Oregon Festival Choirs

First Night in Philly-
Moving into the Hotel

We arrived at the Holiday Inn Express – Midtown where we were greeted by our tour pianist Camilla Carter who had traveled to the East Coast a few days earlier. She had already taken care of check in so tour road weary group could get into their rooms immediately.

After moving luggage into rooms and calling dibs on beds, everyone met downstairs for a short walk to the Top Tomato restaurant where we were treated to a full array of Philly options from pizza to Cheese Steak, to Grinders and more. We pretty much took over the little dining room and sang a thank you to the restaurant staff before heading back to the hotel. It didn’t take much to get the choristers to get to sleep. After such a long first day, everyone was tired.

DAY TWO – May 3rd

We boarded the tour coach at 8:30 after a breakfast bar in the hotel.
Off to New Jersey to sing at a couple of schools there.
The town of Pennsville, New Jersey is just across the river and about 20 miles south of Philly.

Perfomance at Pennsville

The first assembly was at Penn Beach Elementary School where we did our first official performance of the tour for the third – fifth graders. They were courteous, appreciative, and as some choristers proclaimed: adorable. The school’s choral music program has declined in recent years with funding cuts.
The music teacher was hoping our assembly would provide some momentum for reestablishing choral music at the school, a heavy responsibility for our kids.

The choir did a fine job and encouraged the music teacher’s hope to have a choir once again.
We rehearsed for 45 minutes afterward in order to bring a couple more pieces up to program quality.

From there we went to the Pennsville High School auditorium
to present a short program for the middle school choir students.

Although they were a tougher audience, the choristers continued to improve
and once again did a fine job.

We returned to Philadelphia for a visit to the Franklin Institute
where we began by eating in the museum’s cafeteria.

Then on to an amazing afternoon of history, exploration and fun.

The final event was an IMAX theatre experience
beginning with a short film about Philadelphia
followed by the feature: Mummies - Secrets of the Pharaohs.
steps

LOVE

A walk to dinner from the museum took us past the famous LOVE sculpture
in JFK park and City Hall en route to the Hard Rock Café, Philadelphia.

Highlights of the dinner included a Hard Rock Happy Birthday
for choristers Casha Walsh and Jonathan Wildish, both celebrating birthdays away from home.

We ended the evening with a game night back at the hotel, with prizes and treats for everyone.

A great way to wrap up day two: tired but happy