Mexico Day 13 - Rehearsals upon rehearsals

After breakfast, our host families brought us back to Humboldt School between 7:30 and 8 a.m. We were taken to a kind of auditorium where we waited for all the latecomers. Once everyone had gathered, Mr. Kammel conducted a ten-minute interview for television.

He was asked about our choir work in general, but also specifically about the concert tomorrow, where we will perform Karl Jenkins' 'Mass for Peace' together with a Mexican choir and orchestra. The moderator wanted to know if this peace work was chosen specifically because of the somewhat uncertain situation in Mexico. Mr. Kammel replied that peace is not a local project: 'Peace is not a German project, it is not a European project, and it is not a Latin American project. Peace is a global project.' He also explained that he hoped to spread the message and impact of this impressive work here in Mexico, as well as to Germany. The fact that two international choirs are performing the 'Mass for Peace' confirms this message even more. Although we may look different, speak a different language, and may not always be able to communicate well - music brings us together!
To conclude the interview, we sang 'Jetzt gang I ans Brünnele'.

With that, the recordings were finished and at 9 a.m., we boarded the buses to go to the music school 'Esperanza Azteka'.
There, a group of aspiring conductors was waiting for us. Mr. Kammel took half an hour to exchange ideas with them and tell them a little about conducting. After that, it was our turn, and one of the students rehearsed 'Ave verum corpus' with us.

At 11 a.m., the joint rehearsal with the 'Esperanza Azteka' choir for tomorrow's concert started. We practiced the 'Mass for Peace' for two hours, but didn't manage to go through all 13 movements. The schedule for today was tightly packed, so we left the music school around 1 p.m. and went to have lunch. From there, we went directly to the next rehearsal for the evening concert. However, on the way there, our buses couldn't go any further because we kept hitting the road at the front on a steep slope and couldn't move forward. So we quickly got out and walked the rest of the way to the 'Teatro de la Ciudad'.

We had a rehearsal on the stage there until 4 p.m., and we also rehearsed the pieces 'Der Mond ist aufgegangen' and the Mexican piece 'Son de la Vida' with the three other choirs participating in the concert.
Until 5 p.m., we had the opportunity to look around on the square where the 'Teatro de la Ciudad' is located, sit in one of the cafes, or visit the huge cathedral across from the theater.

At 7 p.m., it started. First, a choir from the Esperanza Azteka music school sang for about 20 minutes. This was followed by the children's choir from Humboldt School. Then another choir from the music school sang three pieces before we came on stage. Since there were only four of us performing, we sang only five pieces from our repertoire, of which 'Candombe' from Argentina and 'Cabaret' by John Kander were very well received by the audience. When an encore was demanded, we performed 'Kwela Kwela' before the three other choirs joined us on stage.

The previously rehearsed pieces went very well and the audience was thrilled. After an hour and a half, the concert was over and we were glad to be able to take off our warm concert attire.

On the way to the buses, each of us received a lunch package consisting of a sandwich, a fruit cup, and a bottle of water.
Although the bus ride to Humboldt School was quite short, the first ones already fell asleep. The day had been very exhausting, and the heat didn't necessarily make it easier. Our host families were all waiting for us at the school, and we were very glad to finally go home and get into a soft bed!