2007-06-27 Europe concerts

I’ve chaperoned school trips to places like Blackberry Farm and Great America, but none compare to the incredible experience I recently returned from. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to chaperone the Waubonsie Valley High School Orchestra on their Three Capitals trip to Europe. Forty-three out of approximately two hundred students that participated in the school’s 2006-2007 five orchestras were along on the trip, as well as our two esteemed directors, Mr. John William Burck and Mr. Mark Liu, plus ten dedicated chaperones. Upon arrival at the airport in Budapest we were joined by our awesome tour manager, Lana, and amazing bus driver, Ewald.

The orchestra students played their Budapest concert in the Museum of Military History one evening to a large crowd who enjoyed us so much they even clapped for an encore that our group wasn’t prepared to perform. It had rained earlier and though we’d planned to play outside, the indoor venue was a large room with open windows filled with the fragrant aroma of flowering trees that worked well for us. There was a couple at this concert who were excited to learn we’d be in Vienna and said they’d come see our concert there later in the week. The families of two of our girls were shadowing our trip. They met us this evening for dinner and planned to attend the concert but due to various delays wound up arriving just in time for the encore.

In Vienna the orchestra played one morning at the Institute for the Blind to a crowd of students who were blind and disabled and people who work with them. What a wonderful experience it was to share our music with those who cannot see.

The following day our group played in the Orangerie at Schönbrunn Palace, the summer palace of the Habsburgs. The Orangerie was built in 1754 and Mozart performed there many times. As promised, the couple from our Budapest concert was in attendance this afternoon. The parents who had missed the Budapest concert arrived at this concert an hour early, and parents of three more of our kids were there as well.

The Austrian concerts were part of the 2007 American Celebration of Music in Austria.

In Prague they played in St. Nicholas Cathedral in Old Town Square. This is an incredibly beautiful cathedral which was completed in 1735. We were counting on our cellos to arrive at the church at least an hour before the concert for rehearsal, but they didn’t. Luckily they arrived just in the nick of time and the concert went off without a hitch.

The chaperones heard the concert performed at a dress rehearsal before the trip and we heard it four more times in Europe, each in a very different setting with different sound and different audiences. I loved this concert each and every time I heard it performed and I was one of many who were sad when this last concert was over. Some of the kids already graduated or aren’t continuing with orchestra next fall so this was their last performance as part of Waubonsie.

The concert program consisted of:
“Rondo-Finale”
“Concerto in G minor for Two Celli”
“Nocturne”
“Concerto in G Major for Two Violas”
“Suite from ‘Carmen’”
“St. Paul’s Suite”

The orchestra played beautifully and made memories to last a lifetime.