward toward the mainland and what would be the beginning of our extended highway ride west. 

Some of us stayed inside to spend our time in other ways.

Staying warm inside

With Colin Murphy, our English guide

The Arena

Marble street

Our first stop was Verona, the city of the Capulets and the Montegues, the city where a young man from one clan ardently professed his love for a young lady from another rival clan -- the city of Romeo and Juliet. We stopped for a photo just inside the Roman wall which dates back to the 1st century BC, and stood with the Arena as our backdrop. The word "arena" means sand, and so the name derives from the sand that once covered the amphitheater's floor. Afterward we walked on toward the famous "Juliet's Balcony" by way of the main shopping street which was paved with smoothed and shining marble. As we passed through, on the right we found the entrance to the small courtyard wherein we looked upon the famous balcony. 

Juliet's Balcony

Sirmione

After saying farewell to Juliet, we had free time to wander about and find ourselves something for lunch, and afterward, boarded the bus once again for the next leg of our journey: an added stop in the small resort town of Sirmione, the place where the great opera singer Maria Callas took up residence for a good portion of her career. Regarding Sirmione, does the word "posh" mean anything to you? It was simply gorgeous! Though the narrow streets and old stone buildings seemed not crowded at all, one could easily imagine what it must be like during the bustling months of summer.

The Duomo and bell tower, Cremona

Next, we were off to Cremona, the hometown of Antonio Stradivari, and the place where we would soon have our dinner of pumpkin ravioli and veal. Our hotel is here as well.

The rest of our evening was pretty low-key since most of us were tired from the long day and many stops along the way, but a few of us headed out into the town square in front of the duomo and spend about an hour chatting. The place was deserted, and it seemed we had the entire 12th century square to ourselves.

And did someone say french fries?

French Fries!

That was our last bit of business before 11:00 PM.

Tomorrow we head to Milan at 8:30 in the morning. We'll be there all day, only to return by 10:30, 11:00 PM.

I'll tell you all about it then!

Hit the road, Jack...

... But I hope they come back some more, some more, some more, some more... at other points in their lives! I'm sure the seeds of Venice have been planted in those who are seeing it for the first time, and being re-planted in the others who are here a second time!

It's 8:00 AM, Monday morning, and our phones beeped thirty minutes ago for our daily wake up call. I was already awake even though it was another late one last night, and I'm once more sitting in the caffe across the street enjoying my second very delicious cappuccino Again the day has dawned bright and cool, but not cold. According to my friends Carlo & Luigi, who left for Rome yesterday just after San Marco, the weather for the region is forecast to be very good. I hear it's cold and windy in New York. Here it's almost spring-like, particularly in the afternoons. Venice I think tends to be warmer since the sun reflects off the water all day thus shining almost twice. I'm not sure what it will feel like in Cremona which is inland.

Regardless, we all look now to the next leg of our journey: the bus to Verona today, then on to Cremona tonight. Milan tomorrow for the day including our dinner, then Cremona on Wednesday: the house & workshop of Antonio Stradivari, and our second and final performance that evening at 9:00. Thursday we're off to Milan's airport and back to NYC.

I'll be in touch with you all.
Ciao!

Farewell Venezia!

After lunch on Lido, we headed back to Venice aboard the vaporetto once again, this time to visit a factory where Venetian lace was made. Afterward, we had free time once again to wander the city's numerous byways to shop, browse, or just soak up the unique culture of Venice. Mr. Smith and I met up after each of us had ridden separately to the top of the campanile tower to enjoy the magnificent views from way up above San Marco. As we wandered about afterward, Mr. Smith decided to take a long walk with Colin over to the section of the city once known as Geto, but long since Italianized into the word we all now know as Ghetto. I wasn't with them, but according to Mr. Smith there was an extraordinarily different, almost other-worldly feel there that was especially prominent to him. 

While he and Colin made their way on their own, I chose to wander about near the Rialto bridge, and as I did so I met up with Sophia, Kim, Hayley, Allie, Pam, Katherine, Molly, Andrew and Jeff as they, themselves, sauntered about looking in the many shops and outdoor markets for items to bring home as souvenirs of their trip. Jeff told me he was looking specifically for a certain kind of hat which he'd not yet been able to find. Well, soon after this photo was taken, I'm happy to report that he found it, and proudly wore it for the rest of the evening!

I soon left them once again, and since we had another hour and a half or so before we were to meet in St. Mark's square for dinner, I headed in that direction. After a good bit of walking, and as I arrived alongside St. Mark's Cathedral, I heard guitar playing and singing just ahead. Right in front of me I saw John, David, Marina and Gabby sitting on a low curb playing and singing a la Greenwich Village, with John's guitar case opened on the floor and and beginning to fill up with a good amount of euros inside it! Not bad for their first European gig, huh?

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel. The kids are outside most likely enjoying Mr. Smith's promise of "gelato on him" before curfew comes around, and we head back to our rooms to sleep off these past few days here. Tomorrow we wake at 7:30, have breakfast, and board our bus at 9:00 to sail (yes, sail -- the bus will be aboard the ferry with us!) to the mainland and onto the road to Verona.

So it will be farewell Venezia, and farewell to an experience never to be forgotten!

San Marco

A long, long time ago, when I was newly married and my wife and I were expecting our first child in 1987, I played piano at OLPH church in Ardsley every Sunday morning. At that time I can recall meditating on the fact that since I'd gone to school in Ardsley (from 1969-73 @ OLPH), and since I now played in church there as well, wouldn't it be cool if someday I could teach school in Ardsley as well. Well isn't it funny how things unfold in one's life, many times without one even knowing it's all happening?

This morning, in the middle of mass in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, as I let my eyes wander up into the high, gold mosaic arches of that ancient place of worship, I deeply realized why it had all come to be as it is. Your children's voices brought to me one of the most sublime experiences I have ever had in my life -- something I will never forget. This morning, at what was a very well-attended mass in St. Mark's Basilica, on the first Sunday in Lent, the Ardsley High School Select Chorus was much more than magnificent! I wish you could have heard their voices rolling around that enormous space, a space that has resounded with countless choirs both large and small for a thousand years! How very lucky I felt to have been there to listen, and to know each of the young people who were making such an angelic sound! 

Each piece was audio-recorded as well as partially video recorded. I'm sure you will all agree with me when you hear it how very special it was! But I truly wish you had heard it as I heard it, along with Mr. Smith and Mrs. Silberfein, live and up close!

Indeed, I consider myself lucky. I know Mr. Smith feels the same. Thank you for supporting and keeping music in your children's lives. It truly blesses many more people than you may think!

AUDIO from the 12:00 noon Mass at St. Mark's Basilica, Sunday February 17
Ubi Caritas
Sicut Cervus
Ave Verum Corpus
Cantate Domino
Amazing Grace

Morning at a coffee bar... and San Marco later

The kids are probably just getting their wake up calls at the hotel. I'm writing this note across the street at a coffee bar where the WiFi is free and coffee strong!

In a few hours, the choir will sing at the noon mass in San Marco. Since there will be no piano accompaniment, I will be on hand to audio record the music (I'm almost certain photos or video taping will be prohibited). For this reason, I thought I'd post a few photos I took yesterday during my visit.

What an extraordinary event it will be to sing in this ninth century space!

Saturday: Gondolas, free time! and Scuola di San Rocco

It's 11:20 on Saturday night and we've all just gotten back from singing our first concert. To say it was spectacular would be an understatement! Not only were the kids exceptionally good, and not only were we fortunate enough to be singing inside a magnificent room covered with 16th century art - the Scuola di San Rocco -- but we also sang for a particularly enthusiastic audience of close to two hundred or more Italians.

But our day began long before that with a gondola ride. After we walked through Piazza San Marco, we made our way to one of the many gondola stations scattered around the city. The ride lasted about 35 minutes and took the kids through some of the more remote canals and byways of old Venice. 

Mr. Smith and Mrs. Silberfein each hopped into a gondola along with several of the kids. But I did not take the ride… after all, someone had to take the pictures from the canal's edge for this blog, right? (Just kidding. I took the opportunity to have a cafe with my friends Carlo & Luigi since I'd missed breakfast and hadn't yet had my morning coffee. Oversleeping happens easily when your body clock is off kilter and you're up till midnight hoping the hotel's WiFi would move a little faster!)

Anyway… after the gondola ride we all went back to San Marco where Colin (our guide) explained to all of us that we would be free for the next 4 hours so that the kids could shop, walk, and enjoy what turned out to be a day with a cloudless blue sky above, a 50+ degree temperature, and a city swarming with people all happy to be enjoying this magnificent city. Mr. Smith, Mrs. Silberfein, John Evans, and I walked through the Basilica di San Marco together, marveling at this thousand-year old icon of world history. Mr. Smith and I had a quick lunch together and then also went our separate ways. I wandered over to the Scuola San Rocco to have a look at where we'd be singing later on and was flabbergasted at the extraordinary artwork that would surround us later on in the evening.

At around 4:00, we left for the Scuola. Arriving there about 45 minutes later we warmed up - literally!… there was no heat in the building and we were essentially surrounded by many thousands of tons of cold stone and marble. But what exquisite marble & stone it was! Tintoretto was everywhere, the walls and the ceilings were covered, and the kids, like me, marveled at it all when they first laid eyes on it!

We rehearsed the full program and then moved on to a different venue: dinner! Which was of course, delicious. Ziti pancetta and a beef entree. But we were running late, and had to go quickly back to the concert site.

At 9:03 PM sharp we started our program and the kids impressed their audience to no end. we took five bows as the audience continued to applaud and then stand! The entire concert was videotaped and will be edited and finalized some time after we return. (That upload would keep me awake till dawn if I tried to do it now!!!)

Our curfew tonight is midnight, and all the kids were talking about on the way back was having gelato. We're all here right now, close to the hotel tonight on the island of Lido, and it seems, as I'm finishing this entry, it's almost curfew already!

Oh, and by the way, Matt Moody told me to say "Hi" to Eric and Jan, and Andrew wants to give a "shout-out" to his mom & dad.

Until tomorrow!

Ciao

We're in Venice!

Well, it's certainly been a long day! And now, as I write this first of my Venice Blog entries, the clocks in New York stand at exactly 24 hours since we arrived at JFK on Thursday.

We arrived at JFK at 3:00 Thursday afternoon and just now we've returned to our hotel after dinner at 9:00 PM Friday (3:00 PM in New York).

Germany Snow

The first of our Lufthansa flights was terrific. Check-in was easy, we were on time, the plane was clean, sleek and comfortable, and the service was excellent. In fact there were a good number of extra seats in our area so some of us had two seats to ourselves. That helped significantly when it came to catching a few winks in the later hours after dinner when they lowered the cabin lights. I can't vouch for everyone, but I'm pretty sure most of us got at least a few hours of shut-eye. 

There was about an hour and a half left in the flight before landing in Munich when the lights came up again and a light breakfast was served (a fresh fruit cup, a granola bar, a muffin and a choice of something to drink). Looking out the window I could see Germany below, covered in snow, and not long after, we landed in Munich which was cold and still snowing.

Singing at the gate

Then came the layover. And it was a long one indeed: a little more than three hours worth! But the kids handled it perfectly well. We all proceeded to our gate (on what seemed to be the other side of the terminal -- isn't it always that way?), dropped off our carry-ons and coats, and many embarked on a stroll around the terminal while some others waited for their own turn to do the same. They all got drinks, a few snacks, and before you knew it, most of them were back together sitting, chatting, and some singing -- thanks to John Evans' backpacker guitar! The time moved along as we sat in the corner of the gate area, looking through the clear glass at the falling snow, and wondering how much longer it would be till we boarded the shuttle bus out to the tarmac and onto our (much) smaller plane that would take us to Venice. 

de-icing!

The time finally came and we rolled about a mile or so out to the plane where we climbed the stairs and then up and into our seats. Going from 3 seats on the left, 4 in the center, and 3 on the right on our first flight, to only 2 left and 2 right was indeed somewhat of a different experience! But the flight to Venice would only be 50 minutes long, so no problem. Little did we know however that we'd be delayed on the tarmac for about 40 minutes, and then another 15 to be de-iced! But that's the way it happened, and it seemed to me that the kids again did exceptionally well. (Allie and Kim got into a fit of laughter that kept them (and those of us around them) very occupied for most of the time!

Finally we were up, and overlooking the alps, and soon after, the ancient city of Venice! For those of you who've never flown here, the airport is not especially close to the Grand Canal, but we indeed needed a water taxi to get to the hotel. In fact, we needed three taxis. I went along with Trey, Andrew, Jeff, Brittney, Emily, Marina, and Rebecca. The kids squealed out loud shouting things like "I can't believe we're really in Venice!" and thoroughly enjoyed themselves as we bounced over the water and through the Murano Canal on to the island of Lido where our hotel is situated. After about 15 minutes or so, we disembarked not more than fifty yards from the door of the hotel. 

We'd met our Encore tour guide, Colin Murphy, at the airport, and he'd arranged for the taxis and our easy access to our hotel rooms, and in no time we'd freshened up and headed back out to the Piazza San Marco via vaporetto, and through the nearby twisting and winding walkways along the canals. 

It was interesting to watch the kids as they began finishing up their dinners. One by one, heads began to bob, and eyes began to wink more often than normal. Even Mr. Smith, Mrs. Silberfein and myself were getting a bit bleary-eyed after our long day of travel. Now, back at the hotel, it seems I'm the last one awake. It's now nearly midnight here and I'm about to upload these words and pictures. After Colin spoke a bit about the Bridge of Sighs, and Basilica di San Marco (and its origins more than a thousand years ago), and the Piazza's own history, we walked to the Rialto Bridge so the kids could get a first glimpse of the shops and storefronts for what will likely be their re-visits tomorrow and Sunday. In groups of three or more, we all made our way back to the piazza where we re-grouped and headed of to our dinner.

Carlo and Luigi

But I don't mind. I had a special treat myself today: my two very dear friends: brothers Carlo and Luigi, from Rome, came up to meet me, and will be there to hear our concert tomorrow night, as well as our performance at mass in St. Mark's on Sunday morning. Afterward they head back to Rome, and on Monday morning, we head to Cremona by way of Verona.

More tomorrow night after our concert at the Scuola di San Rocco.

Buona sera!