The Professional Choral Institute: Day 15

Sunday, June 5--The Last Day

The bus was leaving for Ft. Lauderdale at 10:00. Our last performance was tonight at 6:00. It was going to be a four hour bus ride to Ft. Lauderdale...so at least we had lots of time to spend with PCI.
Taliah and I sat next to each other and then we sat around Mariam Osman, Andrew Hoy, Tom Regan, Cecilia Lo, Brett Bailey and David Evans. We started playing Three Truths and a Lie. I was having a hard time with that one. I couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t completely obvious. YEESH. But it was fun and it was a really good way to get to know each other. It was a long bus ride but it was totally fun the whole way over. Joey Quigley kind of had little exit interviews with us. He just asked us what they could improve on for next year and I could honestly said "No improvements, I thought it was awesome! I loved every minute of it." He laughed a little because I was just SO happy. I did joke about how I was put down as a soprano and how that was a BIG MISTAKE. :]
Ft. Lauderdale is beautiful. It’s a completely different kind of city than Tampa. I really loved it. I loved the scenery and the way the little shops were all lined up.
We got to All Saints Episcopal church and dropped off our stuff and had to run and find somewhere to grab lunch. We ended up at a restaurant called Mangos with some PCI people and some Seraphic Fire peeople. I ended up sitting with Mariam, Kat Mueller (from Seraphic Fire), Taliah, and Brett Bailey. Very fun. Kat is so great and it was fun to get to know her a little bit and some of her background. She was very personable and incredibly kind. I loved hearing her tell stories about how she is a pesco-vegetarian and how she is earth friendly. She goes, “Well, I am kind of a vegetarian….I eat fish. Because, you know, I could kill a fish.” Yup, I definitely liked her from the very start. After lunch we still had about 15 minutes and Kat thought of going to grab some frozen yogurt. Best idea EVER. Vanilla frozen yogurt with strawberries and blueberries? What could be better?
We ran back to the church and got ready and had a sound check. The acoustics in the church were AMAZING. We were all so excited for our last concert.
Singing tonight was just so fun. I almost cried at least six different times. Every time we ended a movement, it made me so sad to think that it was the last time that I would be singing this beloved requiem with these beloved people. It was so fun. I didn’t leave that concert wishing that I had given it a little more. I gave it all I had. Despite the tears.
Seraphic Fire sang “There will be rest” as an encore. Have you heard that song? Look it up--it’s on Seraphic Fire’s Christmas CD. No one could sing it better than Seraphic Fire. It is one of those songs that instantly makes your eyes tear up and makes your chest feel so full that it could burst at any minute.
After the performance we talked to the audience members. They were so great, I could tell that many of them must be regulars. Some cute ladies told us how lucky we were to be there.
Trust us, we know.
The bus ride back was a PARTY! Everyone stopped off and got some supplies for the road home. Alcohol for everyone...ice cream for me and Taliah. :]
We all talked and had fun and celebrated a good two weeks.
We got home at around 2:00 in the morning.
Goodbyes suck so bad. Everyone has been so wonderful and I just really liked everyone! Hopefully we will all see each other again someday. I'm sure we will.
We had to say goodbye as people got off the bus. We said goodbye to the USF people. We said goodbye to Seraphic Fire. We said goodbye to the Western Michigan people.
Man, it was hard. Tomorrow I hop back onto a plane...back to real life.
Goodbye Florida. Goodbye PCI. Goodbye USF. Goodbye everyone. Goodbye Requiem.
I’m going to miss you all. It’s been a pleasure.