Page 32 - Priorities #68-Summer 2017

Touring the “old town” in Cuenca.
June 4
Send-off concert in Priory Chapel. Students performed all of their tour rep- which consisted of 22 songs spanning sacred Renaissance motets to modern American Spirituals. Over 90 minutes of music, learned over the course of the school year, and rehearsed outside of school in April and May.
June 5/6
Meet at SFO, fly to Madrid, by way of Frankfurt, meet our bus and drive to Cuenca.
June 6
Arrive in Cuenca, Spain. After checking in, we ate dinner, and went straight into a rehearsal with the cathedral choir from the Iglesia de la Virgen de la Luz, with whom we were sharing a concert the next night. Chamber Singers sang two pieces with the choir from Cuenca- Jacob Handl’s “Ave Maria” and Maurice Durufle’s “Ubi Caritas.”
June 7
Students took a walking tour of the historic town of Cuenca- built over 1100 years ago, and founded by the Moors. The town sits on top of limestone cliffs, and is surrounded by two rivers. Cuenca is most famous for its historic old- town (medieval), narrow and steep streets, and the “hanging houses” which are built right on the cliff’s edges.
That evening, Priory students rehearsed in the beautiful Baroque church– Iglesia de la Virgen de la Luz, and prepared for their first performance. Unique to this tour (no other Priory tours have done this before) students provided music for the actual mass service before the concert. It involved a considerable amount of flexibility, attention, and professionalism–and the students all rose to the occasion! After mass, there was a formal joint concert with the cathedral choir, featuring all the sacred music programed for the tour. The concert was well-received, and was standing-room only!
June 8
We left Cuenca mid-morning for Valencia, a beautiful city right on the Bale- aric Sea (Mediterranean).
Upon arrival, we had lunch at the City of Arts and Sciences, did a bus tour of the new town, and a walking tour of the Old City–including a stop for “real” horchata, made with tiger-nut instead of rice. A great treat on a HOT day.
With some free time in the evening after dinner, students (and chaper- ones) were free to explore the Old City a bit, including the Instalaciones Jar- din de Turia; a long park and garden with bike paths, open air markets, and more on the dried river bed that winds through the city.
June 9
Best. Day. Ever. According to the students. Beach day! We spent the majority of the day at the beach near Marina Real at La Malva-Rosa. After swimming, sunning, playing soccer, climbing play structures, and eating paella, we were well rested for our rehearsal and second formal concert at Iglesia de San Nico- las. This 13th century church was finally completed around 1690, giving the Gothic structure a Baroque flair. Students gave an outstanding 80 minute performance to a paying audience. Ticket sales went to fund the church’s outreach to homeless children in Valencia–providing them with meals and transportation to school.
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Visiting the “Basilica de la Sagrada Familia” in Barcelona.
Modernist “Basilica de la Sagrada Familia” by Antoni Gaudi
TRAVEL