Singing in Salzburg (Day 1)

June 28: We left Munich mid morning and arrived in Salzburg before lunch. The tenor of our entire trip was about to change, as this was where we would meet up with our friend Edie Copley to participate in the choral festival where she was the featured director.

I was participating as a singer, and Cindy was "auditing" the rehearsals and performance. As Edie is a world renowned choral director, it was an excellent opportunity for Cindy to watch and learn. And I was excited to sing under Edie's direction once again (I was in the Flagstaff Master Chorale, which she directed, when I lived there).

We would have four intense rehearsals culminating in one performance at the Salzburg Dom. The choir consisted of a number of choral groups from throughout the U.S., from high school groups to senior community choirs--196 singers in all. We were expected to have a good handle on the music by the time we met in the first rehearsal, so I had been practicing ( not as much as I should have) on train rides and late at night. Fortunately most of the singers in attendance had practiced much more.

While trekking from the train station, we came across our first Salzburg Stolpersteine (stumbling stone):

And upon arrival, we stumbled upon Edie waiting for us in front of our hotel. The Hotel Krone was smack in the middle of Old Salzburg on the Linzer Gasse, and our room was quaintly comfortable, with windows that looked directly down on the street below (which was primarily vehicle-free except for morning deliveries).

After dropping Cindy's and my luggage in our room, the three of us headed out to find some lunch and get the lay of the land. There were no rehearsals that day, so our schedule was open, and we first went to scope out our rehearsal space, the Kollegienkirche:

What struck Cindy and me here was that it looked as if the authorities at this particular church had decided it would just be easier to spray paint the entire interior with white paint. It was striking in its own way, but all of the sculptural baroque details seemed dulled. In any case, it was an interesting space in which to sing with such a massive group accompanied by an electric piano. (I wore a mask the entire time, throughout the rehearsals and the performance.)

Not everything had been painted white...

And we walked over to the Salzburg Dom ( they charge a fee to enter there, so we figured we'd wait for the rehearsal to go in).

The three of us found a cafe where we had a lovely (but too big) lunch. We then wandered through the streets on both sides of the Salzach River, ultimately finding ourselves at Mirabell Gardens, one of the signature sites used in filming The Sound of Music.

Edie left us to go back to her hotel to do some work, and Cindy and I headed back to our hotel so that we could get ready for our Mozart dinner and concert at St. Peter's Restaurant--purported to be the oldest restaurant in the world, established in 803.

On the way back, we saw a classic example of the blending of old and new:

This building had a gorgeous fresco at the first-floor ( which we would call the second floor) level, and one of the more mundane American chains on the ground floor. But at least the building had been preserved.

Freshly showered and dressed up (as much as our limited wardrobe allowed), Cindy and I went back across the river to St. Peter's Abbey, home of that aforementioned oldest restaurant.

The restaurant is a marvel of contemporary re-imagining of that ancient space:

But we were going to the Baroque Hall:

We got lucky. First of all, our table was right next to the stage (loved those plastic baroque-style chairs):

And we were supposed to be sharing the table with two more people--but they never materialized, so we had it all to ourselves. We ordered a bottle of one of the abbey's own wines...

...and settled in for a magical evening.

Between courses based on traditional foods (the nockerl, a Salzburg specialty, was surprisingly delicious), we were served a delightful menu of Mozart:

The musicians were all excellent, and we appreciated that they never had to compete with the serving and consumption of food.

A fulfilling evening in every sense.

On our way back to the hotel, we came across some more Stolpersteine:

And this was the end of our first day in Salzburg.