  The last two days were a whirlwind of sightseeing, song exchanges, and travel! This group really knows how to maximize their time to get the most out of an opportunity like tour. On Wednesday morning the whole choir visited a few iconic landmarks of KL together: the Batu Caves, Then Hou Temple, and Central Market. The Batu Caves is a Hindu temple set inside a cave formation just a short drive from the city center. This historic site is known for its rainbow staircase leading up to the mouth of the caves and a gold statue of the Hindu God Lord Murugan that is over 140 feet tall. While climbing the colorful steps (272 steps total!), we were greeted by hoards of wild monkeys. It’s clear that these monkeys are trained from birth on how to tactfully steal food, and even jewelry apparently. Aggressive monkey encounters aside, we safely made it to the top of the stairs and into the temple where altars of various sizes are set in the cave walls. Built in 1920, the temple itself is made up of vibrant cave paintings and various prayer stations, but what feels even more ancient is the fact that these limestone cave formations are over 400 million years old. While Batu Caves represents the Hindu people of Malaysia, Thean Hou Temple represents the Buddhist Chinese people. As we walked up the steps to the blazing red roofs and yellow lanterns swaying in the wind, the temple representing the Chinese sea goddess Mazu was hit by a massive thunder and rainstorm. Rather than seeking shelter and waiting it out, many chamber choir members embraced the storm and went straight up to the exposed rooftop lookout. One would think that us Portlandians have had enough of the rain by this time of year, but between the sudden tropical storm and stunning traditional temple, you could say it almost had some kind of mystical effect on us. For our final stop of the day, we of course participated in one of the most quintessential Southeast Asian pastimes: shopping! Founded in 1888, Central Market is right in the center of the city, surrounded by landmarks such as Chinatown, Petaling street, and KL’s waterfront called the River of Life. The next day was our final in KL and began with a small hiccup in our bus arrangements which we quickly problem solved and worked our way through. This group has been responsible, patient, kind and flexible with anything that comes their way. Ethan always says that tour teaches us the valuable skill of how to recover when you hit a bump in the road, not if. Once we all arrived at Universiti Teknologi (UiTM) we had a short combined rehearsal with the incredible UiTM Chamber Choir, singing our Precious Lord and their Soleram. Made up of just 26 singers, the powerful UiTM Chamber Choir is 100% music majors, and it shows in their musicality and passion! They are also lucky enough to have both a choreographer and a costume designer. (see their stunning traditional concert attire below) Though we only had the opportunity to get to know them for a few hours, we immediately felt welcomed by the singers of UiTM and left Kuala Lumpur feeling inspired by their performance. A huge thanks to their emphatic conductor Maryann Magdalena Linnis and all the students we had the privilege to sing with! Find out what makes UiTM unique and follow their journey on their facebook page here. And with that we were off to Thailand! One delayed flight later, we made it to Bangkok and were reunited there with Natthita Wongprom, our good friend and an alum of the PSU graduate conducting program, but more on her later… Tomorrow it's beach day!
- Lindsey
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 Hi everyone, Kailin here! Yesterday was one of those golden tour days that balances adventure, rest, and the blending of voices and cultures with new friends. While most we experienced was new, it was a blast to see the Columbia store in Kuala Lumpur! We started the morning with a bit of rare free time at our hotel in Kuala Lumpur - it is wild how much the Chamber Choir fits into these trips, so, no surprise, many of us stayed close to "home!" Thank goodness the Dorsett Hartamas treated us well: the breakfast buffet had options for everyone (such delicious curry!), and a few of us took a memorable dip in the rooftop pool - for many of us a lifetime first! For our first stop of the day, we visited the Petronas Towers, once the tallest buildings in the world and still the tallest twin towers on the planet. The towers each feature 88 floors which are based on simple Islamic geometric forms of two interlocking squares, creating a shape of an eight-pointed star. After taking in the view from the fountains, we split up to grab lunch, or as many of us opted for - dessert and coffee - in the high-end shopping center below before taking some time to take it all in from the KLCC Park, a 50-acre urban sanctuary, complete with a very popular wading pool and jogging track. Architecturally, the eight-pointed star of the Petronas Towers represent the Islamic principles of unity, harmony, stability and rationality, which I felt was also reflected in how the KLCC Park creates a unique gathering and community space. In the afternoon, we made our way to KuAsh Theatre to rehearse with two local ensembles: Voka Chamber Choir and Ottophony Vocal Ensemble. Before we even sang a note, the choirs all joined in a fast-paced Malaysian clapping game which was a chaotic, hilarious, and surprisingly tricky icebreaker. I hope this behind the scenes footage makes you smile as much as I did watching it all unravel! Dinner at award winning Q Bistro, a modernized Indian Muslim Malaysian restaurant, followed rehearsal, and we were so grateful to the staff for feeding our very large and energized group so efficiently and with such warmth. With thanks, the choir performed the Battle of Jericho as a thank-you. (You can watch it here). The evening performance was absolutely stunning, earning a standing ovation from a packed house. While every piece was beautifully delivered, many choir members felt that A Boy and a Girl was their strongest performance of the tour so far. The joint rendition of The Heaven’s Flock with our hosts was especially moving. You can watch both performances below and check out the concert program here. See you tomorrow! - Kailin  Good morning from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! Yesterday we checked out of our hostel in Singapore and went sightseeing with all three choirs from the concert the previous night (read our previous post all about it!) at Gardens by the Bay. We walked through the Supertree Grove and into the Cloud Forest, the largest greenhouse in the world, where there is currently a Jurassic Park exhibit. Walking in, everyone’s jaws dropped at the 100+ feet tall indoor waterfall set in a man-made mountain of orchids, jungle vines, and plants from around the world. To top it off, there were dinosaur animatronics hidden in the foliage and broken “containment” gates, even a siren warning message to “get to safety” from the escaped animals.  The best part of Cloud Forest was undoubtedly the New Zealand Youth Choir performance at the entrance, where they did a traditional Māori haka as well as some of the Western classical repertoire they are taking on tour to Europe in the coming weeks. They were honored to have in attendance the executive director of Cloud Forest and Her Excellency Gabrielle Rush, New Zealand High Commissioner to Singapore. It was absolutely surreal to hear the chanting and see the traditional haka dance while surrounded by lush greenery and the sounds of tropical birds, towering waterfalls, and rolling thunder. Experiences like this performance are some of the most magical memories we make on tour. International tours are the only place where we are able to witness performances from cultures which we simply do not have access to in Portland. These experiences show students from Portland State a more global experience of choral music traditions, which is essential for the many music education majors and future teachers in our group. It is truly a privilege to see what our art form looks like around the globe right now; we are so lucky to be able to bring that back to Oregon where PSU students will share these experiences in classrooms for years to come. After a lunch with our kiwi and Singaporean friends at Satay by the Bay, it was sadly time to say goodbye. Each choir sang a final song for each other and phone numbers and social media were exchanged. There was a sense that this was not ‘goodbye’ but ‘see you next time’ with murmurs hoping for a Voices of Singapore US tour or Chamber Choir New Zealand tour (where we were planning to tour in 2020). We would love to host the choirs in Portland and return the favor!  With that, we piled onto the bus and went through border control into Malaysia, and a five hour bus ride got us to our beautiful four star hotel in Kuala Lumpur! Ethan and a few of us went to dinner with Lee, the director of the choir we are singing with tonight, where he ordered everything family style for us in Malay. That table won the award for most colorful dinner so far on tour. A quick pool swim on the 27th floor rooftop deck with a view of the iconic KL skyline was the perfect end to a long day of travel and a busy day of singing yesterday. Our hearts are so full from Singapore and we can’t wait to get to know a new city and new choirs today! - Lindsey  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  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! |
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