Saturday Evening

Look who came to the concert at St. Michael's

Sarah and the rest of the Logansport Children's Choir are still in Aldstadt Salzburg rehearsing with the all the festival choirs and orchestra to sing Haydn's Missa Cellensis at the Salzburg Catheral tomorrow morning. They are being conducted by Janos Czifra, the musical director of the Cathedral. He is somewhat of an icon around here and the kids will be able to say they "studied with Janos."

So - now it's Marilyn's turn to say how wonderful the trip has been so far and how great the children of Logansport and the surrounding area are representing their communities. Hope everybody at home is as proud as those of us here.
This morning/early afternoon was "free time" for the everyone to enjoy Salzburg. The busses left at 8:30 a.m. anyway so that the choir members got a chance to roam around the old city and get a flavor of the city. Many chaperone groups took the funicular railroad up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress, others took bike and Segway tours a little farther afield and one went in search of the family winery. This afternoon LCC performed a solo concert at St, Michael's Church, just off Mozart Platz. The small church was filled (not just with Hoosiers) and Susan played what is said to be the oldest organ in Salzburg.

We continue to have some sun, some clounds and the occasional cloud burst but most are prepared and all are rolling with the changes in the weather.

Friday Night

Our first full day in Salzburg, though not very busy for the adults, was a big day for LCC. The first order of business? At 8:30 this morning in the lobby of the Hotel Turnerwirt (see hydrangeas out back,) we held a rehearsal to learn the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah. (Due to a miscommunication, we had been told to learn the wrong Hallelujah by Handel.) After this, the singers went on to a rehearsal in the Mozarteum. In the afternoon, everyone took guided walking tours of Salzburg, seeing sights such as Mirabelle Gardens, Mozart's birthplace and many locations seen in The Sound of Music - lots of history, lore and stories of intrigue. In the evening, we took part in a concert at the Mozarteum, singing three numbers with all the festival choirs in addition to our own 12-minute performance. At this concert, we were able to watch performances by each of the festival choirs, which was truly an international spectacle!

Thursday Night

Today was a very busy day. To start our morning, we left Fussen and traveled to Neuschwantstein Castle. There, after walking for what seemed like twelve hours up what was possibly the most challenging hill LCC has ever walked, we took a guided tour of Mad King Ludwig's unfinished masterpiece of a fairy castle. After leaving Neuschwantstein, we traveled on to Ettal, where we gave a lunchtime concert in the local abbey. Following lunch, we continued on to Salzburg (via the Autobahn!). Here, we attended and performed at opening ceremonies of the Cantus Salisburgensis Festival in St. Peter's Church and had dinner with all of the participating festival choirs at a local restaurant.

Wednesday Night

Whose birthday is it today?

Four countries in one day! After leaving Switzerland this morning, we had lunch in the tiny but beautiful country of Liechtenstein. (Some of us even met the mayor of Vaduz!) Following lunch, which, for many of us, included authentic local food, we traveled on through a small part of Austria and through parts of Germany to arrive at our current location, Füssen, Germany. Upon our arrival here, many of us went on a walking tour of the medieval old town. Our guides (Trinka and Kerstin) did a wonderful job of sharing with us the history of the town, dating back to Roman times.