Album: Italy Concert Tour 2010 (USCGA Cadet Chorale)

In March, 2010 the USCGA Cadet Chorale traveled to Italy to entertain for a week. Download individual tracks below, or download the entire album (85.2mb).

Cadet Chorale spreads goodwill and cheer in Italy
by 1/c Frankie Temple

The Coast Guard Academy Cadet Chorale (a select group chosen from the larger Glee Club) was afforded the invaluable opportunity to travel to Italy to perform and represent our school, service, and country for seven days this past March.

On Saturday, March 6th, the adventure began with our arrival at the airport in Venice. Our first performance, and Italian debut, was on Sunday in the outside courtyard at the beautiful Peggy Guggenheim Collection for local officials and spectators. Our performance drew over 1,100 people to the museum that day.

On our way back to our hotel after the performance, we walked through the magnificent Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square), originally constructed in the 9th century, where we performed a few of our nautical songs for everyone in the square. Our impromptu concert gathered a rather large and appreciative crowd. The experience was rather humbling in such a beautiful and historically rich location of the world.

On Monday, the Chorale had the pleasure of spending the day with the students of the Scuola Navale Miltiare “F. Morosini,” a preparatory school run by the Italian Navy. After a tour of the beautiful seaside campus, 1/c Chris Salinas gave a presentation about our Coast Guard, and we ended the afternoon with a short concert for their students, faculty, and staff. It was a joy to explore the similarities between our respective educational backgrounds and future careers in seagoing services. The Commanding Officer of the school, Captain Enrico Pacioni, was exceedingly happy with the cadet interaction and inter-cultural experience and expressed an interest in arranging future visits to CGA.

Performing at the U.S. Consulate in Florence
On Tuesday our tour continued in Florence, where we were part of a spectacular event in conjunction with the city of Florence and the U.S. Consulate to celebrate the life and achievements of Amerigo Vespucci, the Florentine explorer. Our featured piece was America the Beautiful. 1/c Jason Veara and I were honored with the opportunity to join the Florentine City Council President in hanging a wreath at the family home of the Explorer. We continued the celebration at the U.S. Consulate, where we entertained other guests and city officials at a reception. Ms. Mary Ellen Countryman, the Consul-General, stressed how cultural support and engagement such as our performance helps to nurture the strong and important relationship between Italy and the United States.

The Chorale also brought some patriotic music to our fellow Americans and some Florentine natives on Wednesday evening at St. James Episcopal Church. The old granite walls of the church provided better acoustics for our music than any other venue we have performed in before (so much so that a CD was made from the digital recording of the performance).

On Thursday our day began with an impromptu performance for the American elementary school students on the U.S. Army Garrison, Camp Darby, where we stayed for the second portion of our trip. The concert was covered by the Armed Forces Network which broadcasts to American service men and women and other U.S. Government civilian employees and their families overseas as well as to Navy ships at sea.

For our final day in Italy we visited the city of Livorno, home to the Accademia Navale (Italian Naval Academy), where we spent the afternoon and evening playing sports against their varsity basketball and volleyball teams, sailing, and learning Italian seamanship on one of their academy’s training vessels. We were given private, cadet-led tours of their beautiful campus, which included a demonstration in their vessel simulators and a photo op with their in-ground sailing rigging. All of the cadets ate dinner together in the wardroom where we shared stories about school, hobbies, and customs, quickly becoming friends.

Our finale for our Italian Tour was in the auditorium for their entire corps with their professional band. The day-long exchange forged many new friendships, and we left the Accademia Navale’s Superintendent and their Commandant of Cadets very excited about the prospects of future engagements. In fact, their training vessel, the Amerigo Vespucci, may be coming to the East Coast as early as later this summer.

Throughout the trip, we were able to take in many of the architectural, cultural and artistic sites. In Venice we toured the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, which houses “some of the most important European and American art of the first half of the 20th century.” In our free time a few of us were able to visit St. Mark’s Basilica for a brilliant organ concert featuring the works of J.S. Bach.

In Florence, we hosted by a genuine “Princess” – although royal titles are no longer officially used in Italy - of the Corosini family. She showed us her home and, with her choir, offered us some beautiful pieces by Italian composers Verdi and Puccini. We also visited Florence’s historic Accademia Gallery (home of Michelangelo’s David), il Duomo (the cathedral”), and Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge).

In Pisa we explored the historic sights and some of the world’s finest art, architecture, and sculpture. In Livorno we enjoyed a bus/walking tour and were most appreciative of their beautiful overlooks and the private tour of their mountaintop cathedral, so much so that we sang the Italian National Anthem for our wonderful guide and driver.

The Chorale’s trip to Italy was a once in a lifetime experience for us, but it was also significant for the bonds we forged and the relationships we developed within the cities of Venice, Florence, and Livorno; the Scuola Navale Miltiare; the U.S. Consulate in Florence; the U.S. Army Garrison at Camp Darby; and the Accademia Navale. We are truly grateful for the experience and look forward to leveraging the cultural awareness and literacy we gained in our future endeavors as cadets and Coast Guard officers.