Good evening from Assisi! Unfortunately we have limited access to internet so I will update the blog when I can. Between the access and just pure exhaustion last night, I will catch you up now on the past 72 hours. We left KHS at 4:30 am Saturday morning to begin this amazing adventure and it has been just that. Arriving at the KC airport at 7:30, we got checked in, baggage checked and through security with ease. Had a bite to eat, loaded the airplane, and had a very quiet and comfortable ride to Atlanta before loading again at 3:20 for a very LONG but uneventful flight landing us in Rome at 7:40 am Sunday morning (12:40 am Springfield time). Most of us took some short naps on the plane to prepare for the days ahead. By the time we got through passport checkpoints and baggage claim, we met our tour guide Luca and boarded the bus, off for a day of Italian adventures. Our first stop was a small town called Orvieto. Many towns in Italy are built at the top of large hills and rocks which made it hard to attack and Orvieto is just one of these examples. To access the town, we had to leave the bus, take a 2 minute tram ride up the mountain before boarding a shuttle bus to take us to the top. We spent a couple of hours exploring this ancient city and giving an impromptu concert at the Duomo di Orvieto (Duomo - cathedral, di - of, Orvieto). After boarding the bus again, we headed for the hotel, freshened up and headed out for dinner at Stalla di Assisi. Here in Italy they traditionally serve 3 course dinners, the first being a pasta dish, the second is your meat or fish and vegetable, followed by dessert or fruit. Last night we started with a large piece of lasagna, followed by salad, chicken, and panini sandwiches, then a dish of rich chocolate pudding for dessert. We were full. We were happy. We were exhausted! Day one wrapped up with time at the hotel, many enjoying a beautiful panoramic view of Assisi from the hotel decks then off to bed for a good night sleep. Day 2 started with a buffet breakfast at the hotel and back on the bus at 9. Today we have discovered the city of Siena enjoying a guided tour including the ancient Siena Cathedral which included a room of original musical manuscripts of Gregorian Chants. The architecture and paintings these cathedrals are amazing! We spent free time in Siena for lunch, shopping, and exploring the beautiful city full of ancient architecture and stories. Tonight concluded with dinner at the hotel where we joined 3 other choirs here for the festival including Dr. Cameron LaBarr and Missouri State as well as Ivo Antognini who is the composer of several of the pieces the choir will be performing this week. Some of the kids headed to the swimming pool after dinner while others play games or just sit and socialize. It has been an extremely exhausting day but filled with so many stories and memories made. For those of you who have never been to Italy, it is exactly how you picture it. The ancient buildings, the narrow streets, it is all exactly like you see in pictures and movies. It is absolutely beautiful! Tomorrow is another fun filled day and I look forward to updating the blog as soon as I can. Until then, know that all the kids (and adults) are having a wonderful time and are exhausted by day’s end. Another great group of kids to travel with from KHS! Day 2 pictures still need to be loaded. You can catch us live on Facebook when we perform as we are able to record. Watch The Kickapoo Choir on Facebook! Buona Notte (Good night), Kristin Cornelius On many occasions my husband has told the choir that ratings and pieces of plastic are not important. The most important part of performing is the experience and touching people's lives. As we traveled back to the hotel last night, he told the kids this again and said the performance at the Bean was more important than today's performance because of how many people listened, recorded, and were emotionally touched by the music. Today they sang in competition for 3 judges and they sang from the heart! They brought tears to the eyes of the audience with their music. When the judges went on stage to give them feedback, the first one apologized for all of the "wow's" in her recorded comments. As they talked to the kids, you could hear how much they were truly moved by the choir's performance. We spent the afternoon shopping and enjoying the honking horns (making us appreciate little Springfield) downtown Chicago at and around the Water Tower Place. Early evening we loaded the bus which took us outside of Chicago to Medieval Times for a dinner theater and awards. The dinner was great and the show was amazing...but most of all, awards. Kickapoo swept the awards ceremony. Taking home a GOLD superior rating with 287 out of 300 possible points, 1st place in division 3A, most outstanding choral group, and the adjudicator award for the best ensemble at the festival between choir and band combined the kids were amazed at their accomplishments. Emily Trent was awarded the Maestro award for outstanding musician where musicians stood out to the judges during the performance. The Ovation award also went to Kaylee Grose. This is an award to an outstanding musician recommended by their teachers. The teachers write a letter explaining their accomplishments and their work not only in the choir and the school but also in the community. The festival reads the letters and chooses one person for this award each year. The night ended with a dance for the kids and now are settling down in the hotel for a well deserved night of relaxation before heading home tomorrow. We will be leaving here at 10:30. This has been an amazing trip with wonderful kids and awesome chaperones. Memories were made and bonds were made stronger over the last few days. This is an amazing group to travel with and Kickapoo and Springfield should be proud of the accomplishments of each and every one of them. Good night from Chicago, Mrs. Cornelius We have discovered why Chicago is called the "Windy City". It has been such a cold, windy, misty day here in Chicago but that never keeps the KHS chamber choir from having a great day. Today started with an elevator ride 103 stories up to the Skydeck in the Willis Tower downtown Chicago. On a clear day, you can see miles and miles of the city and those who dare can step out on the glass ledge to get a view straight down to the street below. Unfortunately, today the fog was thick so the windows looked like frosted glass and we couldn't see anything. This didn't keep the kids from standing, jumping, or laying on the glass floors for a picture. They even took the chance to sing 103 stories in the air. Lunch was on our own downtown Chicago. Most everyone chose a restaurant and food we don't have in Springfield including the famous Chicago hot dogs. After, we met in Millennium Park under the famous BEAN sculpture where they entertained the crowd with their music. It just resonated so beautifully under the bean's canopy! A camera man from one of the local news stations was there filming for the weather and also came and filmed them as they sang. We were thanked by many for the music they provided and it was so fun to see so many strangers videoing their performance with their phones. When they were done, a woman approached them and thanked them for singing their song in Bulgarian as she was visiting from Bulgaria. Another woman was so impressed and sings in a community choir in New York and just came to the bean for a quick visit on a break from a meeting. So many different people touched all by the kid's music. (see the video recordings on the choir's Facebook page) Next stop, The Shedd Aquarium located right on Lake Michigan. Hours were spent watching the fish, sharks, otters, and even a dolphin show. It was a great afternoon of relaxing and enjoying in a nice warm building! After the aquarium, we headed to Navy Pier. Being so cold and windy, very few of us ventured out to the end of the pier. We had dinner at the pier, had some shopping time, and many took the 196 foot high ride on the ferris wheel. This replaced the ferris wheel that is now in Branson. It has been replaced with this one that is 48 feet higher, travels at a higher speed and lasts longer. Beautiful views of the Chicago skyline at night and Lake Michigan were seen from the top. We have arrived back at the hotel for the night. Some kids got in a short swim or a game of Apples to Apples before heading off to bed but now should be settling down for another big day tomorrow. Tomorrow is competition day. We will be leaving a little early (10am) to get to the school where we will watch a couple of other choirs perform before we warm up at noon and take the stage at 12:30. Send some extra thoughts and vibes up to them at this time. They sound wonderful and will do an amazing job. I'm excited to see them perform. There was a lot going on today but everything ran smooth and everyone had a great time with all the new adventures. This is a great group of kids and you should all be proud of how they are representing Kickapoo and the Springfield community. Until tomorrow.... Mrs. Cornelius Good evening from Chicago! We have begun the 2017 Chamber Choir tour and what a great group of kids to have along! It has been a fun but long day for the KHS choir beginning as the bus pulled away from Kickapoo at 6:30 this morning. It was a quiet ride for quite some time. Stopping twice along the road we finally made it to the hotel about 4:00 this afternoon. After a quick change, we were off again and ready to enjoy the night. We left the hotel at 5:00 and had dinner at Giordanos ,true Chicago pizza, breadsticks, and salad. After dinner, we had a short, but cold and wet, walk to Briar Street Theatre. We saw the Blue Man Group perform 90 minutes of straight music and entertainment. Also including our own Pavel on stage for a guest appearance. It was an incredible show! With a couple of minor hiccups along the way, we have had a great day. We are checked into our rooms and everyone should be settled in for the night. An early morning tomorrow with a big day of exploring Chicago. Until tomorrow... Mrs. Cornelius Here we are at the end of day 3 and what an exciting day it has been. The kids (and adults) have played hard all day at Six Flags over Dallas! It was the perfect day for roller coasters, observation towers, and all kinds of rides. This evening was the results/awards ceremony. After feeding us a buffet meal of BBQ pork and chicken tenders, the results were announced. Here they are: Chamber choir - GOLD! The choirs had to get 90-100 points from the three judges at yesterdays competition. They performed beautifully and had great comments and great scores from all the judges. Chamber choir - Outstanding Choral Group of the 2016 Dallas Worldstride festival! This award was given to the choir who scored the most cumulative points from all three judges! This was among all of the participating schools regardless of division. Chase Phillips - Ovation Award - this award is given to one student out of the 750 who performed in the festival between choirs and bands. Each director could recommend students prior to the festival who excelled in music in school and community. Out of the recommendations sent in, Chase was chosen to receive this award. Such an honor for him and for Kickapoo! These kids have been amazing. Their talents, their attitudes, and their kindness have been recognized many times over the past few days. You should be proud of each and every one of them! They represent Kickapoo at the highest level! Tomorrow, they will sing one last time this trip before heading home. We will see you tomorrow night. Kristin Good evening from Dallas! It has been an exciting day with so many adventures. We started off the day at the Sixth Floor Museum. We took an audio tour of the museum which took us through the life and assassination of JFK on November 22, 1963. We got to see where Lee Harvey Oswald sat in the sixth floor window and reenactments of the assassination. It was a very moving experience and everyone learned so much. The choir also did an impromptu concert outside the museum at Dealey Plaza. Then....competition time. We went from downtown Dallas to Irving Arts Center for the Worldstrides competition. They sang beautifully and the judge who spoke to them after complemented them all for their sound, their talent, and their professionalism. We'll find out tomorrow what scores they received but everyone is proud of the day! After a quick stop for lunch at In and Out Burgers, we headed back downtown to the Dallas Aquarium. This is an amazing aquarium with not only fish but monkeys, penguins, a panther, and sloths just to name a few. Dinner was provided by Worldstrides at House of Blues in downtown. They had a wonderful buffet of smashed potatoes, beans, BBQ pork, and fried chicken! The wait staff also complimented on how well behaved and thoughtful all of the kids were! What a great thing to hear! We are back to the hotel now for a relaxing night. Even though it's 58 degrees outside and an outside, unheated pool, this didn't stop some of the kids from doing a little swimming. They should all be worn out by now and ready for a quiet night. Another full day tomorrow! It has been a wonderful trip so far and the kids are so much fun to be with! Have a great evening and we'll post more tomorrow night, including results from the competition! Kristin Good evening from Dallas, Texas! As I write this tonight, kids have been checked into their rooms and I would expect most are sound asleep. It has been a huge day! We began this morning at 4:30 am meeting at Kickapoo, loading up, and leaving the parking lot at 5 am. After 7 hours and a couple of rest stops we arrived at the University of Texas Arlington where the kids had their first performance of the trip. With tired eyes, they sang beautifully for a clinic with Dr. Karen Kenton-French, the head of choral studies. She was very impressed with the choir and offered her critiques. It was a great start to the trip. We checked into our hotel in Dallas after the clinic and spent a quick few minutes settling in and freshening up for our evening activities. We headed downtown to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe and off to Fort Worth for the stage performance of The Little Mermaid. What a beautiful theater and wonderful production to end our day. We are settled in and ready to begin a new day tomorrow. Full days are ahead but I will continue to update the blog in the evenings when we return to the hotel. Enjoy the pictures and we'll see you on Sunday! Kristin Be proud Kickapoo! Monday was performance day and they have represented Springfield and Kickapoo well!
After a full morning of rehearsals at the hotel, we checked out and headed down to the Bob Carr Center for Performing Arts downtown Orlando. At 1:30 the choir performed their set for the 4 judges. After a few days of bonding, the choir performed the best I have ever heard them. They were unified a sang beautifully. You could tell they had become a "family". The mass rehearsal followed and ended the day and the trip with a mass concert with each group performing pieces on their own as well as the mass choir and orchestras performing "The National Anthem", Antonio Vivaldi's "Gloria", and ending with "America the Beautiful". It was an amazing concert and one the kids will never forget. After the concert we boarded the bus for the 19 hour ride home. It was then that they found out the results from their performance. Mr. C announced the scores over the microphone. Out of a score of 100, the judges gave 95, 95, 95, and 96! They were very impressed with the Kickapoo Chamber Choir. We have finally arrived home and everyone should be getting a good night sleep in their own bed before heading back to work and school tomorrow. It was truly an amazing trip. Mr. C is gracious enough to let me travel with them every year, and each year is so amazing. I am so proud of the kids, the school, and of course my husband who spends as much time with these kids as he does his own and thinks of them all as his own. I am a proud "Mama Corn" as they have adopted this year. Be proud of what they do and what they have accomplished. They are all wonderful and I look forward to seeing them grow. |
AuthorNathan Cornelius Archives
March 2024
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