Student Blog: On Tour with the Catawba Singers

day 4: Chicago Pt. 1

by Kara Procell '13

Day 4 - March 6th, 2011
Chicago, Illinois

We hit the road this morning early, in order to make it to Chicago for a 12:45 rehearsal with Eric Whitacre!! Professor Oakley stayed the morning in Springfield to participate in the morning worship at his old church. He'll be joining us tomorrow morning.

We arrived at the Swissotel, a very high class hotel in downtown Chicago, checked our bags and went downstairs to rehearse in one of the ballrooms. Let me just get this out of the way — Eric Whitacre is one of the most intelligent, genuine, funny, attractive, endearing men I've ever met. He led our rehearsal with total confidence and impressed us all with his musical knowledge and his passion for all that he does.

There are five or six other choirs here with us, some of them are high schools and some of them are colleges. Some are from Illinois and there is one choir we have met from California. In addition to rehearsing with him, Eric Whitacre had a question and answer session in which we got to learn more about his process of creating music and his rise to "rockstar-dom" in the composing world.

In our first free night in Chicago many of us chose to hit the town and sample all the fine dining Chicago had to offer. Personally, I enjoyed one of the best meals I've ever had at a restaurant called Sweet Water Tavern. On the way out, our group ran into Eric Whitacre and walked and talked with him for several blocks. When we explained to him that we were on our spring tour, he suggested that we sing for the group some time. We hope we get that chance!!

We have an eight hour rehearsal tomorrow and can't wait!!

Honest to blog,

Kara Procell