"Hello from Hungary!

Well, lots of things are happening here. The students have been model citizens - just a delightful group to travel with. Yesterday, we performed at the 'Palace of the Arts' for the formal competition. Even though I arranged the transportation beforehand, something got messed up language-wise. Long story...but we all got there for the competition itself, though some of us missed the all-important warm-up before the competition.

The competition was held in a dry acoustic (yes, much drier than Goodrich) - and, unfortunately, probably because of the taxi fiasco, a few of our singers spaced out for a couple of measures - which affected other succeeding entrances. Suffice it to say, we would like to have that performance back. The net result, although I don't know for sure yet, is that they will probably not advance into final rounds, which is too bad. However, on the bright side, our students heard some great choirs yesterday - and some GREAT repertoire. We sang again with two of those choirs this evening at a "Friendship concert" at the Reformed Church in Budapest - a fabulous acoustic! The Briton Singers finished the concert - and I must say, they really gave their finest performance. We were last on the program, and got extended applause - several times. They were a real hit!! I was very proud of them.

I include an mp3 of one of the pieces at our rehearsal today. The microphone was a little close - and you can hear some individual voices because of that-- but I hope you can get a sense of how well they sounded in that acoustic. As I said this was our warm-up rehearsal -- they sounded even better in the concert tonight. They gave an absolutely gorgeous performance of Shenandoah, which was not recorded unfortunately.

This particular performance was among the very best I have heard from the Briton Singers in the 11 years I have been at Albion. I am particularly happy that this concert happened, especially after the disappointing day we had yesterday. I know that the students felt proud of themselves as well - especially since they received much longer applause than the choir from Slovenia that preceded them this evening. This choir from Slovenia was incredible - it was the choir that I think may have given the finest performance at the festival yesterday. I only wish tonight's Briton Singers performance was judged as part of the competition, because they definitely were as good tonight.

So, enjoy the sights and sounds - and please be proud of your Albion College representatives in Budapest - I certainly am!"

Cheers, Doug!