University of South Carolina Concert Choir performs at Santa Maria Maggiore (Florence) on Sunday, March 6 at 8:15 PM

The University of South Carolina Concert Choir from Columbia, South Carolina, will perform a feature concert at Santa Maria Maggiore in Florence at 8:15PM on Sunday, March 6, 2011. Florence’s Santa Maria Maggiore was originally built as early as the eighth century, with documentation tracing back to the year 931. Popular legend suggests that it may have been constructed in A.D. 580 under the commission of Pope Pelagius, although this theory is not widely supported. The church obtained status of collegiate church and Priory of Florence in 1176 before subsequently expanding its property in 1186. The structure, with the exception of the original external walls and the vaults, was completely renovated in the 13th century to reflect the Gothic style architecture popular of that period. Italian architect and painter Giorgio Vasari is quoted as crediting “Master Buono” as the designer of the new façade and also recorded that following the renovation the high altar then boasted Agnolo Gaddi’s Coronation of the Virgin as well as frescoes by Spinello Aretino. Only fragments of these works survive today.

The exterior of the current structure appears rather simple and undecorated, with stone walls and portals adorned by tympana. The bell tower, which survives from the original Romanesque building, displays an embedded stone head popularly known as Berta. Although the interior appears quite simple, with just a nave and two aisles, the walls flaunt various intricate works of art. Artworks include frescoes by Bernardino Poccetti, a nativity scene constructed by Matteo Rosselli, and a wooden polychrome bas-relief attributed to Coppo di Marcovaldo.

Incantato performance venue: Villa Mondragone near Monte Porzio Catone in Italy

Villa Mondragone is the largest and one of the most beautiful villas near Rome, Italy - and one of Incantato's unique performance venues. The monumental complex has been acquired in 1981 by the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Over the course of its long history, Villa Mondragone hosted important events. It was the residence of Popes and famous families of the ancient nobility. The restructured section of the monumental complex is currently the seat for important national and international conferences and other cultural events. Villa Mondragone is open to the public to enjoy its large rooms and wonderful gardens. To learn more about the performance venue, please visit the official website.

The San Marino Chamber Choir in Spain: An unforgettable experience

The San Marino Chamber Choir is back in the USA. The choir under the direction of Howard Cheung made its way through Spain for 11 day. They performed, enjoyed typical dishes, met locals and had lots of fun. Natalia and Andy kept the families and friends at home informed about the SMCC adventures in Spain via the Incantato Tour blog. Here is a summary of their entries:

Touch Down in Madrid
After nearly 14 hours on a plane, and 20 hours since we left the choir room, San Marino Chamber Choir has finally touched down in Madrid! Torn between excitement and overwhelming exhaustion, our beloved Chamber family filed out of the Lufthansa jet into the Spanish castle of an airport ready to tackle all of the wonderful challenges that await us!

Showered with Praise after the Easter Mass Performance
Wow! What an amazing, yet exhausting, day! Our first stop was the most famous bull-fighting ring in the world! Our wonderful tour guide, Mark, told us a brief history of the landmark and explained that on Easter Sunday it is the celebratory task of a matador to fight 6 bulls at once! After a few minutes of break time in the "botanical train station," the Chamber entourage went on a walking tour led by our two lovely guest guides, Mercedes y Raquel. The choir split up and walked through central Madrid, experiencing the royal palace, town hall, old Madrid, and La Plaza del Sol. Soon after, we found ourselves spiffed-up and ready to perform the 6:00 Easter Mass. As the performance and after-performance concluded, we were all showered with praise and presented with the chance the meet several locals, including a woman from Boise. What a treat to hear english spoken by someone outside of our bus!

Watch out for the Swords in Toldeo
The bus ride from Madrid placed us in the beautiful city of Toledo. With our very intense tourguide, Carlos, we traced the perimeter of Toledo by bus and then took a trip to the famous sword manufacturer of Toledo. Once we entered the center of Toledo, we were surrounded by eighty churches, and one enormous cathedral. Step by step, line by line, we filed into this monumentous landmark. 3 hours of free time later we got dressed and meandered through the ancient streets in style, capturing many awkward glances, and comments of our mixed ethnicities. But sure enough, we overcame these seemingly insurmountable obstacles and made it safely to the granddad of all churches. We had an amazing performance for a small mass, and received many blessings from the priest.


Best Performance of the Year
While the vast majority of the morning was spent traveling to our hotel, eventually we reached our very "quaint" hotel in the center of "Old Cuenca." At 7:00 we met to rehearse in the beautiful octagonal church that was adjacent to our hotel. The performance was amazing. By far the best one our choir has had all year. After the concert we all climbed to the bus and drove to "New Cuenca" to have some great food.


From Cuenca to Valencia
Five hours of bus riding later, we arrived in sunny Valencia. We are stopped halfway to our final nighttime destination for a traditional Paella lunch! After this we took a bus tour around the gorgeous city to see the Formula 1 race track, downtown, and of course, the city of arts and sciences! We then took a tour of the Cathedral of Valencia. While we have seen a Cathedral in almost every city now, this Cathedral was just as amazing as ever. It is impossible for the brilliant architecture and history to ever get old. Reflecting back to all of our touring, I have yet to see a city as beautiful as Valencia. With such a perfect mix of local agriculture, modern architecture, beautiful culture, and history, I cannot wait to come back to Valencia as soon as I can!


A day full of relaxation and fun by the water
Oh Happy Day! SMCC and Friends spent a day full of relaxation and fun by the water. Our late wake-up call and delicious breakfast gave us just enough energy for a few hours of shopping on the boardwalk. When we got back from the excursion we all jumped into our swim trousers. With our new coat of bronze we all found our rooms and spiffied-up to watch two choir perform in the renowned performance hall of Torreviejo. We were then serenaded by the hispanic double of Hugh Laurie and Mr. Bean and entertained by the wonderful children's choir. Shortly after, Bean's choir returned to finish of the night with a bang!


A Press Conference and an Amazing Concert
After a fulfilling breakfast at the hotel, we got fancy and made our way over to the mayor's office, where we were met by a crew of reporters and television video cameras. As all of the participating choirs from Italy, Austria, Madrid, and Sweden filed in, our Chamber Singers sat in anticipation waiting for the press conference to start. After the conference we went back to the hotel, ate, and packed everything up. We then spent a few hours catching up on our relaxation time back at the boardwalk. Then we made our way over to the concert hall. We warmed up, and prepared ourselves mentally for the grueling concert ahead of us. Each song we were singing demanded every ounce of our voice, as well as our hearts. Half-way through, the Barbershop provided a quick break for the singers who were on the verge of collapse from such a demanding repertoire. The Four Chords won the hearts of the Spanish crowd with a stunning performance of "What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?" Rested, and rejuvenated, the choir finished the concert full of passion and energy. As we all sang the last note, the crowd erupted in applause. Slowly but surely re received that treasured standing ovation.

Welcome to the Cultural Mecca that Is Barcelona!
After grabbing a quick lunch by the Marina, we proceeded to the most famous street in Barcelona, one the way, visiting a gorgeous cathedral, and the very steps on which Columbus told his news of the "New World." After some free time, we all piled around the towering statue of Christopher Columbus awaiting Kiefer's guidance to our dinner location. There we were re-united with our friend and owner of Incantato Tours, Sandra. With Sandra in our ranks, we enjoyed an amazing meal of seemingly endless tapas, all of which were mouth-wateringly delicious.

Memories that Will Last a Lifetime
The day started with SMCC singing! With a rehearsal time of 9:15 at the Petite Palau, we found ourselves warming up before we could even open our eyes. After testing the acoustics of the hall, we were served a sandwich and drink before entering the hall once again to begin our concert. With foreign dignitaries present, the pressure was on, but our excitement overcame it. We performed about as well as 40 exhausted singers could, and brought joy to the hearts of those watching. Now that we had no commitment to save our voices, the real fun could begin. We embarked on a bus tour around Barcelona with a British guy name Steve. Steve took us to all of the Gaudi monuments around the city, including the one that makes Barcelona so famous: La Iglesia de Sagra Familia. As the tour concluded and an hour of shopping elapsed, we made our way over to a tapas bar for dinner. We performed for the owner of the restaurant and said our goodbyes to the chaperons. The parents were to get a good night's sleep before a long day of traveling, but the kids were instructed to party their hardest aboard a double-decker party bus. We can't thank Incantato Tours enough for all that they've done. The concerts, the sights, and the people were all impeccable. Thank you Sandra and Mark (Max Kiefer) for building memories that will last a lifetime!

The Falcon Choirs in Germany: 11 days full of fun and music with Incantato Tours

The Falcon Choirs from Crescenta Valley High School are back from their trip to Germany! The 11 days flew by, the students experienced and learned a lot. Here is a summary of the adventures written down from the bloggers Annie Lawler and Cody Chase:

Munich: From the Olympiastadion to the Marienplatz
We made it safe and sound, and had an excellent first day here. The flight over was quite smooth and was filled with entertainment. We landed nearly an hour ahead of schedule and on the way to the hotel enjoyed a short tour of Munich. Later that night we had an amazing Bavarian dinner at the hotel before knocking out for the night. Today we went on a real tour of Munich, seeing the grounds where they held the Olympics in the 70's, the English Gardens, and the Glockenspiel. At 6 pm we got back together for dinner at the “Augustiner”.


Easter Sunday Performance: An Amazing Cultural Experience
Our 2nd full day in Germany was just as amazing and busy as the first. We performed at the Easter service at St. Lucas Church and then had a short concert. The service was beautiful and an amazing cultural experience. And the concert was well attended, and we sounded AMAZING in the cathedral space. It was amazing to sing in there. Later that day we went to the BMW museum for lunch and then to Osterfest (the Easter festival in Munich) where most of us went up in the Olympiaturm. There was hardly enough time to see everything, but our busy schedule called and we had to run off to dinner at the Hofbräuhaus.

Like Prince and Princess in Castle Neuschwanstein
On Monday we left Munich bright and early for our long day of driving. Our first stop was Neuschwanstein, the castle disney modeled their castle after. It was beautiful on the outside and even better on the inside. Then it was back on the bus to get to a beautiful church in Steingaden. We performed in our casual/nice attire to a small audience at first, but one that kept growing as the concert progressed. We spent only a few minutes at the church after that because we had to move out once again in order to make it to Rothenburg on time for our night tour of the city. We were picked up at out hotel by someone dressed as the 'night watchman' that the old city would have had. It was a great day.

Snowballs - with Chocolate! And: Is it Already Christmas?
Then it was Tuesday. We had the whole morning to run around Rothenburg and do what we pleased. Many of u tried a 'snowball'. They are a Rothenburg specialty that's basically doughnut batter fried and put into the shape of a ball before being dipped in chocolate. There was also one of the largest Christmas stores in the world in that small town, and the crime museum. There was so much to do and see, no one wanted to leave, but we had to go on to our next destination: Chemnitz. There we performed again. The concert had over 100 people in attendance!


Lifting up the Spirits in Berlin
So its Friday night here in Berlin and a few hours ago we had our last concert of the tour. We had a decent sized audience that provided the needed energy that we couldn’t gather up by ourselves after such a great and exhausting trip. Even when we don’t feel like we sang as best as we could’ve there always seems to be at least one audience member that has something to say that lifts our spirits right back up. I truly don’t believe we could’ve had a better tour with better performances. And with only one more full day to go, I can say that this trip has been worth every dollar and euro that has gone into it. I’m going to miss Germany a lot. I don’t know that I could live here or anything like that, but it sure is an amazing place to visit, and the memories that the 2009-2010 CVHS Falcon Choir has made on this trip will never be forgotten.

"I can't believe we just sang in the Sistine Chapel"

The singers from both the California State University Long Beach Chamber Choir and the Carolina International Chorale were amazed when they sang in the Sistine Chapel on June 30, 2008 as part of their Incantato Performance Tours to Italy. Both choirs had the opportunity to perform several works in this amazing venue right in front of Michelangelo's Last Judgement as part of their private visit to the Vatican Museums. While no recordings were allowed, the memories of this essential artistic experience in one of the world's most beautiful and exclusive venues will last a lifetime.

Impressions from the Carmina Burana Festival on the Amalfi Coast

Bravissimo, siete bravissimi!! The Carmina Burana Festival Concert on June 27 at the Anfiteatro del Porto in Maiori attracted wellover 1000 guests and they were amazed by the powerful performance of Carl Orff's masterwork by the choirs from California and North Carolina under the direction of Dr. Jonathan Talberg. 120 singers and the State Symphony Orchestra from the Russian Republic of Udmurtia enchanted the international audience. The Incantato Festival Choir received minute-long applause and standing ovations. The soloists were: Tyler Alessi (Baritone), Ashley Seaton (Tenor) and Dr. Andrew Crane (Tenor). The pianists: Christopher Luthi and Joshua Tuburan. The singers came from the following choirs: The California State University Chamber Choir & University Choir, The Carolina International Chorale and The California State University Chamber Singers.
For impressions from the Festival Concert, please view the slide show below.

This is a video recording of the concert opening:

The 2008 Incantato Festival on the Amalfi Coast was organized by New York based Incantato Tours & Concert Management in cooperation with the Azienda Autonoma di Soggiorno e Turismo di Maiori (Grazie mille, to Dr. Giacobbe Ruocco and his team). The event was under the patronage of the American Consulate in Naples and supported by the Regione di Campania and various local organizations.

"The sexiest Carmina Burana ever heard" - Enchanting Incantato Festival Concert on the Amalfi Coast in Maiori on Friday, June 27 at 9 pm

Event:
Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" in concert
Date:
June 27, Anfiteatro (Marina di Maiori) at 9 pm

"We are singing the sexiest Carmina Burana the Amalfi Coast has ever heard", that's conductor Jonathan Talberg's promise for the upcoming concert event on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 9.00 pm at the Anfiteatro in Maiori (Marina). The entrance is free for the 2008 Incantato Festival opening.
Under the direction of Dr. Talberg, a masterly US-American choir director and renowned university professor, 120 singers from four choirs are performing Carl Orff's masterpiece in full length with soloists, mixed choir, two pianos and symphomic orchestra: The California State University Chamber Choir supported by singers from the CSULB University Choir from Long Beach, The California State University San Bernadino Chamber Singers and The Carolina International Chorale from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Carmina Burana is an extraordinary and moving cantata based on 24 poems from the 13th century that were discovered in a Bavarian monastery. The poems cover a wide range of secular topics as familiar to us today as they undoubtedly were in the 13th century: the transient nature of wealth, the fickleness of fortune, the joy over the return of Spring, and the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling and sex. The music has a here-and-now quality that captures the attention of modern audiences, it is surging, powerful and sometimes very erotic. "Perfect for a hot summer night on the amazing Amalfi Coast", exclaims Talberg. Performing Carmina in Italy is a dream come true for the conductor and singers alike. The Maiori Anfiteatro is an ideal setting for this essential artistic experience. When visiting the Amalfi Coast for the very first time last summer, the maestro was particularly moved by the hospitality of the locals and great appreciation for fine arts. "When asked if we would consider performing Carmina in Maiori, there could only be one answer: YES", Talberg recalls. The local commitment and support, both morally and financially, substantiallly helped to realize the project titled "Incantato Festival 2008". The highlight performance of Carmina Burana in Maiori is presented by the New York based Performance Tour Specialists Incantato Tours & Concert Management in cooperation with the Azienda di Soggiorno e Turismo di Maiori and under the patronage of the Regione di Campania. The singers' journey will also be documented by a videographer that was especially appointed to come along.
While the symphonic orchestra is comprised of professional musicians from the Republic of Udmurtia which makes Carmina in Maiori a truly international event, the soloists and pianists come from the United States - like the choristers. Tenor Andrew Crane has already made himself a name for his inspired interpretation of the role. Baritone Tyler Alessio and Soprano Ashley Seaton are outstanding voice majors at California State University Long Beach and the concerts will be their international premiere as soloists in a major production. Christopher Luthi and Joshua Tuburan are the pianists.