Sunday, June 29, 2008 by jozjozjoz.

Allie keeps poking me and bumping into me right now and is making it hard for me to type, so apologies in advance for anything funky that I might type.

This morning we are sitting in the lobby of our hotel in Mexico City, all checked out and waiting for our bus. But that’s another story.

Last night, the Voxxies sounded absolutely amazing in their first concert in Mexico! But for us lucky audience members, we got two concerts in one! Vox Femina’s first performance of their first international tour was a joint concert with Coro Karites, Mexico’s only women’s chorus. The concert venue was the Museo Antiguo Palacio del Arzobispado, a preserved 16th-century home which been transformed into a museum that traces the development of Mexican art from pre-Columbian times to modern day. What a treat to see and hear Vox perform in such beautiful and historic venue!

Kárites, a chorus of six women led by Gabriela Franco, took the stage first. Their program consisted of:

>Yoik; Canto de Laponia
Non nobis domine; William Byrd (1543-1622)
Akai hana, shirio hana; Mie Nakabayashi (arranged by Nachiko Terashima)
Txeru; Norberto Alamadoz (1893-1970)
Festive alleluya; Lyn Williams (1952)
Si de noche vez que brillan; Cancion venezolana S.XIX
La estrella Azul; Carlos Oscar “Peteco Carabajal” (1956) (arranged by Eduardo Ferraudi)
Seberianita; Cancion Purepecha
Cancion con Todos; Cesar Isella (1938) (arranged by Ruben Caceres)

…

The women of Kárites were so welcoming and dedicated the final two songs of the concert to the women of Vox.

Vox’s set began with:

Ave generosa; Hildegard von Bingen
Nigra Sum; Pablo Casals
Esto les Digo; Kinley Lange
Ave Maria; David McIntyre
I Thank You God; Gwyneth Walker

It was absolutely stunning to hear Vox in this wonderful space… when they finished Ave Maria, the audience audibly sighed at the beauty of this piece.

Vox commissioned Roger Bourland to set poetry by Francisco X. Alarcon to music a few years ago; the next set was a selection from the Alarcon Madrigals.

In a Neighborhood in LA
Both Page and Pen
Body in Flames
Lamentario
Face and Heart
Guardian Angel

(To be continued… bus is here!)

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Saturday, June 28, 2008 by allie.

our first performance is tonight. most of the choir went on a walking tour of the city this morning (i had to do my hair so there was no walking for me) and we’re meeting in about an hour to go to the venue and rehearse. one thing about staying in the city center, we’re definitely in the thick of things. so thick that we are unable to take our tourbus to our performance space because of a protest taking place today. what’s the protest about, you ask? gay rights. it’s also pride weekend here, so there are apparently lots of things pride related going on. this is the 30th year that there has been a pride march in mexico city. yahoo mexico has much coverage of pride on its front page.

time to grab some lunch before we go!

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Friday, June 27, 2008 by allie.

after breakfast in the hotel restaurant, we boarded the bus and started out of the city. joz wrote all about it on her blog, and i’m really too tired to repost it here, so go there, read about it, and then look at our pretty pictures!

many of the voxxies trekked up the pyramid of the sun. i, being of very out of shape body, opted to watch the climb from this vantage point:

more pics later…

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Friday, June 27, 2008 by allie.

so i’ve been looking through peoples’ pictures, and so far, i’ve none of the group checking into the airport at 5am on thursday. isn’t that strange? or maybe everyone has a better sense of self preservation than i thought…? anyway, a few pictures of our first day in mexico.

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Friday, June 27, 2008 by allie.

things we´ll post about when we get internet access for a longer duration:

basilica de guadalupe
lunch: pictures of us in some great headwear
our trek to the pyramids
the traffic in mexico city on a friday afternoon

and what may mess up our schedules greatly saturday afternoon (our first concert is saturday night…)

pictures. lots and lots of pictures…

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Friday, June 27, 2008 by lauren.

by Dr. Iris Levine

We arrived safely and all is good. The hotel is fantastic and right in the center of the Historic area of Mexico City. Toured some of the sights including the National Palace, the Cathedral and braved one set of thunderstorms already. The lowering of the flag ceremony was fantastic. Complete with military police and out of tune band. Sweet! Great food - company- and ready to try the tequila!. More later….

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Friday, June 27, 2008 by lauren.

more later

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Thursday, June 26, 2008 by allie.

(this post was written Thursday.  i’ve back dated it to try and minimize confusion.)

we’ve been in the air for 30 minutes. this is a very stuffy plane. and it’s kind of small. and when we checked in this morning, we apparently had no choice when it came to seating. I mean, there are a lot of us on the plane, we’re all over the place. and my girlfriend (who is grumpier than me. go figure) is four or five rows back in the middle seat. I’m in the middle seat, but I’m between two very nice people (iris is one of them) so I can’t complain much. I’m also typing this while on the plane, so everyone can read what I’m saying. complaining wouldn’t be too smart. lucky I like both of my neighbors.

the guy from the tour group that met us this morning—nice enough guy, but you couldn’t pay me enough money to have to greet a bunch of overtired, stressed out people before they depart for an international tour. yikes. I guess he’s used to it, cuz he didn’t bat an eye when I was um, less than civil.

so far, the playlist on my ipod has been ok. first ten artists:

1. the paper raincoat
2. muse
3. mika
4. nerina pallot
5. arctic monkeys
6. tori amos
7. indigo girls
8. the east village opera company
9. pink martini
10. ice cube

more later. battery isn’t so good on my laptop.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2008 by lauren.

Thought I’d let people know where we’ll be staying.

In Mexico City, we’ll be staying at the NH Centro Historico Hotel. This is not in the Zona Rosa as some have said (Becky) but more near the historic Plaza de la Constitución better known as Zócalo, and the magnificent historical Metropolitan Cathedral.

In San Miguel de Allende, we’ll be at the Hotel Real de Minas Misión de Los Ángeles about 10 minutes north of the center of this small, but beautiful city.

In Guadalajara, we’ll be at the Hotel de Mendoza right in historical downtown.

Posted in vox tour | 6 Comments »

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 by allie.

t-minus 29 hours and counting until we arrive at LAX for our departure to Mexico City.  At our brief rehearsal/end of the season chat, some of us discussed the possibility of not sleeping wednesday night because of all the last minute things to do before heading off to the airport.  that and the fact we have to be there at 5am.

i am so not a morning person, to which many a person will attest.  i’ve tried to warn as many people as i can to stay away until they see me finish my coffee.  i just know there are morning people amongst the voxxies.  i’ve nothing against them, but i really hope they don’t get too offended if i bite off any heads.

so much packing to do…

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