The wandering organist wanders

Tuesday was a fairly leisurely working day, save being travel intensive and long. The usual gastronomic delight of the Sheraton East-meets-West-and-everything-in-between breakfast was good preparation for the morning bus trip to see one of the older Tao temples of Taipei. The boys were intrigued by this little gem buried inconspicuously in the concrete jungle; beautiful stone carving, gilded rafters, clouds of incense and people at prayer provided an immediate experience of local life.

We pressed on to our final destination in Nantou County, an auditorium shabby on the exterior but smart and comfortable within. The extremely dry acoustic was a little bit of a shock for the boys, who struggled a little with intonation in the also stuffy environment. But that’s precisely what rehearsals are for; they were soon accustomed to the space. This was self-evident during the concert itself, in which they sang with a verve that did us proud. No organ in this venue: the San Gloria was accompanied on piano, but this did not impede a very convincing performance of the work. We shared the concert with a four-man ensemble from Georgia (NOT the one in the USA!) singing their ancient form of Orthodox Church Music. It was good for the boys to hear a small male ensemble and a style of performance that focused on minute detail. The slightly reserved audience warmed to our lads as their performance progressed, with yells for more at the end of the evening. Our singers left the stage on a well-deserved high and headed straight for the bus.

The journey back to Taipei was over two hours long, with us arriving at the hotel after midnight. Half the choir needed their McDonald’s fix, after which they retired for an apparently very welcome rest.

We still have much to do and see; we have been happy to hear that we will be able to do the Gloria on Saturday evening in the final concert, it’s originally scheduled performance having been near-typhooned on Tuesday. It would be fair to say that we are all having a fantastic time. We could certainly recommend it as a way to end any school term!

Cameron Upchurch