2010 CONCERT TOUR
Prague and Vienna
The concert repertoire of this tour celebrated the musical traditions of the Czech Republic, Austria, and the United States, including short works of Dvorak and Mozart, Lux Aeterna by America’s Morten Lauridsen, and a selection of American folk hymns and spirituals.
The first program was presented at St. George’s Church, built in the 2nd Century and adjacent to Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral. This magnificent and ancient stone church provided a fitting setting for Dvorak’s Three Moravian Songs, sung in Czech.
In the Chapel of Melk Abbey, an Austrian Benedictine abbey on the banks of the Danube River, the next performance began with an organ solo by Conductor John Finney, and was followed by three pieces from the Chorale's sacred repertoire.
In Vienna, the Chorale performed six sacred pieces in the traditional Sunday morning Mass at the gothic Maria am Gestade Church, one of the oldest churches in Vienna, built in about 1400. Then, that afternoon while touring Schonbrunn Palace, we were invited to participate in Vienna’s “Voices of the World” by singing an impromptu selection of American patriotic pieces, appropriate as it was the 4th of July. Our final performance was a full concert at Palais Ferstel — a gorgeous 19th Century hall.