Before the spring semester set in, 24 Benedictine College students took some time away from the business of life and spent the first week of the new year touring Italy, singing in various churches, monasteries and venues.
Every three years, the Benedictine College Chamber Singers travel to Italy in a culturally enriching experience and a once-in a lifetime musical opportunity.
“What we’re always trying to do is find great experiences for our students here,” Dr. Timothy Tharaldson, director of choral activity at the college, said. “Typically what we tend to do is a lot of singing.”
The first thing the choir did upon arrival was to sing a Mass for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God at the Papal basilica of St. Paul’s, outside the walls. Their next singing engagement was a Mass at St. Peter’s at the Vatican.
Andrew Lerner, a sophomore in journalism and mass communications major, shared his experience in performing and sightseeing with the choir.
His favorite performance was singing Victoria’s “O Magnum Mysterium” in Palestrina.
After singing it in so many large churches, the contrast of singing the piece in a smaller church was significant. “Palestrina was the first time I was able to hear the other voices in relation to my own,” Lerner said.
The choir came with a repertoire that included original Dr. Tharaldson pieces and traditional polyphony, dating back to the 1500s such as Palestrina’s “Sicut Cervus” which they were able to sing at the church where the composer worked half a millenia ago, various Christmas pieces and Arvo Pärt’s arrangement of “Nunc Dimmitis”
Tharaldson’s favorite part about the trip was the performance in Florence at the Basilica of Sancta Trinitas.
The concert “was extremely well attended and the kids sang absolutely incredibly,” Tharaldson said. “It was one of the highlights of the tour.”
While singing was a major part of the trip, the choristers were also given the opportunity to explore various places in Italy including Rome, Florence and Assissi, concluding the trip at Norcia where they sang vespers with the Benedictine monks at the abbey, many of whom were American.
Students had the opportunity to participate in various tours, taste the cuisine and even see the pope.
“It’s getting students to get to see these great places throughout Italy and to sing and to share their gifts that they work on so hard here with more places outside,” Tharaldson said.
