Over the beautiful and blue Donau
15th - 18th November 2001, Austria
November 16th and 17th, 2001, we took part in the International Schubert Choir Competition, which was held in Vienna. Apart from emotions of excitement, which usually accompany us during competitions, we also had a chance to feel the climate of Vienna for a while, not only Mozart's, Haydn's or Beethoven's city, but particularly Schubert's - a great romantic composer, full of contrasts and anguish romantic era. Vienna is a true capital of music. Each step one made, one could encounter an atmosphere which pervades the whole city: churches, cafes, streets, even shops, where one could buy chocolates with Mozart's portrait or ties with staves. We lived in the very centre, so in the free time we could walk through Vienna's Old Town, visit amazing churches - Stephansdom or Karlskirche, famous museums or see beautiful parks and palaces.
The level of the competition was very high, so the second place, we reached in the mixed choirs category, we consider our great success. Our rivals were choirs from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Austria, Russia, Japan and China, so indeed the competition had an international character. A highlight of the whole competition was a group young Japanese female singers from Kyoto, who won the Grand Prix for their perfect singing, which seems to be deeply rooted in their culture. The day after the verdict we had a concert in the Piaristenkirche, where we also had lunch and afterwards we set out for Poland.
(by Mateusz Stróżyński)
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