Tuesday Trip to Ljubljana , Concert in Monastery Galerije

By morning members of both choirs were rested from the "Glorious Choir Picnic and Water Drenching Engagement atop Mount Povratna” near Maribor, Slovenia. Slovenian choir parents brought all singers to the buses for a trip through Slovenia's capital city of Ljubljana, for a quick view of the 13th century central castle. Unfortunately, one bus died along the way and had an hour's wait for a new part and they missed the short castle visit.

We met up with each other in the old town center and split into groups (by t-shirt color) and did all the important stuff... got ice cream, looked for presents for families, and explored buildings twice to three times as old as our country. Back on the busses and off to tonight's concert in the Galerije.

Overheard en route....

"What I can't understand is how black holes work. Light doesn't have any mass, so how can gravity pull on or capture something with no mass?" --Laura

"Einstein spent years trying to make sense out of gravity. That is an important question with a complex answer." --jcm

"Black holes don't capture in that way, they just bend the space so much that the light can't get out." --Darren

So much for complex answers.

We went to Kostanjevice, a very small village near the Romanian border for dinner, then a few more KM to the hillside monastery / Gallery. If you have ever visited a rural or mountain monastery such as in Muster Switzerland or rural Italy, or as seen in the "Sound of Music," you get the picture.  Galerije Bozidar Jakac is a huge complex of dormitory (probably housed several hundred people), office, and work spaces coupled with an 800 year-old basilica, all of which has been sand-blasted and refurbished into an art and cultural center. It is located 20 km from any sizable village in the middle of an agricultural area, nestled against green, tree-covered hills. The entry is through a sculpture garden

"Wow" "Look at those arches"

"a seven-second echo!"

"Why isn't it black?"

With fifteen minutes to showtime, there were twenty people in the audience. I was starting to feel the disappointment.

Then the crowd arrived. The two choirs did their Project Attacca repertoire to a sold out, appreciative, enthusiastic audience. The blending is now complete. Many Ensemble singers are included in the action of the CS modern pieces. The acoustics allowed for cathedral directing and they took advantage of it. Several pieces featured the young singers at high volume playing with the building's echos. Both choirs did a wonderful, masterful job, individually and together.  Much audience excitement.

 Karmina directed "Praise his Holy Name” and spent several rehearsal sessions getting a solid gospel sound and look from the combined choirs. In this performance, Max did exactly as she requested, and then some. During the wild applause, Karmina walked over to Max, took his hand and led him to the front for a special, roaring bow.  The other choir members reacted to his getting that accolade with: "That was great." "Wonderful idea." We loved it.

Again, an extended applause for the choirs as they exited the auditorium and then climbed stairs on the outside of the adjoining monestary dormitory to their practice rooms. Both groups sang as they walked down the upper exterior court-way to the monastery chambers. The audience, upon leaving the Basilica, stopped in the courtyard for an after concert, concert. Many CS singers came into the Ensemble area to see our singers and share the success. Hugs and congratulations. It was their last concert together until October in SF.

To the buses. To homestays for a last night. There was a sadness growing as we reached Maribor. I suspect they are beginning to realize our 10 days together will end soon. We leave for Belgrade in the morning.

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A few comments from young people about staff.  Having the three directors was an amazing, educational experience for these young singers. Each brings unique and world-class skills.

"Bob picks great music that is right for us and yet challenging." "He is good at pulling the sound out of us, and pays a lot of attention to how the pieces balance and form the music." "He is a big picture person." He knows how to make us really want to do it right" "He can hear all the parts and can see what needs to be fixed" "Mentor-professional-dad"

"Karmina understands that the stage is a place for exploring the ways in which the music interacts with singers' movements." "She is extremely detail-conscious and gets what she wants with precise direction." "She is imaginative and runs with the music."

For instance, in the Maribor concert with a full house, after starting a piece in the second act, an audience member's cell phone started ringing with a rocking disco ring tone. You could feel the audience's anger rising with each continued note. As it rang on, Karmina brought the choir to a halt, then started dancing to the music from center stage, inviting the choir to dance along. The audience laughed and applauded.  The cell owner made it to the door, and Karmina started the piece over from the beginnning. She took a severe interruption, and annoyed audience, played with it in movement and defused the situation. It became a welcome memory, not an unfortunate distraction.

Sue has a wonderful "sense of how the music should sound and how the details come together." "She fixes diction, enunciation." "She oils the squeaky bolt." "She knows how the piece should sound, sees quickly what is wrong tells us what we should do." "She knows us and what we need to do to get the sound." "She is the other Big Picture person" "Sue is right"

The community of Directors: No one would claim that any of the three directors is a wall-flower, willing to do what ever the others might ask for. Each has strong views, which often match and flow together. Sometimes they don't. On one occasion Bob was advocating one approach, Sue another. We listened in silence, mostly, not having the musical skills to engage. Finally Bob said, "I am making an AD ("Artistic Director") decision. This is how we are going to do it." Silence. It was pointed out that relying on "A-D" was risky, as "A-D" was two thirds of "A-D-D". We laughed and moved on. The three engaged each other often, usually with a great deal of respect for the talents.

Rose is a real walking, talking hospital / doctor. A scratch, she is there. Allergic reaction... done. Need a wound cleaned after a fall...no problem. Meds..sure. In Groznjan we were eating lunch when Karmina came to the table and asked to borrow Rose, because a man was having a heart attack in the front area. Rose excused herself, sent someone to her room for the blood pressure cuff and took off to see the patient. After taking his blood pressure and confirming the worst, she determined he had previously had by-pass surgery, saw a pack of cigarettes in his pocket, pointed to it and shook her head and waged her finger "No" then sent him in an ambulance to the hospital. "She takes care of us!" "Never misses a med or a band-aid"

Dan: Among other things, Dan is a professional videographer, with an easy way of getting amazing comments from the choir members, capable of lugging full gear across all the distances and up the steps. The work he is producing will be valued by the choirs for years. I can not wait for you to see it.

Susan catches the details and like a good manager. She moves the crew effortlessly across the unfamiliar and the unexpected. As the keeper of history, she applies tradition with a healthy dose of imagination. She expects everyone to participate and follow the expectations.

Marisa is a first rate photographer, pays attention, is able to fill in on any task, keeps the books as the trip's head of Gringots Bank, manages a tone of details with no loss of humor and relates well with the choirmembers.

Marjorie knows all about choir tours. She has been on them for years, is completing music studies and returned as a chaperone. She knows how to relate and how to be the adult. She insists on professional, and fun. As the dance instructor she works on specific details at a slow speed allowing everyone to learn the needed steps, then speeds up.

The angels are asleep on the bus. No one is looking forward to the good-bye's in the morning.