Performing with the University of Sevilla Choir

In my last post I forgot to mention that this past week I performed in two concerts with the University of Sevilla choir! The first performance was on Tuesday night during a Mass at the University Catholic church. The Mass was literally something I could imagine taking place in Rome at the Vatican. It was really incredible that I got a chance to see such a traditional Catholic Mass in Spain and such an old and beautiful church. We performed 6 songs from Handel's "Messiah."

The second performance, on Thursday night was at La Iglesia del Salvador, the second largest church in Sevilla. It was an event with members from the University reading Bible passages and said prayers for the University and Sevilla in general and we performed about 10 songs from Handel's "Messiah" that were placed to correspond with the passages. The church was packed and a few friends of mine came to see me! Since everything was in Spanish and I didn't even know what to expect about the concert ahead of time, I was a little surprised when everything felt so religious and at times somber. The church was dark except for a few lights and candles. It was beautiful. I was a bit overwhelmed.

As I was standing there during the performance, I thought to myself firstly how awesome an opportunity I was having to perform in an environment like this, with a choir in Spain, but secondly I thought about how far Spain and particularly Sevilla has come in a few centuries and about its history. I have been learning a lot about Spain's history and European history in general in my classes and sometimes it's a bit overwhelming. Spain's history has been very complicated and has rarely had periods of religious tolerance, but now, here I was, performing here in a church built in 1674, 102 years older than the USA, once again I felt a bit awe-struck.

By the way, I think it's a nice coincidence that my choir at GW, University Singers, is performing pieces by Handel this semester as well.

Looking forward to when this rain stops, but for now taking refuge in Starbucks once again. haha.

Adios for now,

Jennie xoxo :)