PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, JULY 28, 2017
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McNary choir, band kids tour Europe
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary
choir
direc-
tor Joshua Rist was walking
through Paris with a small
group of high school students
when they came across a me-
dieval-style cathedral.
Open to the public, Rist
and the students decided to
walk in and give an impromp-
tu performance of Locus iste by
Anton Bruckner.
“We had a song ready to
sing so I just conducted these
seven kids,” Rist said. “You
could just see them experi-
ence with their own voices
these incredible acoustics. It
was special for those kids.”
Rist was in Europe as part
of an Oregon Ambassadors of
Music trip. Sponsored by Voy-
agers International, 347 high
school choir and band stu-
dents and 45 staff from across
Oregon spent two weeks, July
3-18, traveling and perform-
ing in England, France, Italy,
Switzerland, Austria and Ger-
many. They spent three nights
in Paris and London.
The McNary contingent
included Rist, his wife Jessica,
band director Jennifer Bell and
nine students from the choir
and band.
“People need to get out
of their hometown for a little
while,” Rist said. “Choir offers
a unique opportunity to travel
in a meaningful way where it’s
not just scraping the surface of
cultures through tourism but
if you’re singing their music, if
you’re singing in their spaces,
if you’re sharing musical cul-
ture with other people. My
empathy and my picture of the
world grows much richer and
more beautiful and I’m hoping
I can offer that to them (Mc-
Nary students), too.”
The choir performed fi ve
different times throughout
Europe, including in the town
center of Crans-Montana,
Switzerland.
“People in Switzerland,
they loved us,” said Ethan
Schra, an incoming junior at
McNary who went on the
trip. “The chapels we got to
sing in were amazing. Singing
in a chapel in Europe is way
different. It feels different, too.
You could hear the songs echo
and bounce.”
Schra’s favorite was St.
Mark’s Cathedral in Venice.
Rist agreed.
“The sound just keeps
ringing beyond you,” he said.
“It’s a really empowering feel-
ing as a singer. As a choir nerd,
that’s where it’s at. Music was
just meant for these kinds of
halls. It expands yourself when
you’re in a place like that, your
capacity to experience beauty,
especially because you’re mak-
ing music in the places, you’re
not just a tourist. You’re inter-
acting with these spaces in a
really profound way.”
Oregon State choir direc-
tor Steven Zielke directed the
choir on the trip while Todd
Zimbelman of West Salem
conducted the band. The choir
sang classical pieces as well as
multi-cultural with high en-
ergy and American folk songs
and spirituals. The band played
classical marches as well as
medleys from the Wizard of Oz
and America the Beautiful. They
fi nished each performance
with The Stars and Stripes Forever.
The band and choir combined
for performances in Switzer-
land and Germany.
The group also explored
the Swiss Alps, which was
another of Schra’s favorites,
toured the Eiffel Tower, vari-
ous museums and saw Les Mis-
erables at the West End Theatre
in London.
The trip gave Schra a new
appreciation for music.
“I thought it was absolutely
stunning,” he said. “It was a
life-changing trip. The sites,
the sounds, the smells, seeing
something new.”
Submitted
McNary band director Jennifer Bell and choir teacher Joshua Rist led a group of students in a tour across Europe, which included
exploring the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps.
THANK
YOU
TO LINDA BAKER,
KEIZER HOMEGROWN THEATRE,
ITS CASTS AND CREWS
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