May 23 - Peter Jones, Clara Buck & David Barnes

Greetings from Italy!

This morning marked Chamber Chorus’s second day in Castiglione delle Stiviere. After a night of tossing and turning to the ruckus of thunder showers outside, we woke up to nothing but sunshine and the harmonious chirping of birds. Our morning got off to an easy start with pastries in the lobby of our hotel, then it was off to Mantua.

I had never heard of Mantua before this trip, but oh boy let me tell you... it’s beautiful. From the Duke of Mantua’s palace, to a church built in 1089 the entire city is overflowing with beautiful architecture and rich history. Speaking of rich history, on our boat tour around one of Mantua’s lakes we learned that the copious plumes of lilly pads and lotus flowers were actually a source of inspiration Claude Monet’s paintings.

After our morning on the lake we took a tour of Mantua and learned about the influence that the Gonzaga family had on he city. Not only were the Gonzagas a ruling family at the time, but the Gonzaga family were patrons of herbalists in Mantua that were mentioned in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

After our tour in the afternoon we finished our day in Mantua with a concert featuring the Mantua Youth Choir. It was amazing having the opportunity to sing alongside a local choir so passionate about choral music, and being to share our music with the people of Mantua. Our concert took place in the Basilica di Santa Barbara, and the location couldn’t be any better. The basilica was open, grand, and provide beautiful acoustics for the concert.

Overall, today’s adventure in Mantua was nothing short of spectacular. The city was so beautiful and its history is so important to the Gonzaga tradition. I will definitely put on my list of places I need to visit again. Ciao!

- Peter Jones

For dance, it was our last morning in Florence and we had some free time before our afternoon workshop. The day as a whole had perfect weather and ended up being one of the few days we’ve been here that it didn’t rain. I had breakfast at the pensione then went to one of the markets for a few last souvenirs. We had lunch at the pensione before taking the bus to the Opus Ballet studio for our third and final dance workshop. It was really neat to see everyone improve in their movements since our first workshop (especially since the movements were out of our comfort zone for some of us-myself included!) We walked back to the pensione, with a pit stop for gelato along the way, and got ready for dinner. Our Florence dance coordinator, Flavia, got us reservations at a great local restaurant. All of the dancers, Suzanne and her husband, and our friends from Florence joined us in our Farewell to Florence dinner. It was delicious and I’m still full as I write this several hours later. We walked back to the pensione once again and stopped for gelato round two by the duomo. I think we’re all a little sad to be saying goodbye (for now) to Florence, but we’re looking forward to the next couple of days in Castiglione delle Stiviere!

-Clara Buck

Ciao from Castiglione delle Stiviere! 

Today was our first full day here and boy was it fun! After waking to a view of the beautiful Italian countryside we drove to Mantova (Mantua) for a relaxing cruise of the cities surrounding lakes. 

We then took to the city center on a history walk. Turns out the Gonzaga name plays a huge role the local community since it is not only in reference to the saint that gave our school it’s name, but also for the rest of the noble Gonzagas. 

The Gonzaga family was the ruling class in Mantua for quite some time and at one point they had the largest castle complex in Europe with over 500 individual rooms! One of the spaces we saw on our tour was the Basilica of Santa Barbara which is also where we performed tonight along with the Isabella D’Este musical High School. 

Fun times were had, beautiful music was shared, and I think we are all feeling a little more rejuvenated after getting a taste of the laid-back Italian countryside.

- David Barnes