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Italy Tour 2024

The Carmel Choir Program will be assembling a “tour choir” that will rehearse outside of school hours starting in May 2023 and will then travel to Italy during Spring Break of 2024 to perform in multiple cities. The “tour choir” will be made up of students in grades 10-12 who demonstrate a high level of musical ability, strong sight-reading skills and vocal technique, reliability, consistent integrity and moral character, and the availability to meet the rehearsal schedule and financial commitment of the trip. Students’ dance abilities will NOT be taken into consideration since performances will include a strictly “concert choir” repertoire.

Below is a list of students that are eligible to be considered for the trip. Also posted is the rehearsal schedule for the international choir and a contract of expectations that students must meet in order to remain eligible. This contract includes expectations for discipline, attitude, musical comprehension and memorization, attendance, and academic performance in ALL classes. The full itinerary is not yet set for the trip, but we anticipate that it will include at least four cities in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice, & Milan, as well as a visit to Vatican City). The trip will be put together by Music Travel and the total cost will include everything (flights, charters, hotels, events, and ALL meals). We anticipate the per person cost being somewhere between $4700-$5200 for the 9-day trip. All students on this list have this the week of Spring Break to decide whether or not they feel they can meet the financial and disciplinary expectations for the trip, and commit to the rehearsal schedule. All students on the eligible list will need to return form at this link accepting or forfeiting their position in the tour choir by April 10.

Once we see how many students can commit to participation, we will then determine whether or not we can take everyone. We are capping the trip to 100 participants. If we have more students than we can take who want to go, we will go back and look more closely at their ability level and take only those with and advanced capacity for learning the music quickly and performing it at a high level. We also have to consider having a balance of voices in the group, so we may have to cut people if we have too many in a particular voice part.

After reviewing all of this, we will post the final list of students who are invited to be a part of the tour choir by April 17. We will have a detailed itinerary, a payment schedule, and other information by mid-May when we will also have a mandatory meeting for participants and their parents. We will have a few rehearsals prior to the end of the 22-23 school year, and a few over the summer. In the Fall, a more regular weekly rehearsal schedule will begin to prepare all of the music.

Information regarding chaperone opportunities will be sent after the list of performers is solidified. We are excited for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these talented students!