We rehearsed with the choirs from Denmark, Mexico, Canada, and Hong Kong.  We also had children from Tanzania, South Africa, Armenia, Hungary and Thailand join us for the massed Choir pieces.  The music we made together was thrilling and the audience loved our concert.

The Concert Saturday Night

The concert was a SMASH.  Held in a town hall about 45 minutes up river.  But, this was a town hall Chinese style.  The house was packed . . . downstairs and upstairs balcony.  This was a major event in the ongoing Children's Festival activities.  It was a pleasure to be in a venue where they had use of lighting, spotlights, and microphones with speakers that actually worked!  They had paid professional stage hands running around during stage changes and wireless mikes for the conductors to use.  Everyone could hear!!!!
 
 

There were some nice opening comments and introductions, much of it in Chinese.  But, sort of a formal feeling and quiet and respectful.  First up was the Canadian choir.  White T-shirts with the red maple leaf seal.  90% of this choir was of Asian descent.  5 songs and they had our hearts.  They finished with the "good-bye song" from the Sound of Music, waving and marching off stage.  Delightful.

Danish choir was next.  Beautiful outfits of white dresses/slacks and red tops.  Much older and formal in appearance.  5 songs again . . . all of it was in Danish.

Americans were up next.  Surprising warm welcome applause from the audience as they took the stage.  Very well displayed.  Meaning they took the stage with presence and the alignment of the boys (solid shirts) within the girls was done nicely (almost created an "A").

They sang with heart.  More heart and push than I had heard before.  I think the performers were pleased with the large turnout and it gave them an adrenaline rush.  Songs were much tougher vocally than the preceding choirs, so it came off very well.  Big applause after the Paulus number I Cannot Dance, O Lord.  Then Stars & Stripes Forever.  No lyrics to this song. . . just humming.  And they did it great and with fun and with smiles.  A crowd pleaser.  (By the way, the energy that Julian brings to the stage and his smiles are just flat contagious).

The came our best song - This Train Is Bound For Glory.  (I personally object because it does contain a lyric about having no lawyers on board).  The lady from Texas took the stage. (Joleen Abarca)  Julian placed her way on the front edge of the stage, and she sang like she owned the place. Her supporting choir was dynamite and "moved" much better (what did I say about practice?) than they did in Phoenix.  The crowd loved the ending.  BIG applause.  Almost to the point of standing ovation . . . but we were still in the middle.  There were shouts.  And, although I count myself a critic,  I did say Bravo!!!

Following was the Mexican Choir.  Stunning pink and white outfits.  But, too late in the day for jet lag.  The entire front row of little kids was falling asleep.  Nice effort, and the director kept trying to wake them up, but to no avail.

Then came the Hong Kong choir.  They did a couple of numbers in English that were every bit as good in pronunciation as had been the Canadian or American choirs.  The hook was in the instrumentals.  Unbelievable.  I mean it.  A young violinist played with one song . . . she was a pro.  Maybe 12 years old, and played like a prodigy.  Rousing performance and many claps.
 
 

The concluding FESTIVAL CHOIR was huge of course, but sang brilliantly.  Honestly, I said above that there were more mature people than me in attendance, but when the full choir sang the Chinese song  Ocean My Home,  followed by Let There Be Peace On Earth, I will have to admit to being a bit of a sad sack.  I had tears, and there were many around me in the same condition.  The audience joined in as the Conductors took the stage for the audience participation in Let There Be Peace On Earth.  And EVERYONE sang.  A full auditorium of Chinese people singing with a group of kids.  Unreal.

The audience came easily to its feet for the conclusion.  RESOUNDING applause throughout the auditorium   At one point the Chinese raised their hands above their heads and were yelling praise at the kids in the choir.  The kids responded by putting up their hands and everyone was yelling praise.  A very moving experience.
 
 

Monday began late - everyone loved that idea.  Breakfast at 8 am.  Someone had obviously complained about the rubber eggs.  Therefore, while the rubber eggs were still displayed in abundance . . . they were now joined with croissants and almond turnovers and some sweet rolls.  That tray of goodies was constantly assaulted with the troops grabbing and stuffing.  Meanwhile, the yellow rubber eggs stood quietly by.

The troops (we call them this in honor of Baden Powell and the Boy Scouts) were assembled in the lobby of the hotel at 9 am.  The objective was to walk through the streets of Kowloon for about 3/4 of a mile to the Hong Kong cultural center.

We began by walking through Kowloon Park.  First, you encounter a huge and modern sports complex.  This is a beautiful facility that contains many badminton courts, several squash courts, several ping pong rooms, and several studios where students are learning martial arts.

As we pass out of the Sports Complex, a series of swimming pools appear.  Big ones.  The first is a full 50 meter indoor 10 land pool with the lanes full of swimmers.

Then we pass south into the heart of the park.  Here we find an aviary with many exotic birds.  We exit the park over a long spanning walkway that crosses two roadways about 60 feet in the air.  About midway across we notice that the bridge is swaying under the load of our troop.  It is designed that way, but our guide gets a little freaked out.

The walkway empties onto the deck of a hotel property that overlooks the Kowloon shipyard.  Beautiful site in the morning.  We trek through the hotel lobby and onward south to the Cultural Center.  Now, the main purpose of our trek to the Cultural Center was to drop off uniforms for the rehearsal and production that night.

Shopping.  Did anyone mention shopping?  The Cultural Center is next to the largest shopping mall in all of Hong Kong.  The decision was made to "release" the kids until 1 pm so they could go shopping.  While it is fair to say that no one had enough money to buy bottled water, you would be suprised at the haul of material goods that our kids could buy in the next 3 hours.  At 1 pm we had fashion and trinkets galore . .. and no MIAs.

Lunch was served, modest pocket sandwiches and Sprite.  Then it was time to see the Performance Hall.

WOW.

The concert hall is very modern, lush green high back seats rising 5 stories tall.  Probably seats about 7,000.  The best in high technology for acoustic design.  An organ set up to rival the largest churches in Europe.  Hugh pipes rising 3 stories tall.  I cannot believe that our children will ever find a better place to show off their talent.  A very exciting moment when they first saw it.

The Monday night performance was really just a warm up for the big event, coming this evening when the Governor of Hong Kong will be in attendance.

Then came the Americans.  They spaced themselves out nicely on the risers so the choir seemed much larger than it had seemed before.  Julian entered.  I don't know what it is about this guy, but he radiates energy and smiles as he takes the podium.  His discussion with the audience between pieces is well received.  The difficult I Cannot Dance, O Lord fills the room with voice and is actually done rather well.  Having demonstrated there is some talent, they sing well Away From the Roll of the Sea. Stars and Stripes is fun and the audience (many kids present) love the effort and humor. This Train is a smash.  Joleen steps to the mike and her voice fills the room, the choir has started to get some rhythm on their dance steps over the past several performances.  There are smiles all around.  Big and legitimate applause . . . again some vocal praise of people yelling.  It capped off a good day.