 What a day we had yesterday! Yesterday was likely our most demanding day of singing for this whole tour and it was so, so worth it. We started our day with some more small group sightseeing. I visited two religious sites of very different traditions with absolutely stunning architecture. On our way to the subway there was a Hindu temple, all of which in the city have tall towers of dozens of brightly colored Hindu god statues at the entrance gates. Next I saw the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, a must see in Chinatown that houses 10,000 Buddha statues on the rooftop garden, not to mention the additional thousands in the main temple and museum. At the entrance, you can make an incense offering and are given scarves and sarongs to cover shoulders and knees inside the temple. Monks in traditional robes were gathering for a service and started chanting while we looked around in awe at the hundreds of gold Buddha statues with carved and painted details down to the size of a grain of rice. After a famous egg custard snack and visit to a teahouse, it was time to get going for the main event of the day: our shared concert with New Zealand Youth Choir (NZYC) and our host, the Voices of Singapore (VOS)! PSU Chamber Choir traveled to the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory and were greeted by NZYC warming up in the echoing lobby where we then sang the Battle of Jericho by Moses Hogan together. Almost 100 singers strong, our combined choirs were a force to be reckoned with in this very resonant acoustic.   Even more stunning was the acoustic of the conservatory performance hall, a 573 seater shoebox shape of maplewood surface finish, ideal for choral and symphonic music. The warm resonance we were met with after each chord was a dream! “We should get one of these in Portland,” Ethan said during our sound check. Let’s all hope that PSU’s new performing arts and cultural center has a concert hall as beautiful as this one! Read more about the conservatory performance hall here: https://www.ystmusic.nus.edu.sg/facilities-conservatory-concert-hall/ After our own rehearsal, we then combined the forces of all choirs and rehearsed three combined pieces chosen by our directors. Together we sang Te Aroha, a Māori song representing the indigenous people of New Zealand, Ethan’s arrangement of Balleilakka, a song from a Bollywood movie, and Dr. Darius Lim taught us Home, a song written for the national holiday celebrating Singapore’s independence.   The concert titled “Echoes Across Continents" was not only a beautiful display of three world-class choirs and cultures, it was also a show of camaraderie and friendship among the young people on stage. Everyone in that concert hall could feel it that night: that no matter where you are from, choral music brings people together. It gives us hope for what these young people can do when we decide to work together and put aside our differences. During our last song together, Home, Dr. Darius Lim turned to the audience and gave them a turn to sing; Home is regarded as one of the most patriotic songs in Singapore and everyone in the audience knew every word. It was inspiring to see such a display of patriotism and pride for country here.  Our endless thanks goes to our incredible hosts, Dr. Darius Lim and all of the singers in Voices of Singapore, and to the singers of New Zealand Youth Choir and their director David Squire. Though they were in Singapore for less than 36 hours on their international tour, we all became fast friends with NZYC. I know I speak not only for myself but everyone in the choir when I say that we have made life-long friends in Singapore and found truly kindred spirits from all around the globe. Thank you VOS and NZYC!! -Lindsey
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 Your blog hosts - Kailin & Lindsey Hi everyone! Kailin here, chiming in as Lindsey’s co-blog host for our Southeast Asia tour. I work at the PSU Foundation as part of the College of the Arts Dean’s Development Team, and while I’m usually behind the scenes cheering on our incredible students and faculty, I’m thrilled to be traveling with the Chamber Choir this summer. A little about me: I studied music and women & gender studies in undergrad, focusing on flute performance and intersectional feminist art history. I recently completed my Executive Master’s in Public Administration at PSU and am proud to be one half of a double PSU alumni household! Fun fact—some of my earliest memories are from backstage at Seattle Opera’s Ring Cycle productions in the ’80s. My parents played in the pit, and I ran around pretending to be a Valkyrie!  Last group in the air! Fondly referred to as #Ethansairgroup.  Beach Road Scissors Cut Curry Rice - First Singapore Meal. I was part of the last travel group to arrive in Singapore and we were warmly welcomed by representatives from our wonderful hosts, Voices of Singapore (VOS), who made sure we were safely checked in and, most importantly, very well fed. Our first meal in Singapore was at a fourth-generation Hainanese Curry Rice street stall called Beach Road Scissors Cut - an incredible plate of crispy, saucy, spicy comfort food that is now one my favorite travel meals memories of all time. Highly recommend it if you're visiting Singapore and looking for something affordable and unforgettable.  Reunited!! Pictured here at the Hotel Yan.  Della & Patrick waiting on Ramen & Steamed Veggies This morning, the full group gathered for the first time in the lobby of Hotel Yan before splitting off into small groups for some city adventures. Several of us visited the Singapore Botanic Gardens, a 166-year-old tropical garden and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, located in the heart of Singapore. Truly jaw-dropping, the orchids alone deserve their own blog post! Afterward, we wandered into a multi-level mall filled entirely with instrument shops, music studios, and practice rooms. It was basically a musician’s paradise, and a very efficient use of urban space, if you ask me! We regrouped for lunch at yet another mall (they’re everywhere here, and honestly, each one is its own culinary world). My group went for ramen & steamed veggies - savory, comforting, and exactly what we needed on this beautifully stormy 85-degree day.  Sweets and Songs: Voices of Singapore & PSU's Chamber Choir The highlight of the day was rehearsal with Voices of Singapore, our generous hosts and now musical collaborators. We started with some icebreaker games - highlights included small-group, choreographed a cappella improv that brought the room to life with cheers and applause. Then we shared music and began preparing for our upcoming joint performance. Tune in on Instagram for more! To top it all off, we were surprised with a spread of pastries from Luke, one of the VOS singers who also owns a bakery here in Singapore. A singer and a baker?! We are officially spoiled. Give Lele Bakery some love on Instagram. More updates to come as we continue exploring, rehearsing, performing, and soaking in everything this beautiful city has to offer. Thanks so much for following along!  Good morning from Singapore, where the choir is all here and has just gotten their first night of sleep. As I type this from the hostel at 6:30am, it is still dark outside (because we are so close to the equator) but it is already 80 degrees farenheit! At this point I’d like to introduce myself as one of the blog writers for this tour; my name is Lindsey Wildman and I was a GTA at PSU. I graduated in 2023 with my Masters degree in Choral Conducting and went on the 2022 Portugal and 2023 Italy tours. Ethan asked me to sing, help with the blog, and record and post concert videos on this tour and I am so grateful to be here! The choir was split into four groups for travel, with connecting flights in Seattle, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, and more. Each group navigated together successfully with the first group arriving at 2am on Friday morning and the last group at 7pm. We made it! On our first day, my group ventured into Little Indiafor lunch and found a local spot that smelled amazing from the street. We walked to a Hindu temple called Sri Veeramaliakammanwhich was sadly closed but equally beautiful from the outside. We also ventured to the Marina Bay Sandsarea and Chinatownwhich was absolutely stunning at sunset with all of the lights, lanterns, and traditional chinese architecture. Another group of students went to a Michelin star hawker (street vendor) called Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodles in Kampong Glam, the muslim quarter of Singapore. We used the subway to get around so far and it is the cleanest public transportation any of us has ever seen! (There are very strict laws on subways, including no eating durian, a very stinky fruit.) My favorite part of the city so far was Fort Canning park, a sprawling jungle oasis in the middle of a city full of skyscrapers. It looked and sounded like we stepped into another world; a parrot landed in a tree next to us, there were vines and flowers that looked like something out of Jurassic Park, and I found a leaf bigger than my torso! The flora and fauna here are truly incredible and unlike anything that most of these students have ever seen. More updates to come later today once everyone meets up together for the first time, and we have a choir exchange planned tonight with Voices of Singapore! - Lindsey (Click images below to see captions.) |
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