So far today has been the first day it hasn’t rained since we arrived! A beautiful 80 degrees today and it was nice to get out and about.
Our concerts are going well. We blew the roof off the church at our 3rd and final concert for all the choirs mostly with Mark singing “Been in de Storm” and Sergy’s piece “Bogorodiste devo”
Tonight we present our 3rd long program, Hawaiian / Early American music. These shows have been very well received and the audiences have been asking for encores. Good thing we have “Rock Island Line” in our pockets from the Tolosa Spain competition. If there is one thing we have provided the Italian audience, it would have to be variety. Opening with Hawaiian chant in our Hawaiian dresses and shirts and Kim dancing an amazing hula and then moving into music of the Shakers, Kentucky Hill Folk, and Southern Harmony definitely 
offers up something more than the standard choral repertoire.
David’s banjo is also fascinating the audience – I can probably guarantee there isn’t anything like it in Europe. In case you haven’t seen it, it’s a Negro-American instrument made from a gourd from the base and strung with gut strings, which gives it a more mellow sound than that of the contemporary banjo which is strung with metal strings. A history of this instrument in colonial America can be found here.
The Festival has programmed this particular concert 6 times, so we will have this down cold by the time we return home. Our next program for Wednesday will be the Slavic / Mediterranean program. I’m looking forward to performing in some of the beautiful churches we have seen in this part of Italy.
Time for dinner break and then off to the show – ciao!