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June 30, 2008— in Buenos Aires

Our morning excursion was a school concert at an all-girls Catholic school. We filed in and rehearsed in their hall, and started about 10:45 or so. Fletcher took photos from stage (below). My camera died long ago. The charger is dual-voltage, but it seems to be out of commission since Cordoba, so we're relying on Fletcher, who takes great photos, but the camera is passed around so we always have somebody snapping away. The schoolgirls were surprisingly calm during the concert, loud but not unruly, plenty enthusiastic. Afterwards as usual there were refreshments where the boys and girls mingled.

We went back to the hotel where we did Head Boys speeches. The nominatons created a two-man race between Henry and Jack. They each had an advocate speak, then each spoke themselves. The boys voted, and we loaded the bus for La Plata.

La Plata, like Washington, DC, is a designed city as far as I understand. It was designed to house much of the government, and at the time they decided to put a massive cathedral there as well. Hernan had each of the chaperone groups get off the bus in a different spot with concert flyers and gave us an hour to get to the cathedral in foot. In my group, Nicoli is particularly fearless about passing out flyers, and I believe my group got to the cathedral first. We had the address and with a little deduction and an iPhone we took the shortest route there. I guess we could have asked directions, but I'm a guy and don't ask directions unless absolutely necessary, and besides, asking directions isn't nearly as cool as using an iPhone to find your way through an unfamiliar city. Thank you Apple, please send a check for the endorsement to my house as usual.

The cathedral is quite impressive, and we all agreed inside was probably one of the cleanest surfaces in the country. When we gathered, we began by all riding the elevator up the east tower where the sun was setting over the city. Like many European cities, nothing is allowed to be built taller than the cathedral. The only thing obstructing our view of the sunset was the cathedral's tower to the west.

Here was the site of the last concert of the tour, the last concert as Troubadors for some of the Troubadors, and the last concert altogether for some of the guys. The last concert on tour is always intense, and we had a great space for it. The audience wasn't huge, but we were warned it might not be, that this was mostly a chance to sing in the venue. That being said, there was an enthusiastic crowd which was probably bigger than it looked given the huge space inside, and different people gave us standing ovations for individual pieces. We definitely have the repertoire for a cathedral, and it was a pretty amazing place to sing. Being very tall and narrow, it's got a 5-6 second reverb, and so I wait an extra second or two on big chords to let them reach the corners of the room. We've got some video of it we think. Bogoroditse had a particular magic about it this evening. The concert was solid, and the Barber Agnus Dei was maybe the best we've ever sung it. With a few meaningful glances around the choir, I feel the familiar sense of completion, pride, sadness for some, relief, and strength of this group. We leave our belongings behind like no group in a long time, but this choir is very talented and better balanced than many we've brought on tour recently, due to the larger tenor and bass sections. It was a memorable last concert for everyone, and especially for guys who have been in this choir for as many as ten years.

We packed our things, and as I left the dressing room, I noticed the tenors and basses had gathered in a circle in the middle of the cathedral to sing one last song, after the audience had left. Many of the lights had been turned off, and there we were, including the handful of PBA parents who had made the trek to Argentina, listening to the high schoolers sing one last song together, entirely of their initiative, in this massive building on a cold winter's night in La Plata, Argentina.

A smile and a song, and the security guards don't complain too much if you stay after a bit.

We went to dinner at a local restaurant where again Hernan seemed to know everybody, and like we did in Milano a year earlier, guys that were leaving the PBA all got a chance to say something to the group. It's the end of an adventure for some, the beginning for others, another page turned for the "little chorus that could".

Jack Lundquist is our new Head Boy for next year and we have one more day in Argentina before we had back to the USA.