Singing Auf Deutsch
On April 30, just over 50 Kokopelli members (that's a record number for an international tour!) headed off to Germany to participate in the Dresden International Children's Choir Festival. With several different departure times, we all met up at long last in the Frankfurt airport and headed off on our adventure.
On April 30, just over 50 Kokopelli members (that's a record number for an international tour!) headed off to Germany to participate in the Dresden International Children's Choir Festival. With several different departure times, we all met up at long last in the Frankfurt airport and headed off on our adventure.
Our first challenge was getting (in one group) to the nearby train station in order to hop a train to Dresden. It was a harrowing half hour but in the end we all safely settled in on a 5-hour train ride suffering from varying degrees of exhaustion. Though it was around noon in Germany, it felt like the wee hours of the morning for our Alberta selves. After a bit of rest on the train ride, we all felt better when we reached Dresden. We were met by our friendly festival bus driver, Jorg, and we all piled in to head off and meet our host families.
The next day, after a morning rehearsal, it was back on the bus to head to Berlin for a short visit. Our hotel (though noisy) was located a stone's throw from the Reichstag, the seat of German government. That evening we took a walking tour of downtown Berlin and the next morning we followed up with a visit to the Reichstag's glass dome and some free time exploring the city. We met up for lunch before heading back to Dresden for an evening rehearsal.
The festival officially kicked off the following morning with a mass choir rehearsal involving singers from all over the world, mostly Asia, in addition to our host choir. Of course, at a children's choir festival the mass choir music was for treble voices, so our men had their own sectional rehearsal just outside, drawing their share of fans from the female choristers inside. Next up was a rehearsal for the opening concert in the stunning Frauenkirche in the Old City district of Dresden. It was an honour to sing in this amazing church.
The next few days were filled with festival rehearsals, performances, and planned festival activities. The most memorable events were our Thursday evening "solo" concert which we shared with another local choir, in the tiny confines of a 12th-century church, and the Friday morning city rally, where all the choirs trekked all around Dresden to see the sights. There was also a school project morning when Kokopelli spent part of the day singing for a local middle school and then enjoyed sitting in some classes.
On Friday night, the second last night of our tour, the festival threw a huge wonderful farewell bash with tons of food, activities, and music. We had a blast!
Of course, it wouldn't be a Kokopelli tour without some transportation drama, so we weren't surprised to learn that the Icelandic volcano had delayed our homebound flight by a couple of hours. This meant that the majority of us missed our connecting flights in Calgary, but thankfully Air Canada was fast on their feet and managed to get all but three of our group onto homeward flights that evening. The trio that stayed behind enjoyed a free hotel room stay and breakfast vouchers at the airport before finally setting foot back on Edmonton soil.
It was an action-packed ten days, and we have created some great friendships with the choirs we met in Germany! There was even talk of a future tour to India...
Our first challenge was getting (in one group) to the nearby train station in order to hop a train to Dresden. It was a harrowing half hour but in the end we all safely settled in on a 5-hour train ride suffering from varying degrees of exhaustion. Though it was around noon in Germany, it felt like the wee hours of the morning for our Alberta selves. After a bit of rest on the train ride, we all felt better when we reached Dresden. We were met by our friendly festival bus driver, Jorg, and we all piled in to head off and meet our host families.
The next day, after a morning rehearsal, it was back on the bus to head to Berlin for a short visit. Our hotel (though noisy) was located a stone's throw from the Reichstag, the seat of German government. That evening we took a walking tour of downtown Berlin and the next morning we followed up with a visit to the Reichstag's glass dome and some free time exploring the city. We met up for lunch before heading back to Dresden for an evening rehearsal.
The festival officially kicked off the following morning with a mass choir rehearsal involving singers from all over the world, mostly Asia, in addition to our host choir. Of course, at a children's choir festival the mass choir music was for treble voices, so our men had their own sectional rehearsal just outside, drawing their share of fans from the female choristers inside. Next up was a rehearsal for the opening concert in the stunning Frauenkirche in the Old City district of Dresden. It was an honour to sing in this amazing church.
The next few days were filled with festival rehearsals, performances, and planned festival activities. The most memorable events were our Thursday evening "solo" concert which we shared with another local choir, in the tiny confines of a 12th-century church, and the Friday morning city rally, where all the choirs trekked all around Dresden to see the sights. There was also a school project morning when Kokopelli spent part of the day singing for a local middle school and then enjoyed sitting in some classes.
On Friday night, the second last night of our tour, the festival threw a huge wonderful farewell bash with tons of food, activities, and music. We had a blast!
Of course, it wouldn't be a Kokopelli tour without some transportation drama, so we weren't surprised to learn that the Icelandic volcano had delayed our homebound flight by a couple of hours. This meant that the majority of us missed our connecting flights in Calgary, but thankfully Air Canada was fast on their feet and managed to get all but three of our group onto homeward flights that evening. The trio that stayed behind enjoyed a free hotel room stay and breakfast vouchers at the airport before finally setting foot back on Edmonton soil.
It was an action-packed ten days, and we have created some great friendships with the choirs we met in Germany! There was even talk of a future tour to India...