UAHuntsville Choirs: UAHuntsville Chamber Choir Recent Tour of Southern Cal

The Chamber Choir had a GREAT time in Southern Cal. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate when we first arrived: it was cold and windy! Very un-california. But we survived. As the students gorged themselves on In-and-Out and played frisbee in a park, we prepared for a long week.

Curtis: Hammer Time

On Monday, we visited the campus of USC, my alma mater (M.M. '04 and D.M.A. '07). FIGHT ON! We had a great clinic with Dr. Scheibe at USC. I think he was very impressed, especially after he realized there are only 8 music majors in the entire choir! Dr. Scheibe then asked if we would sing for the USC Chamber Singers during their rehearsal at 2pm. We had lunch on campus, and I got to visit with some dear friends. (We also ran into Matt Barkley...hubba, hubba...) The students were enamored of USC's campus, which is even more beautiful than when I was a student there. They have completely renovated the student union, and it's gorgeous! After lunch, we watched their rehearsal (in the Charles Hirt Choral Rehearsal Room), and then sang for them. Both experiences were invaluable for the singers. We thank the singers and Dr. Scheibe both.

At the United University Church on the USC Campus, with Dr. Scheibe

Tommy Trojan and Traveler, his horse

Watching the USC Chamber Singers rehearse in the Charles C Hirt - my husband's mentor and the founder of the church music degree at USC -- Rehearsal Room

Ann-Marie and Maryanne at USC

Later that evening, we visited Santa Monica and the 3rd Street Promenade. Many of the students visited the famous Santa Monica pier and did the normal touristy things.

Zach and Sean pulling a "Titanic" at the Santa Monica Pier

Ann-Marie and John in Santa Monica

Ferris Wheel in Santa Monica

Sean at the beach in Santa Monica

I felt it important to their education that I show them the Scientology Centre

On Tuesday, we visited Cal State University, Fullerton, where my dear friend, Rob Istad, is the Director of Choral Studies. He gave us a little tour of the campus, and then we met the students that sing in the "University Singers". We sang for each other and had a wonderful time. Both choirs sang beautifully. I am consistently impressed with Rob and the work he does there. We later went to Heroe's for a few beers and many laughs.

Rob and the CSUF University Singers (Grant Rohr at the piano)

UAH Chamber Choir at CSUF's Meng Hall

Warming up for an exchange with CSUF's University Singers

Dr. Istad and I modeling our hats at Heroe's pub in Fullerton, CA

On Wednesday, we spent the day at Disneyland and California Adventure. Since we had 3 vans, each van left at a different time to accommodate the die-hards and the not-so-die-hards. The first van left at 630am (God Bless!) My van left at 9am, and Lori and her crew came around noon. All had a great time. You can tell by the pics...thankfully, the weather cleared up and it was the perfect day.

Tower of Terror

Fun Crew

The Ladies

Ryan, James, and Sean in line for a ride

Nikki, at DisneyLines

Disney

Stephanie

We stayed for the fireworks, which were magical. I usually don't get excited by stuff like that, but I found myself clapping for Tinkerbell. Weird? A little. After a long drive home (and a little dance party in the van), we got some serious sleep and woke up ready to go to the Getty on Thursday. The Getty is a beautiful museum perched upon the foothills of the Santa Monica mountains off the 405. Its collection is nothing to scream about, but the views alone are worth the visit. The students had enough time to visit some of the newer exhibits and get some good pictures.

Bass Love: Matt, Rob, and Ryan at The Getty

One of the gardens at The Getty

Group Shot

Daniel and Jackie at The Getty

Jasmine, Michael, and me

Later that evening, we had our first concert at St. James Episcopal in South Pasadena. It was a beautiful space. The church music guild fed us a meal, AND prepared a reception for the performers after the concert. We shared the concert with the Cincinnati Boys Choir, conducted by Chris Eanes, one of my classmates from USC. http://cincinnatiboychoir.org/

The boys sounded wonderful, and so did the UAH Chamber Choir.

Rehearsing in the space @ St. James

After the concert, I took the 21+ crowd out to some fun places in Hollywood. The Sunset Strip was its usual crazy self, and we had a lot of fun. One of the things that two of our "non-traditional" students (i.e. over age 40) noted about this trip was that they enjoyed getting to know the college students personally over the course of the trip. It was also fun to watch these ladies get away from the responsibilities of home and have some fun and make some great music.

I have no idea what is happening here.

On Friday, we made our way to Disney Hall for a very special tour designed especially for us. Daniel Song, operations manager with the LAPhil

Group Shot outside the Walt Disney Concert Hall's Main Entrance

The Performance Space @ Disney Hall

From there, we drove to my old stomping grounds, Redondo Beach. Many of us had lunch at a beachy venue or did some Beach Shopping. Pic below is of a few of us eating at one of my old hangs, Hennessy's on the Strand @ Hermosa Beach. The roof deck has a great view of the ocean.

A few students actually went swimming, against my better advice. The Alaskan current is pretty cold at this time of year!

Ryan, me, Rob, Jasmine and Michael, enjoying lunch at Hennessy's in Hermosa Beach

Melanie, Lori, and Kirstin @ Hennessy's

Frisbee at Hermosa Beach

One Soggy Tenor

Following our day at the beach, we were fortunate to sing at Redondo Beach's Riviera United Methodist Church as part of their Music Series. One of my classmates from USC is their Music Director, Dawn
Brooks. It was great to see her and her family. We shared the stage that night with Chris Eanes and the Boys' Choir, again. This time, however, Horizon Music Group, also sang, conducted by another classmate of mine, Christian Campos. http://horizonmusicgroup.com/

Horizon is made up of mainly pro-singers -- many of these singers either sang with Bill in the USC Chamber Choir or currently sing in the USC Chamber Singers with Dr. Scheibe. It's a very fine group, and they did not disappoint. After this concert, we had a farewell dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in Redondo Beach (on the Marina). Each section had some GREAT skits, and we had a lot of laughs.

Singing at Riviera United Methodist

Our last day in Los Angeles was spent packing up; we had to check out by 12. The students were allowed a few precious hours of free time to explore Guitar Center or go shopping, etc. At 3pm, we departed for our last venue: Immanuel Presbyterian on Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown (near downtown L.A.). We had an early soundcheck and then split up for dinner. I encouraged the students to have some of the local cuisine. I LOVE Korean BBQ! Many of them did. I spent some time at a Brazilian place with my dear friends Scott and Becky, who came to our concert.

Waiting for Soundcheck @ Immanuel Presbyterian

Rose Window @Immanuel

The students sang beautifully; unfortunately, we had to leave immediately after our performance to catch our red-eye flight out of LAX.

We had a bit of trouble getting checked in, but we made it in plenty of time. We got to Atlanta in the early morning and then had a four-hour layover. UGHH! Many slept in undesirable places at the airport, but made it work.