The Doane Choir in Europe
Doane Choir tours internationally every three years. Planned destinations include Schwaebisch Hall (Professor Reinkordt's home town in Germany, where we will be staying in some of the local German homes, a rich cultural exchange. This concert would be Doane Choir's fourth concert in Schwaebisch Hall in the last 20 years; we are a known commodity there! Students may also tour in Austria (especially Vienna and Salzburg for their rich musical heritages), Switzerland, and Venice in northern Italy. Venice has deep musical significance, as it was the center of the Western musical Renaissance period. The acoustics while singing in the European cathedrals is a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The choir will sing concerts every other day; historically this has been to very receptive crowds. Time will be spent in smaller towns and cities as well as in major metropolitan areas.
The trip will be two-three weeks, and between concerts students will be traveling via coach, and/or experiencing the rich cultural opportunities available in Europe such as these possibilities: art museums, concerts (perhaps an opera in the open air theater in Verona Italy?); visiting the Friedhoefe, the graveyard in Vienna where Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Wolf, and Schumann are all buried; visit Monteverdi's grave in Venice; Doge's Palace in Vencie (the center of Italian political and cultural life for centuries!).
 | The choir gathered around the statue that stands outside J.S. Bach's church (the Thomaskirche) in Liepzig, Germany. |
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 | Several students on our river cruise in Prague, the Czech Republic. |
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| The choir singing at an impromptu appearance at a small church in Berlin, a church that was located very near the former location of the Berlin Wall. I remember vividly how emotional it was because the choir had just heard from the city tour guide how many people had been killed near this section of the wall, trying to escape. We sang Jonathan Willcocks's setting of 'Lacrymosa," with text from the Latin Requiem: "O how tearful that day, on which the guilty shall rise from the embers to be judged. Spare them then, O God. Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest." |