Today began with another filling Irish breakfast. Since there were not as many group activities today, let's discuss our breakfast a bit.
This discussion is in the captions of the gallery below.
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Dr. Crane called another rehearsal after breakfast, this time in a room off the hotel's lobby. It made for a very cozy rehearsal room, but everyone adapted. A bit of rehearsing was done, some planning for today's Fringe Concert, and some feedback from Dr. Wells, who is also on this tour.
This afternoon's Fringe Concert was shared with Pro Musica Soest, a choir from Germany. Their motto is "Pop and More." They also are a Non-Competing International Choir. They began with an Irish song that the audience loved, then sang a medley of ABBA songs, plus some other pieces. This community choir ranges in age from 22 to 72, and you can see in their faces how much they love singing together. They were very well received by the large audience, who enjoyed it very much.
BYU Singers were next on the program. They performed:
Lotti's Crucifixus á 8
Elgar's Lux Aeterna (David Kime, graduate assistant conductor)
arr. Martin Koren Nesheim: The Rocky Road to Dublin
arr. Michael McGlynn: Jerusalem
arr. Stacey Gibbs: This Little Light of Mine
Paul Mealor: Peace (Stevie Dugdale, graduate assistant conductor)
Every piece was a hit for the enthusiastic audience, but as always, the two Irish pieces were audience favorites. There was a partial standing ovation after the men sang "The Rocky Road....", and a complete standing ovation for the women's "Jerusalem." That piece is a stunner with cathedral acoustics. The audience stood at the concert's end and applauded the choir until the last singer had walked down the central aisle. This was another very positive experience for BYU Singers.
Tonight's concert was given by the Latvia State Choir. I believe they competed in the Tolosa, Spain competition Fall 2022 in which BYU Singers also sang. It was a very impressive concert. And now it's time for bed to prepare for another big day.
