Our-gentina

Hello friends,

My name is Phil Losquadro, rising soph/your favorite tenor, and I’m here to fill y’all in about our second day in Buenos Aires (the 28th). Get ready!

After a busy first day of traveling, singing, and celebrating Nina (aka the Beyonce of choir)’s 20th birthday, we were happy to rest and recharge for the next one. We started our second day of with a tour of the Teatro Colon, a world-famous opera house renowned for its incredible (and Pavarotti-approved) acoustics. The interior was absolutely stunning, and we were even allowed to view a rehearsal of the Teatro’s production of Swan Lake. (Side note: we are now taking bets on how long it will be until Laurel* makes her debut there.)

After the tour, we walked down La calle Florida. It’s this incredible street that goes for blocks and blocks, and we took some time to look around/use whatever amount of Spanish we remembered from high school with the locals. Later, we found ourselves in an interesting bookstore that was converted from an old theatre. No hablo mucho español, así no puedo leer los libros, but it was super nice to look around.

The big event of the day, though, was our workshop and rehearsal. We met with El Arranque, an orchestral group for middle and high school students in Buenos Aires. Many of these kids come from low-income families, and the orchestra provides them with a way to foster an appreciation for performing arts. We performed a few songs for them, and had the Arranque kids join us for a vocal improvisation exercise (Carley’s riffs were golden as always). Their director (also named David!) had his orchestra play for us, and he and David (of the Harris variety) led their respective groups for a joint performance of “Shenandoah.” It was also a really nice surprise to see our fellow Crusaders who are studying abroad in Buenos Aires!

The passion that El Arranque expressed was tangible. It was evident that they loved spending their time making music, and they were so friendly and welcoming. I enjoyed seeing how, although we may come from different places, music can overcome any language barrier. It was an inspiring moment, for them and for us, and hopefully one of many to come on this trip.

I’ll be back on June 1st! Till then,
Phil

*Laurel Mehaffey (noun): 1. Resident Vocologist of HCC. 2. Professional tree climber. 3. Prima donna-to-be. 4. Title pun creator.

David leading El Arranque and the choir in a vocal improv

David leading El Arranque and the choir in a vocal improv

Lunchtime feat. Rose and Emma

Lunchtime feat. Rose and Emma

Swan Lake at the Teatro Colon

Swan Lake at the Teatro Colon

Double Davids!

Double Davids!

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