The choir participated in the noontime mass, singing Finzi, Palestrina, di Lasso, and Bruckner, at St. Stephen’s Cathedral. After the service, a hearty crowd gathered to stay to hear the beautiful 40-minute concert. The photo shows the Romanesque and Gothic architecture with thick stone walls and large windows, which were covered with colored gels for the celebration of Pentecost.

Yesterday was a lovely adventure. We started off visiting the graves of some very well known composers: Brahms, Schubert, Beethoven, Wolf, and others. It was amazing to be standing so close to the remains of the legends we study and sing every day. We then were shown a few more sights of the city and visited the Haus der Musik, an interactive museum on the history and science of classical music. Dr. Paparo and Dr. Thornton got to enjoy their premier performance with the Vienna Philharmonic at a virtual conducting station in the museum. From there we were let loose on the city for the rest of the day. Some of us visited the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, famous for its Lipizzaner breed of dancing

horses. Others saw the sites of the city or toured the Vienna State Opera House. Some even stayed through the evening to see Carmen at the opera house for only 3 euros! That’s less than the train ride back to the hotel from the opera house. The great culture of music in this city has continued to amaze us all. We are sad to leave it, but have heard of rumors of the beauty of Prague both from our professors and from even the locals of Vienna. We can’t wait to see it after our long day of driving today.

Yesterday we had a lovely day in the city of Vienna. The day started with a lovely tour of Schönbrunn Palace, the summer home of the old Hapsburg empire. Designed after Versailles, the palace was dressed to the nines with exquisite tapestry, intricate wood paneling, and 22 pounds of gold leaf on the walls. Our tour guide was generous enough to let us sing a phrase or two in the great hall, and the experience was quite thrilling. In addition, the palace had lovely trimmed gardens that we were able to explore.

We then grabbed a very fast lunch and prepared to sing in the mass at St. Stephen’s, a famous (and enormous) gothic cathedral. After the mass, we gave a short concert which received a lovely response from both the church staff and the churchgoers. After the concert we were given some time to explore the city on our own and enjoy Viennese culture.

My favorite part of the day, however, was our evening at the home of the lovely Dr. Jutta Unkart-Seifert, who invited us all to her apartment for dinner, good company, and music. I felt as if I was living the 19th century culture of salons, where musicians would

simply gather together for informal mini-concerts with food and share their new compositions and old favorites. This is exactly what we did. The experience was so moving to be able to perform without pressure and yet still enjoy the masterful craft of our music, critically listening but not competing. It was simply lovely.

Two days ago was filled mostly with traveling from Salzburg to Vienna. However we did make two stops along the way. The first was to St. Michael’s Basilica, the church used for the wedding scene in the filming of the Sound of Music. There we sang a few of our pieces and then continued on to Melk Abbey, which was also used in the Sound of Music. Our friendly guide showed around the museum wing, telling us the history of the over 1000 year old order of monks and showing us their amazingly extensive library, complete with hidden bookcase doors. We were then invited to sing a short recital in the abbey church, which was an amazing experience. It was especially moving for me because Dr. Thornton let me conduct one of the pieces. I have never been as moved by music as in that moment, and I cannot thank Dr. Thornton or the choir enough for such a soul-filling moment.

After that, Dr. Thornton treated us all to lunch and we finished the last leg of driving to Vienna. We checked into our lovely hotel, had a marvelous dinner, and observed a rehearsal of the Wienersingakademie, one of the premiere choirs in the world. All I can say is that even for an orchestral choir, they had a massively powerful sound. now it’s off to bed to be ready to sing tomorrow!