DECATUR — Decatur’s own Opus 24 is preparing to take its show on the road to Italy.
The group of local singers, as well as a few of their friends and family, will leave for Florence, Italy, on June 17 to perform in an international choral tour.
The trip will include performances at their first stop in Florence, another in Rome, the choral festival in Assisi, and during a mass in the St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.
The trip will also include tours of the Vatican and other highlights.
Opus 24, which includes 36 singers from Central Illinois, were invited to the choral festival through an application submitted by Ted Hesse, the choral director. “Not only were we accepted, but we were chosen as the featured choir,” he said.
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Approximately 150 singers from across the globe will also be performing. The two-day festival will feature the music of Elaine Hagenberg, a well-known choral composer from Iowa. “She is one of the ‘it’ composers right now in the choral world,” Hesse said.
The singers will be performing one of her larger works titled “Illuminare” along with an orchestra.
Hagenberg will also be working with the choirs during the visit, a listing on the agenda the choir and director seemed most excited about. “I’m one of her biggest fans,” Hesse said.
The process of planning the trip took more than a year. “It’s kind of a world-wind,” said singer Kay Mason.
Mason, along with Katie Tippet and Becky Nims, helped organize the trip, calling their committee the comm-Italy. “We applied for a lot of grants, arrange transportation,” Tippet said. “Because that’s not something the festival will do.”
Hesse submitted samples of Opus 24 videos and music for the audition to Perform International, the festival’s organizers.
Opus 24 formed more than 30 years ago. According to the current singers, they have participated in smaller, local performances through the years.
The organization received grants from First Lutheran Church and the Decatur Area Arts Council to help with travel expenses to Italy. The remainder of the trip’s cost was collected from the singers themselves.
The public will have the opportunity to hear what the audiences will experience in Italy during two local concerts, 3 p.m. May 5 at Central Christian Church, and 3 p.m. June 9 at St. Patrick’s Church.
Each concert will have its own selection of music, but with highlights from the upcoming choral trip.
The concerts are considered dress rehearsals for the choir. “But your sound is so different in Central Christian than what it would be in St. Pat’s,” Mason said.
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