Day One: Rehearsal, Compline, Dinner

Once bags were left behind, there was just a moment to breathe, and then we were straight into rehearsal. Our venue for rehearsal all week is St Mark's English Church, and Chris, the priest there, welcomed us warmly as we arrived and settled in. Then it was straight to work... Tonight we have compline, and tomorrow is a big day without any time for further prep.

We stayed a little longer than planned in order to work through everything really well. Tonight at Compline, Deborah Pritchard, old member of Worcester, will be with us - and we are singing her Nunc Dimittis as part of the service. We really want to do that justice! Then there was time to change into choir blacks for performance, and everyone gathered outside Santi Apostoli ready for our first service.

Santi Apostoli is a beautiful eleventh century church, with a stone inscription on the outsdie that seems to indicate an even older foundation, as it says the church was founded by Charlemagne. The American priest who leads the English-speaking congregation there, Fr Kramer, was wonderfully welcoming, as was Elisabetta, and a very generous congregation worshipped with us as we led the way through Compline, with Deborah's Nunc and Byrd's Constitues Eos added in. Here's a snippet of video, filmed just after the service so we could hold onto something of the occasion:

There is always a bit of a moment on tour around the first service or concert or event that a choir sings. We sing four times a week at home, but that's at home. On our turf. Where we know everyone and everything. This is different. It feels different. It takes a moment to be ourselves in this different place. To enjoy being ourselves. To do what we do. To raise our game slightly and be the best of who we are - representing the college, respecting our hosts, presenting the music well, worshipping in churches, providing audiences and congregations with the best experience they could possibly have. Tuesday evening at Santi Apostoli was a perfect start. We had perfect hosts, and a beautiful evening, and it was simply - a perfect start.

And then we all headed across the river as the evening sun turned golden and found our restaurant for the night. A great, fun place where the food was superb, and we all loved being together. And Deborah and Dave joined us, which made it all the more special! A wonderful, convivial way to end a wonderful, long, glorious first day of tour.