NewsUpper SchoolFine Arts
Choral Students Sing in Europe
Aug 1, 1999 8:00 AM
By Stefan Eady - Faculty
After more than a year of heart-throbbing anticipation, seven Darlington students finally fulfilled one of their lifelong desires June 10-19, as they traveled to Germany, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Austria for a European concert choir tour. Embarking on this singing continental journey with Dan Bishop, choral director, were seniors Adam Richardson, Raul Gonzalez, Allen Babcock, and Luke Farmer; and sophomores Tara Nixon, Chris Jackson, and Tripp Alexander.
The Darlington group joined with a choral group from Cartersville High School. Bishop and Jim Stanley, Cartersville High School choral director, acted as co-directors of this newly created ensemble. “It was an eye-opening experience for all the students, not just musically, but also socially,” Bishop said.
The group sang in towering Gothic and Baroque cathedrals, toured breathtaking parts of the French countryside and the Austrian Alps, relaxed on Lake Lucerne, and experienced the horrors of the concentration camp at Dachau.
Concerts were held at the Church of St. Augustine and The American Church in Paris, France; a day school in Hergiswil, Switzerland; the Kurtzenturm health complex in Vigaunnear, Austria; and the Pfarrkirchen St. Michael Cathedral in Reichenkirchen, Germany.
Sightseeing was only a portion of their education; many life lessons were learned. “More than anything, I enjoyed finding out about foreign cultures, meeting foreign people, and making new friends from other schools at the same time,” Chris Jackson said.
As the group flew home June 19, Luke Farmer realized that he was returning with a slightly different perspective. “By being exposed to the ways of different people, I felt that I had become a better person,” Farmer said.
The Darlington group joined with a choral group from Cartersville High School. Bishop and Jim Stanley, Cartersville High School choral director, acted as co-directors of this newly created ensemble. “It was an eye-opening experience for all the students, not just musically, but also socially,” Bishop said.
The group sang in towering Gothic and Baroque cathedrals, toured breathtaking parts of the French countryside and the Austrian Alps, relaxed on Lake Lucerne, and experienced the horrors of the concentration camp at Dachau.
Concerts were held at the Church of St. Augustine and The American Church in Paris, France; a day school in Hergiswil, Switzerland; the Kurtzenturm health complex in Vigaunnear, Austria; and the Pfarrkirchen St. Michael Cathedral in Reichenkirchen, Germany.
Sightseeing was only a portion of their education; many life lessons were learned. “More than anything, I enjoyed finding out about foreign cultures, meeting foreign people, and making new friends from other schools at the same time,” Chris Jackson said.
As the group flew home June 19, Luke Farmer realized that he was returning with a slightly different perspective. “By being exposed to the ways of different people, I felt that I had become a better person,” Farmer said.
