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This morning we woke up for a city tour of Mendoza, with our guide Andrea who took us to the mountains. I tend to think of both North and South America as the New World and I don't expect to see very old things, but Mendoza dates from 1561. There are Baroque churches in Argentina and I guess I should think of Florida and New Orleans instead of California when it comes to Spanish-incfluenced architecture in the USA. Even so, I can't think of one Baroque church I've seen or heard of in Florida. Maybe there's on in Daytona or Orlando. Clearly I need to brush up on my colonial history.
Our mornings have tended to become the same routine of various problems that we're not typically having to deal with on tour: boys not listening to instructions, boys not having brought things that were on the packing list, boys not showing up in the hotel lobby on time. It's a young choir so I guess that's the trade-off for our soprano sound, but it is taking extra time. The unlabeled laundry pile is immense. Oh well, not much we can do about that. We end up leaving every place 20 minutes later than planned, so we've started having late guys have to show up early the next time and this seems to be helping.
Anyway, on our city tour for starters we saw the remains of many things from the city's foundation. The city was foudned in 1561 and flattened by an earthquake in 1861. We went to their park, which is a model of urban lanscape architecture, one of the most amazing city parks I've ever seen in the world. I think there's on in Melbourne that would rival this one, but maybe I'm thining of another place. There is a hill to climb for a great view of the City, and Hampton challenged the guys to a race up the mountain. Tumothy and Christopher beat Hampton apparently, but we all made it up eventually, and it is a great view. Mendoza is in the desert, with the mountains nearby, and vineyards in between. The temperature swings are huge, and though I know little about growing grapes, I'm guessing that has a distinct impact on the taste of the wine. During the day, if it's sunny, you can walk around comfortably in a short-sleeve shirt. At night ot first thing in the morning it is bitterly cold, low 40's.
After our mountaining climbing, we hopped on the bus to head to a local country club where we were being hosted for lunch by the Grameen Foundation, who are sponsoring our concert tonight at Teatro Independencia. The foundation raises money to combat poverty, and our concert is a fundraiser for their efforts. There was nice food at the lunch and place for the boys to play, and they even had a cake with our name on it.
We left the country club to head back to Mendoza proper for an longish rehearsal in the Teatro. It's modeled after the opera houses in Europe, the round kind with the balconies, not unlike the Teatro Municpal in Rio where we performed on Brasil II. The Teatro Independencia is the most important concert hall in Mendoza and we felt we needed a little extra time to clean things up and not be rushed for the concert. We also worked a lot on our stage presence to get some more energy into the sound and the performance.
There were TV crews on hand before the concert and at intermission, and we've been working with them on what do do and say in front of a camera. The first interview was just me with Hernan translating, and in the second interview neiher the boys nor I spoke, just Hernan, so we just had to stand there and look smiley.
We had a great concert. The stage presence was much improved, and there were few mistakes. While not full, there was a healthy crowd that cheered a lot, bought CDs, and took photos with us afterwards. We had to head out quickly for dinner, and of course we headed back to our favorite buffet, which seems to be just getting full at 11pm. Some more pasta, some more crepes, but no chorizo! Bummer. Plenty of other choices though.
Tomorrow we head to Buenos Aires, a 12-hour bus ride away.
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At the ruins of the old cathedral in Mendoza |
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The guard at the historical flag at the Mendoza town hall |
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In the park |
At the statue at the top of the hill |
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At the country club for lunch |
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Rehearsing at Teatro Independencia |
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Evan works on his conducting as he sets up the music stand |
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Still conducting... |
The view from stage |
The view from out front |
The view from the audience |
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