The Movie in my Mind

Our second (and last) stop in France was the supremely picturesque Alsace region-- heretofore to be known as "where the wine comes from"!  The region is made up of several smaller villages, including Barr (where our concert was held) and Obernai (where my host family was located).

The crest of Obernai

The first day we walked around the town, which was so beautiful that I felt like it was straight out of a movie set!

The outer walls were built in 1282!!!!!

My host family lived on the outskirts of the town and across from their house was a large corn field situated between two other houses. Apparently every spring they sit in their front yard and toast a drink to the corn because, luckily, no one has mowed the field down and built a house on it.

View of the field from my window

The husbad was also in the process of making stone steps for the entrance of his studio (he is an artist) and the stone mason was over one morning carving out some of them.

The Elijah concert went very... ... ... interestingly to try and chose a polite word.  the conductor, Maestro Jean-Jacques Werner is a big name in the area from what I understand.  A tip to future singers: if you ever hear the words "I will follow you" from him it most likely means "I will drop beats, give you false entrances and conduct in patterns so fast even hummingbirds will have a hard time distinguishing three from four." Or perhaps something just got lost in the translation?

Unfortunately our concert was held in a gym. Waaah waaah

The nice thing is that I still feel I sang well and we were lucky enough to have the performance broadcast on the radio across the entire region, including Strasbourg.  Funilly enough the review in the local paper didn`t have a word to say about the choir, orchestra or anz of the soloists.  For all you Werner fans, though, don`t worry, they didn`t fail to mention the Maestro`s "magic baton."  And by magic I mean wonky.  Bitter soloist much? :)

As is often the case after a big performance, some of the other soloists and counselors decided to go out to a bar and have a little adult time away from the campers.  Following is the resulting revelry!!!

Mason, Emily, Sabrina, Zach (lookin all cray cray) and Ellen

Sabrina and John... Soprano and Tenor.  Get it high voices!!

YAAAAAAAY no campers!!

Representing U of M with the highest amount of dignity and class