It was a special week for me and my family as we hosted the Hamburg Girls Choir. Jacob Spears, a friend and a music teacher at our school connected with the choir director, Gesa, and our school hosted the 50+ female choir on the Tashkent leg of the Central Asian tour. They performed at the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan with a local choir. You can watch that concert here. TIS faculty billeted choir members and the choir held workshops and a concert at our school. We hosted six delightful young women and our family enjoyed our time with them. The choir performed at a reception we hosted at our house on Sunday. I’ll upload the 360-degree video when it is ready. The TIS marketing person, Lindemann specializes in 360-degree recordings and you can see them on his YouTube page.
The power and beauty of the human voice are amazing. The choir encircled the audience during the performance in our home. I could hear the different parts of the choir coming from different sections of the circle. I had goosebumps and was carried away by the music. That for me is one of the peak experiences of being human. Despite all of our faults, humans can reach a sublime level sometimes and the choir reminded me of that. Their passion for music is infectious. It was truly an awe-inspiring (awesome) experience. I was also impressed with their technical expertise and I imagine all of the time and effort that goes into getting to that level of performance. My appreciation for music and musicians increased because of my close interactions with the girls.
I couldn’t help thinking about the long tradition of music from Germany. Gesa Werhahn comes from a long line of choral and music directors throughout history. Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, etc. Seeing young people carry on the tradition of making music gives me hope for the future.
I would like to thank the choir for coming to our school and trusting us to host the girls. The visit meant a lot to my family and our community.
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