Day 13 & 14: The Final Day - ta ta for now!
After a victorious day on Wednesday, Ensemble went back to the Eisteddfod for two more competitions. Slicked back buns and hard boiled eggs at the ready, they shuffled onto the coach and headed to the festival. On the way to the competition, Eric gave an inspiring speech about how the competition wasn’t about winning anymore, it was about representing America in the folk category, as well as representing and honoring the new composers in the open voice category.
Once we arrived, we watched the GC Ensemble from the Philippines. We had multiple interactions with them and it was so inspiring to hear them sing. Their choir consists of workers, staff, and students from a nursing school. Then we headed to a performance tent to warm up for the children’s folk competition. Ensemble gracefully sang Amazing Grace and put on their biggest smiles for a crowd-pleasing performance of Old Joe Clark. They also got to see many strong vocal performances and beautiful cultural displays from other competing choirs. They unfortunately did not place in this competition, but received a strong score of 87 from the adjudicators.
After the adjudication, singers got to free range the festival grounds for lunch. Most of them hit up the gyro stand one last time. Once they digested their delicious lunches, they headed over to a church across the street to rehearse for the next competition. Eric led them in stretches and a gentle warm up as he knew they were tired. They headed back onto the festival grounds and
competed with the exhilarating rendition of Jubilate Deo and a magical performance of Aao. Both of these pieces were so special because they were written by living composers, those of whom PEBCC has somewhat of a relationship with. It was an honor for Ensemble to debut these composers' pieces at a competition. They sounded absolutely stunning despite crippling vocal and physical fatigue. However, the adjudicators did not agree and gave the choirs a shocking score of 68. The adjudicators were looking for: a sense of ensemble, the way musical text works together, intelligent programming that brings the best young performers together, etc… Despite this minor loss, Ensemble will carry their trophies to America with great pride. Eric consoled the choir and told the singers, “all that matters is a half Indian, half British person came up to me and said that Aao was absolutely divine.” We, the chaperones, thought the judges ears were off and Ensemble deserved a much better score.
With all of the competitions finally over, Ensemble earned an ice cream treat. Many (not all…) of the singers had refrained from consuming sugar foods, such as ice cream or candy since before tour, so they were all ecstatic to eat and savor the delicious Oreo or Biscoff cookie vanilla ice cream!
A bit confused and hungry, we quickly loaded onto the coach and drove to a nearby restaurant for our farewell dinner. The venue was a cute hotel that overlooked the Dee River. During our meal, we saw kayakers in the river, as well as many birds and ducks. It was a beautiful dinner spot!
After dinner, we drove back to the boarding school and held closing circle. Traditions are a large part of Ensemble (i.e. no phones on tour!), and we are so glad this tradition is here to stay. Singers took turns to discuss their favorite memories from tour, as well as express how much the choir means to them. It was a very emotional night and Helen, our courier, became overwhelmed with emotions. Watching your singers work so hard this past year, but mostly these past 2 weeks has been such a rewarding experience. They are truly a family, and they will not forget the moments they had on tour.
Here are a few closing comments from some esteemed choristers, “GO AMERICA!!!! I’ve never felt so patriotic!!!!”, said Veda Pao Ziegler. “Happy Independence Day and go America”, said Scarlett Lang.
After closing circle, singers rushed to pack and stuff all of their clothes, plue the gifts they've accumulated on tour into their stuffed suticases. It was a chaotically funny sight to behold. Many students were up until 1AM crying, laughing, and somewhat packing.
The next morning, we woke up at the bright and eaerly time of 4:30am! Singers were less than thrilled to drag their luggage downstairs and to the coach, but they prevailed, and we left on time!
We stopped for a quick restroom and breakfast break halfway through the drive, and then sang Homeward Bound to our driver, Garrett. After we sang goodbye, Garrett said “I need to get windshield wipers for my eyes!” Needless to say, many people were emotional about our departure.
Some students met their families in the airport to jet off to another place, while the rest of us waited in the very long security line at London Heathrow. After a long 10-hour flight, we were ready to be home and drink California tap water, have ice, enjoy the foods we’ve missed, and, more importantly, see our families!
Thank you for a fantastic warm welcome and even more thanks for making the tour possible for your singers! Across the board, we’ve heard that tour was incredible and absolutely worth the time and dedication put into it. This concludes Ensemble’s 2024 tour to England and Wales - we hope you’ve enjoyed the blog, and if you didn’t, talk to Heather :)
