Things have been somewhat hectic for the past month or so what with preparing to head off to Europe for a choir tour. And, given the fact that you have to pay for wireless access over here, I haven’t been able to get online until late last night.

We started this tour on Wednesday after flying out on Tuesday - a very long day!

Our first stop was in Bayreuth where I was going to meet up with my friend Drew (from the SWC) for a relaxed afternoon of sipping beer and telling stories. Both being smart people, we agreed to meet at the front of the church where I would be singing right at the end of the practice. Of course, we made one cardinal mistake - we assumed hat there would actually be a front door - there wasn’t, only two side doors. For the next 3 hours or so, we must have looked like the actors in a black comedy, chasing each other around in circles! We finally met up with each other during the warm up. At least we did get a couple of hours after the concert to chat :).

The Schlosskirche is a wonderful church to sing in - the acoustics are fantastic! he concert went well, getting some really good comments from people; even if we did have a madman storm into the church to yell obscenities (twice!).

Next, we headed of to sing at the Thomaskirche - Bach’s cathedral in Leipzig. This is the second time we have been the Choir in Residence here in two years, and it is quite an accomplishment. Bach is certainly the current focus of the church’s tourism “business” and, given the thousands of tourists a week, it is easy to see why.

The Friday and Saturday “motteten” (a cross between a service and a concert) both went well, although I think Saturday was better (I haven’t heard the recordings yet). Today (Sunday), we finished up by being the choir at their regular Sunday service. Despite all the commercialism surrounding Bach in the church, there is a very important observation that needs to be made - the staff at the Thomaskirche from the pastors on down, make God their focal point, and it is still a parish church as well as an international tourist attraction. Unlike many of the churches in North America, they see nothing wrong with good music and, from what I can gather, believe that good music is a form of worship. Nice people, even if I couldn’t understand most of what they were saying

All told, I would have to say that it went well and, as my good friend Greg would say, “It’s time for a Köstritzer!”