This morning the choir left early-ish to be at the Lutheran Kaufbeuren St. MartinKirche for their 10 am Pentacostal service. We were not sure what to expect, and the experience far exceeded our expectations.
The acoustics were just about perfect, and the choir sang their best. It really was a joy to be able to hear it, and to see the full church respond with faith and delight. Their priests both spoke with the choir afterwards, and expressed deep thanksgiving and understanding of the music and Spirit they brought to the meeting.
At the end of meeting, and an encore of “I Am a Child of God,” the main priest spoke to the choir a bit about the long history of the church. This is a brief synopsis:
The castle chapel was expanded and converted into a Catholic church in the 12th century. In 1545 the parish church was completely remodeled according to Protestant principles. The church's role as a shared place of worship for both Catholic and Protestant congregations during the Reformation period is a testament to its importance in the religious life of Kaufbeuren.
The organ of St. Martin, also known as the Crescentia Organ, was built in 1999 by the organ-building company Siegfried Schmid from Knottenried.
Today is Dr. Crane’s birthday, and the choir celebrated him on the bus—then they all had gelato at the store next to the church.
After returning to the BMM for lunch, the choir had a 3-hour rehearsal with the Festival Choir which has been rehearsing the last several days. It is a choir of locals and participants who wanted to join, and BYU Singers is serving as the anchor, more or less.
They had an hour off, then we drove to the St. Mariakirche in Isny im Allgäu. (Yes, that is the name of the town.) This was the final solo concert of the choir in this festival.
The first half was performed by Prassanna Vishwanathan from India. I believe they performed the music from a service, which was one long song (probably not the correct term) for about 30 minutes. Interesting, but I wish a summary of the introduction that explained it all had been translated into English.
Once again we had a very dark cathedral with inventive lighting. Editing makes it work better here, but there was nothing to be done in performance. The choir rose to the occasion, and sang fabulous concert—which made the audience rise to the occasion and give two standing ovations, one before and one after the encore number of “Go, Tell It on the Mountain.” They truly loved the concert.
It’s hard to think that this year’s choir is finished soon, with this particular group of voices never to sing together again as BYU Singers. They have given stunning performances the entire year, with this tour showing their character, stamina, love of the Gospel and each other, and willingness and ability to do whatever Dr. Crane requires from them. He truly has brought out the best in this choir, and audiences in Finland, Austria, and Germany have benefitted from it.