Monday's Concert

In Agaard Church, Agaard, Denmark

Tonight's concert started out nearly flawless. The choir sang through the first and second section of pieces (there are four total in the entire concert) without any major problems. Until they got to a German piece called, "Singet Dem Herrn."

It's a somewhat lengthy song that works as a round for all voices. It's really cool to listen to, especially in a church with good acoustic sound like the Agaard Church.

But something went wrong. I don't know what it was, but at some point, they stopped singing and no one started for the next part. Some attempted to, but it ended up being a lost cause. Everyone in the choir paused for a moment before Dr. Duffy asked the crowd of about 50 if they could start again. Audience members, seemingly unaware of the error, smiled; some nodded.

On a second attempt, it seemed everyone was a bit unsettled about the freak accident during the first try and it didn't come out right. So, Duffy started a third time and they worked through until the end.

Luckily, they had a longer intermission to regroup themselves before the next section of pieces. On their way out of the sanctuary, they received thundering applause that lasted until they had all gone out. That didn't happen again until the end of the entire concert.

Brenda Roberts, Anna Juhl and Monica Bollenbough sing an absolutely gorgeous trio on the Danish song, "Ordet Blev Kod Og Blod." This is my favorite piece on the entire concert, and I don't know if it was the church or just the three of them tonight, but it seemed as beautiful as ever! If you haven't heard the piece yet, which I assume most of you have not, please come out to the home concert at 3 p.m. on April 5 at Luther Memorial Church on Grand View's campus to hear it! The three of them make an incredibly harmonious sound.

Keyla Spahr's solo on "Darkness is Falling," another Danish piece, arranged by Grand View choir alumn, Charlie Davis, who is also along with us on the trip. That solo was another high point of tonight's concert.

I definitely think tonight sounded much stronger than last night's concert, regardless of the glitch in "Singet Dem Herrn."

The choir comes into performances like this, singing as they enter the churches

Before I forget, here's our itinerary for the next several days:

Tomorrow, March 17: We'll spend St. Patrick's Day here, at the Agaard Efterskole (Efterskole is like high school), going to classes and visiting with students and instructors.

We'll also eat lunch here before traveling to a school in Vojens, where they will eat dinner and perform a concert.

Wednesday, March 18: On this day, we'll be traveling for much of the morning, to Lubek, Germany to spend the afternoon there. The group will then head to Bielefeld where we will stay in a hotel and the choir will get a night off from performing, one I'm sure they look forward to.

Thursday, March 19: For our second full day in Germany, we'll visit the Cologne Cathedral, which I am looking forward to in particular. I heard it's incredible to even stand in the midst of. We'll then head to Alpenrod for the night, where the group will sing at the "kirche," or church, there.