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We went to the beach in the morning in Cabo Frio. It's a white sand beach, fine sand like you find on the gulf coast of Florida. The water is clear and barely up to your knees even 80 feet out. Where we popped on to the beach there were flags up for dangerous surf, and the lifeguards helped us find the area where it was safe to go in the water. Peter, Tim, and Mr. Tarango had them doing regular buddy checks. The vendors with carts (all with badges to be authorised to sell on the beach) find us and they hang out, but disappear when they figure out we're not buying anything. There were some relay races on the beach, some boys burying other boys in white sand. All in all, an enjoyable morning and strangely nobody had a camera. Just everyone having a good time, memorable but undocmented.
At noon we went to get some lunch at the little local snack shacks on the beach. The prices were perfect: everybody in my group ate for about US$3.25, which included a cheeseburger and a soda (guarana!), but it took a long time, and we ended up leaving the beach about 40 minutes late. We went back to the hotel to change quickly and get our things, then on the bus to head back to Rio.
We were to perform at the Melodia festival concert at the Candelaria in the evening, and could rehearse at 4:30, but it wasn't looking like we were going to make it on time. Passing through Niteroi, we dropped Page at the airport. She had to head to Korea with another group. I'm typing this a day later, and it's quieter and we're more alone without her. She takes care of everything we need, and I'm embarrassed at some of the things we request that she dares to try to do and get for us. We still have Joao, but had to say goodbye to Christina last night ("tonight"), so at one point our Entourgae included Page, Joao, and Christina, and now Joao is doing the job of all three of those people. Especially at the end of tour we have to say goodbye to people, and Page's departure was a big hint the adventure is coming to an end.
We got to Candelaria at 5:15 or so, definitely too late to rehearse, though we asked if there was any dead time in the room if we could hvae it to check placement. The Medoldia folks and the Candelaria folks run a tight ship, so no wonder we weren't going to get a rehearsal. We had sung here before, and have music that works well in cathedrals. We only had 15-20 minutes to sing, since it was the feature concert for the Minnetonka and Miami choirs. We arranged oursleves to sing Hail, Gladdening Light from the transepts, then Song for Athene from the risers up front, and finished with Wade in the Water. I waited as long as I thought I could after the big minor chord nearf the end of Wade, to let it echo through the cathedral. If you wait too long after that choir, though, people start applauding. After our short set, a lot of people stood, we took about three bows, and headed off. We probably could have done an encore, but it wasn't our show so we headed off. I go off stage first or close to first, and while I was back there, the funniest thing happened. The audience appluaded for each row separately as they went off the risers. Hilarious.
More TV cameras. Not Globo this time. Different channel.
We enjoyed hearing the other children's choirs, mostly girls, and I got some ideas for new pieces. Though we just stopped in, I feel like we made some new friends. The boys had their last chance to get e-mail addresses, and we headed out. I think we sold another 12 CDs or something. I should mention that Joao had arranged a bulk rate last week with one of the license plate guys, the guy that gave me the first one. We gave him names, and told him to meet us at Candelaria Monay. Voila, there he was when we appeared, and Peter coordinated the transactions for the boys.
We said goodbye to Christina (it was hir birthday!) and her mom Rosana, who organized all our concerts here in Brasil. We hope to see them again someday and are grateful for their efforts to get us these amazing audiences.
We returned to the Premier Copacabana Hotel for dinner (buffet!). Only one more night in Rio so no need to unpack too much.
Neeta and Hernan from Classical Movements stopped by the hotel to say goodbye. I double-checked the missing files from the recent website updates, and went to bed.
--Mr. Fox
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Today's winners |
The girls from Minnetonka
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People standing for the Boychoir |
Doreen Rao conducts the combined Miami and Minnetonka choirs |
Another candidate for security of the day |
