What can I say? And can I say it in Italian? Buon lavoro tutti, e grazie mille a tuttii. Big thank-yous to Jen, Luisa and team of CreateEscape for the hard work and the vision for our most seamless tour yet, to Jules and Sabrina for ongoing wrangling behind the scenes, to the staff and locals at Montestigliano, Mercatello-sul-Metauro and Firenze who looked after us so generously; to my brothers in music, Edorado Materassi and Guerrino Parri, the maestri who keep me on my toes; to the 30 singers who came on the ride (from Australia, NZ, Scotland, Canada) who sang, partied, walked and danced their way through two weeks of challenging and fun repertoire.
For me, one of the highlights was at the party after our combined concert in Mervatello, when we heard Coro Polifonico Icense suddenly break into songs I taught in Italy two years ago; I had no idea they had kept the songs in their repertoire, and the gusto and joy they brought to “Angels Watching Over Me’ and ‘Aint Got Time To Die’ was thrilling.
