Another huge breakfast was awaiting our group early this morning. Everyone was up and cheerful and ready to face the day, and what a beautiful day it was! The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the temperature was in the 70’s . . . no rain! Very pleasant!
Our singers walked to the Kaiser Wilhelm church at 8:15 to warm up and rehearse for the morning service and a short concert to follow. The bombed out portion of the church still stands with a very modern sanctuary adjoining it on one side, and an equally modern bell tower on the other. The church contains something like 31,000 windows, all of which are made of an incredibly beautiful blue glass. The service was interesting. They honored their kindergarten, and there were lots of children involved in the service. They even did a little play about Zacchaeus which was pretty cute. OCC sang four movements from a Faure Mass, “Kyrie,” “Sanctus,” “Benedictus” and “Agnus Dei.” We also sang “Sushepit Israel” and “Alleluia.”
We walked back to our hotel, changed clothes and formed small groups to go out for lunch. Some of the singers decided to have a traditional Berlin dish, “Currywurst.” Others visited the brand new Berlin “Hard Rock Café”. Berlin has lots of choices for dining – little restaurants with tiny tables outdoors, and on a day like today, it was perfect!
Without too much time to spare, we found out way back to the hotel. With every move we made, we encountered someone or a group of “someones” discussing the upcoming “football” game – the quarterfinals of the World Cup Soccer match between England and Germany. Most of us really got into the spirit of the game – several boys purchased “Deutschland” scarves in bright red, gold and black.
We changed into our new formal outfits – the girls in long, black dresses not unlike Choir III’s, and the boys into tuxes complete with vests and bowties and all of a sudden, our singers were transformed into beautiful young ladies and gentlemen – they looked fantastic! We boarded the bus and were off to a 6:00 concert at the Evangelische Kirche am Hohenzollernplatz, a contemporary church designed to resemble the prow of a ship. The stained glass windows were beautiful and the acoustics were breath-taking. Since the football game ended around 5:30, our audience was rather sparse, but we felt so “professional” afterward in that we sang our entire program well and without any major errors. We were warmly welcomed by the congregation and arrived back at the hotel feeling confident, thankful, and very, very tired!
Sandy Miller
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