Our third full day brought more sightseeing and incredible musical experiences, as always. We had a free morning to explore the city in small groups to go shopping, visit temples, and experience local food and culture. I ventured off with Phil (a second-year conducting Master's student), Kendall (a graduating music education major), and Katie (an undergraduate music history major). At the recommendation of our tour guide, we took the subway to a hutong, a traditional style village neighborhood that dates back to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). In Chinese, hutong literally translates to ‘alley’ and refers to a specific kind of narrow street found in Beijing. Grey brick houses are closely packed in with a through-street that is only accessible to pedestrians, no cars. We found jewelry stores, pottery studios, Chinese tea shops, mooncake bakeries, street food vendors, and so much more. This area offered us a slower, quieter Beijing that felt very different from the rest of the city.  Phil, Katie, and Kendall figuring out the Beijing subway
The choir met back up in the afternoon and traveled to Tsinghua University for our final concert of the China International Chorus Festival, which came to an epic conclusion. Our combined concert with the Peiyang Chorus of Tianjin University was a fantastic way to end the festival for us. If you attended our send-off concert in Portland just before we left for this tour, you’ll remember our performance of a new masterwork called Finding Light by composer Matthew Lyon Hazzard. Finding Light is about the heaviness and the weight of the world we often feel around us. Hazzard’s beautiful melodies paired with the Oregon poet's words try to find some sense of meaning among all of this, eventually coming to the conclusion that “you don’t have to see the light to know it’s there,” and “isn’t love a kind of action?” You can read more about the piece here. Chamber Choir performed Finding Light at the beautiful auditorium of Tsinghua University in collaboration with the Peiyang Chorus, a choir made up of mostly non-music majors. They earned the festival's top award five years ago and it's easy to see why. While roughly three quarters of Chamber Choir students take voice lessons while enrolled at PSU, only a small fraction of the Peiyang Chorus actively study privately while completing their studies, and yet they perform with incredible technique and musicality. We were so inspired during the dress rehearsal, we chose to watch the Peiyang Chorus rehearse instead of having a full break for dinner.
After our performance of Finding Light and their set, we combined to sing a song composed by the director of Peiyang Chorus, with the first verse in English sung by us, the second in Chinese by them, and the chorus joining all voices in the end. At the end of the concert, we were buzzing with the excitement of singing together so the music continued! Their director found out that we know Water Night by Eric Whitacre and insisted on a performance of what he said was his favorite piece. Most of the audience had filed out, but the Peiyang students sat on the edge of the stage and watched in wonder. Their director was so awed by our performance that he had us all switch places so they could perform their favorite American song, Ain’t No Grave, a gospel song attributed to Claude Ely of Virginia. Despite the many long days and nights of this tour so far, Chamber Choir was eager to sit and share more music rather than go back to the hotel. We eventually had to say our goodbyes and left with our hearts full of inspiration for music we want to perform in the future! Tomorrow we visit the Great Wall of China and you will hear from Rachel Bard, a graduating Medieval History major who is taking over the blog for a day. Bye for now! - Lindsey P.S. We are thrilled to learn that our appearance at the China International Chorus Festival was featured in China Daily, the country's largest English-language news outlet. Read the story here!  Sharing music with new friends—what we do best!
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 Good morning from Beijing on our third full day here. The China International Chorus Festival is in full swing after our Opening Ceremonies performances on Monday and our first full concert of the tour last night. We also experienced some group sightseeing courtesy of the festival organizers. Yesterday morning we visited the Summer Palace, an imperial garden originally built during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Of the almost 750 acres of the sprawling gardens, three quarters of that land is a beautiful man made lake overlooking the palace. Some choir members took a hike up into the quiet forest into the Buddhist Temple of Incense. Others rented a boat and took a spin out on the lake for views of temples and traditional pagodas spanning as far as the eye can see. Though the weather here is very humid and hot, the PSU students are taking every opportunity to see the sights that they can in spite of the climate. The Summer Palace is truly a masterpiece of Chinese landscape and traditional architecture.
 Peking Duck lunch After the Summer Palace we went off to lunch and got to try Peking Duck, a traditional Chinese dish that, according to our liaison, “you MUST try before your leave China.” We also experienced a traditional Gong Fu tea service, tried 5 different teas, and heard a lecture on the varieties of tea produced here. Many teapots and loose leaf teas were purchased as souvenirs and gifts afterwards.
Last night was one of the two longest concerts of this tour where we got the opportunity to sing almost all of our tour repertoire in a single performance. We shared last night’s performance with the Landes Jugen Chor Hessen, a project choir from Germany. A project choir is one that learns the music on their own and meets only for specific projects once or twice a year. The singers in Landes Jugen Chor Hessen are between 16 and 26 and are students and young adults entering the workforce. A few of them have music degrees but most of them are not full time working musicians. You wouldn’t know it from how high caliber their sound is. These singers rehearsed for only 4 days together before traveling to Beijing for an international festival! Ethan and the director of the LJCH became friends quickly in the first day of the festival and decided they wanted our choirs to collaborate. They quickly discovered 2 songs that both of our choirs knew and could perform together "Unclouded Day" from the US and Mendelssohn’s "Jauchzet Dem Herrn". The goal of this festival is to promote cross-cultural cooperation and there is no better way to do that than to share the stage together. At dinner before the concert, PSU students sat at tables mixed with the German singers and became fast friends. After the concert we actually had to be ushered out of the venue because we were socializing and celebrating the concert with our new friends for so long backstage. We look forward to making more new friends in the next few days of the festival and traveling with them to Chengdu next week!  PSU Chamber Choir and Landes Jugen Chor Hessen performing Mendelssohn together, conducted by Tristan, director of LJCH.  Hi everyone! Kailin here, checking in as Lindsey's co-blog host for our China tour. What an adventure we've had already! Before I jump in, a little about me; I work at Portland State University Foundation as part of the College of the Arts development team, where I have the privilege of supporting the incredible students and faculty in PSU's music programs. While I'm usually behind the scenes helping connect community members and alumni with the life-changing work happening in the arts at PSU, I'm thrilled to once again travel with the School of Music & Theater's Chamber Choir and share a little of our adventure with all of you.  After a long day (or perhaps several long days depending on how your body is keeping track of time!), we're happy to report that everyone has safely arrived in Beijing. Our first full day was packed from start to finish. After settling in the evening before, we woke at dawn, enjoyed a delicious Chinese breakfast buffet at the hotel, and were on the bus by 7am heading to our first rehearsal for the opening concert of the 18th China International Chorus Festival. We had the privilege of performing in Beijing's magnificent National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) which is one of the world's premier concert venues. Designed by acclaimed French architect Paul Andreu, the building is affectionately known as "The Giant Egg," nicknamed after its shimmering shell, more than 18,000 titanium plates, and 1,200 panels of ultra-white glass. The NCPA appears to float in the middle of an artificial lake which rose above us when we entered through a glass corridor BENEATH the water! The NCPA's Concert Hall was an unforgettable place to perform. Designed as China's premier venue for symphonic and choral music, the sound was perfectly balanced on stage and off. In an exciting moment for the choir, soloists with tremendous vocal projection had the opportunity to fill the space without concern of overshadowing their fellow singers (YAY, Serena!!!). Most notably, the acoustic ceiling hosts a sculpted "turtleback" acoustic shape, complemented with subtly wave-shaped walls, which allowed for every seat to experience remarkable clarity. We were all curious about the adjustable acoustic reflectors above the stage, which we learned work with reverberation chambers that allow the hall to be tuned for everything from intimate chamber performances to full symphony orchestras and large choirs. To top it all off, the hall is also home to one of Asia's largest pipe organs, with more than 6,500 pipes, making it an unforgettable place to perform - what a breathtaking experience!
Our hosts have welcomed us with incredible warmth and generosity, making us feel at home from the moment we arrived. We have a wonderful tour guide - Tony - and a literal guardian angel - Hong, who coordinated all the logistics that made this trip possible. Additionally, one of the greatest joys of these tours is meeting musicians from around the world, and yesterday was no exception. Even after 15 hours of rehearsals and logistics, Chamber Choir students chose to visit with members of other choirs outside of our delightfully air-conditioned dressing room between rehearsals and meals, building friendships that will continue to evolve as we embark on our tour together. Choral music has a remarkable way of bringing people together and it brings me so much joy watching even the first time international travelers creating space for connection wherever possible.
The opening festival concert featured choirs from across the globe, including:
We'll be sharing more from Beijing over the coming days as we explore the city, perform alongside these wonderful ensembles, and continue experiencing the incredible hospitality of our Chinese hosts.  Thanks for following along. We're so glad you're here with us! — Kailin  We are off! As I type this post, the PSU Chamber Choir is at the gate for our direct flight to Beijing. After rehearsing one of our songs at the gate (Ru Yuan, a chinese pop song arranged for choir by alumn Henry Alexander), we are about to board and take off on a two week tour to three cities in China, and performing 5 concerts across the country. First we go to Beijing, then Chengdhu, and finishing off in Shanghai. Last night we performed our tour music for an audience in Portland as a send off, and this morning we all boarded the bus to the airport at 5:30am. Even with a late night followed by an early morning, the energy is buzzing in this group. We are so excited!  By now you might be wondering who is writing this. My name is Lindsey and I was a Masters in Conducting student at PSU from 2021-2023. I went on tours with the choir to Portugal, Italy, and last year I joined them in SE Asia to sing and write the blog. I am so grateful to be joining this group on another incredible international trip. Joining me in writing the blog is Kailin, who works for the PSU Foundation and who will introduce herself in the next post. In the next few weeks, keep checking this blog as we update it every day or two. There will also be students posting about their experience on tour and interviews with people we meet on our way. Concert videos and pictures of our various adventures will appear on the blog as we go along. More updates to come tomorrow when we have a free day in Beijing on Sunday and our opening ceremonies and first concert at the China International Choral Festival. -Lindsey   It's been just over a month since we got back and our hearts are still so full from our tour in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. While I was thrilled to come back to the beautiful Oregon summer, some small part of me misses the humidity of southeast asia… but that’s probably just me reminiscing! Many chamber choir members got the amazing opportunity to continue their travels abroad after tour as well, with a group of 10 students going to Bali where they did a guest performance representing the chamber choir at the Bali International Choral Festival. A group of friends in the choir wanted to visit Bali so they asked Ethan for some recommendations and he reached out to his connections—when the festival organizers heard that a small group from the Portland State Chamber Choir were visiting, they insisted on a performance! Other individual singers traveled to Manilla, London, and Korea to see friends and family. We have some exciting updates from the Voices of Singapore, the choir we collaborated and performed with at our first stop on this tour. If you haven’t already, you can read more about the life-changing concert and rehearsal experience in previous blog posts below. We now have pictures and high quality video and audio to share from this concert, our very first concert on this tour.  To sum up this tour, I am at a loss for words on how to describe how transformative this experience was for everyone involved. We have been exposed to new food, languages, cultures, religions, and musical traditions, some of which would be very difficult (if not impossible) to find in the United States, let alone Oregon. We made friends with choral singers everywhere we went and even made new friends within the choir. Going on tour is musically demanding in ways that singing throughout the rest of the year is not, and every student in the ensemble rose to the occasion. On this 17 day tour, we performed in 6 concerts and exchanges with 9 local and international choirs. We performed 24 pieces including 3 songs in collaboration concerts, and 5 songs with the Thailand Youth Choral Camp, and we even learned one traditional Thai dance! When I did a final count, I was shocked to realize that we were conducted by 20 different conductors including 8 current or graduating PSU students, 2 Thai students, 7 international conductors, and 2 PSU alumni. Here are some pictures from moments that can't be summed up in numbers...
On Ethan’s list of goals on the syllabus for this choir every year, it says in this order “1. To become better musicians and singers, 2. to give high quality, emotionally fulfilling performances, 3. to become better people, and 4. to meet new friends.” This ensemble has undoubtedly achieved all of these and more on this tour and will never forget the experiences we had.
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