September 24, 2010
Diocesan Choir heads to Italy for 10-day pilgrimage
Benedictine Father Gregory Chamberlin offers a blessing to the Diocesan Choir last Sunday at the conclusion of their concert at St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville where he serves as pastor. The group left Tuesday for a 10-day trip to Italy with scheduled stops in Venice, Florence, Siena, Assisi, Padua, Rome and Vatican City. (Message photo by Mary Ann Hughes) Click for a larger version.
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
There will be high notes and strong voices during the Diocesan Choir’s pilgrimage to Italy, but Jeremy Korba is hoping that the pilgrims are touched by the quiet moments — because those are the times, he believes, when faith can come alive.
He’s the director of the choir which began a 10-day trip to Italy last Tuesday. The itinerary includes visits in Venice, Florence, Siena, Assisi, Padua, Rome and Vatican City.
Jeremy has been the director of the Diocesan Choir for about five years. Its members, which often include as many as 110 people from parishes all over the diocese, sing at ordinations and other diocesan events including the Chrism Mass.
Of that larger group, 35 are heading to Italy this week, along with 25 others including spouses.
Last Sunday, the choir presented a concert at St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville which featured several of the songs they will be singing in Italy. Terri Abbot was the first person to arrive for the concert. “I came early,” she said, “so I can hear everything they are doing. I just know the music today will be exceptional. It will be really beautiful.”
She pointed to the program indicating Jeremy Korba as the director/conductor, his wife, Jennifer, as the featured soprano, and Mark X. Hatfield as the organist, and she said, “Anything these three people are involved in is going to be the best. It’s going to be exceptional.”
Before the concert began, the four members of the Colbert family talked about the upcoming trip. Colton Colbert is 12, and a male soprano in the choir. He said he was “very excited” about the trip, and looking forward to seeing Pope Benedict XVI. His older brother, Rem-ington, who is a tenor with the choir, said, “I’m looking forward to the food.”
Their mom, Patricia, laughed, and noted that he’s a typical 14-year-old boy.
The family, which also includes father, Ken, has sung with the diocesan choir during Chrism Masses and at the last diaconate ordination.
About 400 attended last Sunday’s concert at the cathedral which began with an introduction by the choir director who told the audience that members range in age from 12 to 82. “We have professional musicians and those who cannot read music.”
He said the group will sing at a High Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, perform a short recital in the Sistine Chapel, and sing during a papal audience.
Earlier this year, Jeremy and Mark traveled to Italy to preview the cities the choir will visit, and work began with the tour company which arranged dates and places for the choir to perform.
Last Sunday, Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger left for Rome. “He will meet us at the airport,” Jeremy said, noting it will be “the shepherd meeting the sheep.”
The bishop will “function as a tour guide for us,” he said, “even taking us up to the dome at St. Peter’s.”
He will also celebrate Masses at the Vatican and in churches in Florence and Assisi.
The choir will perform at concerts and sing during Liturgies while in Rome. To prepare, the group has been practicing one to two times a week for two months. They learned 28 pieces plus all the liturgical pieces, he said, adding that they “needed to learn the Latin Mass and Italian responses.”
They will be wearing choir robes in “Marian blue” in honor of Mary who is the patroness of the diocese.
As Jeremy made final preparations for the pilgrimage, he stopped to reflect about how the trip would affect the choir members. He said one of his hopes is that the pilgrims will come to understand the universality of the Catholic Church, and that — even in the hustle and bustle of the trip — it will be a prayerful experience.
“I hope this experience will spark their faith.”