The Frost Chorale sings all over the world. But only rarely does the ensemble get to perform in venues as spectacular as on this year’s tour of Italy. Some 38 members of the Frost School of Music’s leading choral ensemble took a 12-day trip through Italy in May, singing four well-received concerts in some of the most iconic spaces on earth.
“It was a performance tour with the intent of gaining international notoriety and exposure,” says Matthew Brady, director of choral studies and newly appointed director of choral activities. “It was also to expose our students to Italy’s wonderful history as the birthplace of the Renaissance, where the Western choral tradition started.”
The Choral Studies program began in 1960 under the leadership of Glenn Draper, with a touring choir dubbed the Singing Hurricanes. As part of the curriculum, the Frost Chorale undertakes a domestic tour every other year and an international trip every four years, with the last one visiting England and France.
Along with cultural outreach, the trip to Italy gave Frost Chorale singers a taste of life on the road in a professional choir. It also included outings to a wide range of attractions, from the Museo del Violino (Violin Museum) in Cremona to an artisanal cheesemaker in Parma. The group sang a service at The Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua and concerts in Florence and Luca.
“Being in places where all this history occurred, you can’t learn that from a textbook,” says Brady. “This was some of the students’ first time outside of America, and the first time a few ever got on a plane. Trips like this open the world to our students. Performing for international audiences was great, and they loved our choir. There were packed houses and standing ovations everywhere.”
The trip’s highlight was the concluding performance at Cremona’s Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, a sacred space that doesn’t allow secular music or even instrumental accompaniment (“Not even keyboard for pitches,” notes Brady). Before the show, the group did a workshop with renowned composer Ivo Antognini, whose “Come to Me” was part of the chorale’s set.
“That was a unique opportunity I’ll never forget,” says Kyra Starr, a doctoral student in choral conducting. “He loved what we did with his piece and gave us great feedback, some things to try that were not actually written in the score. Getting into the mind of a composer was fascinating.”
Just before the Cremona concert, the group had a pre-show discussion about where everyone would be headed after they returned from Italy. The conversation was an emotional experience for Nicole Ferretti, a rising senior in music education.
“It really hit home for me that this fall will be my last semester in the Frost Chorale, because I’ll be student teaching next spring,” says Ferretti. “So I wanted to savor every moment I had left with these people, because it would be the last time I’d get to sing with some of them. Going out and singing right after that was electric. It was the trip of a lifetime.”
