Over Easter break, the music department at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria took a weeklong journey to Italy, where they took in the sights and sounds of a culture rich with history. On Easter Monday and led by Directors Melinda McKenzie Hall and Dan Kosko, 53 students, parents and chaperones hopped off their eight-hour flight and began their journey in a small town called Orvieto. Over the next week, they visited Tuscany, Montecatini, Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Assisi and Rome. At each stop they enjoyed the Italian markets, cuisine and cafés.
The visits included seeing all the sights: the Basilica of St. Francis, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Michelangelo’s David statue, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican. The group was even blessed by Pope Francis on their last day.
But what would this trip have been without some music? The students had the opportunity to play in three different venues while in Italy. The first concert took place at Liceo Statale Giosue Carducci, a performing arts high school in Pisa. The Ireton band, strings and choir members and the Italian students performed separately, and then combined for a spontaneous rendition of “Funiculi, Funicula.”
Once the Ireton group arrived in Rome, they played at St. Paul Within the Walls, a beautiful Episcopalian church covered in mosaics and artwork. Their final concert was at Palazzo Chigi Ariccia, a historic Roman palace that now functions as an art museum. There, Ireton played an exchange concert with Orchestra di fiati dell’Accademia Musicale, an Italian orchestra made up of musicians of all ages. Once each group performed separately, they combined to perform the selections “Nessun Dorma” by Puccini and “The Washington Post March” by J.P. Sousa.
This trip was almost four years in the making, following the music department’s last international trip to Germany in 2019. The department was scheduled to go to Paris in 2020, but the trip was canceled due to COVID-19. This year’s trip was a memorable experience and a tremendous musical and cultural opportunity for all students.
