Southern Delaware Chorale travels to Italy to perform in festival

Several members of the Southern Delaware Chorale participated in the Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival in Naples and Maiori, Italy.

Along with the National Philharmonic Chorale, Baltimore Choral Arts, the Dallas Symphony and others, the chorale was there to perform and participate in local activities June 28 to July 5, under the direction of world-renowned conductors, Anthony Blake Clark and Stan Engebretson.

Clark is conductor of Baltimore Choral Arts and Dallas Symphony while Engebretson is the former conductor of National Philharmonic Chorale.

Denise Adkins, president, said, “It was such an awe-inspiring experience to work with world renowned conductors to make the most beautiful music in one of the most beautiful places!”

Each day, the singers rehearsed together and then with the orchestra and soloists. The 60-member chorus performed two concerts: The first took place at the Basilica San Giovanni Maggiore, Napoli, one of Italy’s oldest churches dating back to the 4th century. The choir, accompanied by a chamber orchestra, performed Vivaldi’s “Gloria”, Ola Gjeilo’s “The Ground,” Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum” and Verdi’s Va’ Pensiero. The second performance, “Americana,” included a Gershwin medley, selections from Bernstein’s “West Side Story”, “Inni Nazionali”, “Funiculi’ Funicula’ and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

When they weren’t performing, choristers enjoyed excursions to Pompeii, the Villa Rufolo in Ravello and the Greek temples at Paestum. They also had time to visit a mozzarella farm and Vietri sul Mare for dinner. Some singers took a Mediterranean cooking class and boat ride along the Amalfi Coast, stopping in Amalfi, Positano, Maiori and Salerno. Toni Barrett, chorale vice president, said, “I loved how people from different choruses around the country met and are now friends.”