The Melody Lingers

Once again this year, we were treated to a stirring rendition of the Kol Nidre instrumental composed by Max Bruch, through the virtuoso talent of cellist Fran Rowell, accompanied on piano by Beth Robin. 

The haunting melody lingers in the memory for a very long time.  To help savor the echoes of those beautiful sounds, here is a performance found on YouTube, from a Papal Concert to commemorate the Holocaust held at The Vatican in Rome on April 7. 1994.  Lynn Harrell performs on the cello.

Want to hear more?  Listen to another version of the piece over on last year's blog post, Echoes of Kol Nidre.

A walk in the Trastevere

Tracey & I decided to take a walk in the Trastevere area of Rome. It's not too far from our hotel and has a reputation of being a hip neighborhood. Here are a few highlights of our walk.

These are street musicians on the piazza in front of The Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere. You can click on the video below to hear some of the street sounds. What a beautiful day!

Above right is the view from atop many stairs that we climbed.

Here are a few photos of the streets in Trastevere. The sunlight was so beautiful.

This shop had all sorts of instruments and stray cats.

This is a fountain that was above the Trastevere.

After our big walk, we sat down at an outdoor cafe and shared a big glass of fresh grapefruit juice and a cappuccino. Delicioso!

Now we are back at the hotel. We will be joining all of the cantors and other participants for an opening reception at the Instituto Maria Bambina in a few minutes. Tomorrow we begin rehearsing!

Made it!

Earlier today: I’m on the plane, approaching Rome now. I managed to get about an hour’s worth of sleep in on the way here. I was lucky to meet up with my colleague, Susan Caro, and her husband, John Lertzman, who are both joining the trip. Susan is the President of the American Conference of Cantors and will be singing in the concert as well. John is along for the ride! If all goes well are planning to meet two other cantors at the airport in Rome and then travel together to the hotel. We don’t have anything scheduled until this afternoon, so I’m planning on hoofing around with my friend, Tracey Scher, until then.

I arrive, took a shuttle to the Michelangelo Hotel, washed up & headed out. I've seen a bunch of other cantors who have arrived for the trip. We walked past St. Peter's Square and had some pizza.

On the way to Rome!

Getting ready to leave for Rome! Bags are packed, music is in the binder, I think I'm all set. I'm looking forward to meeting up with some of my cantorial colleagues in the airport in Rome tomorrow morning as we begin our journey together. Even though it will be just a few short days, I believe this will be an amazing experience. Thanks to everyone who helped me!