Last Sunday was a wonderful day with clean blue sky.  A sunny day in winter is rare and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to enjoy the old town and take some pictures.  After almost four years living in this place I’m still impressed, expecially by some of the buildings from the middle age.  This palace, Palazzo Vecchio, was built seven centuries ago.  Can you believe it?

In Ferrara I used to sing in Coro Polifonico “Santo Spirito”, where we performed mostly baroque sacred music. I was very proud of that hobby, that allowed me to sing in prestigious theaters together with famed orchestras and world-class directors. Unfortunately when I moved to Florence I had to give up on this activity and I missed it a lot.   I tried to look for something similar in my new location but couldn’t find anything that matched my time budget and my taste.

For three long years Caterina tried to have me join The Pilgrims, a gospel choir.  I went to see one of their concerts and I liked it but, you know, jumping from Mozart’s Requiem to Happy Days is a big leap and I didn’t feel like I could do it.  Luckily enough, a few months ago Caterina eventually convinced me to give it a try and… it’s great!  I ended up joining their group – so now I am a Pilgrim – and already performed in five concerts!

What makes The Pilgrims great is not the songs we sing, even if there are some really good.  It’s not the musical skills, even if we sing everything by heart and the soloists have amazing voices.  It’s not the red tunic and the choreography we make dancing on the stage.  What makes it great are the choir members.  They are very energetic, friendly, inclusive and I have lots of fun with them!  And when you have fun performing the attendance has fun as well, which by the way is the goal of our performances.

I’m very thankful to Caterina for all the fun and the emotions I got in the concerts and for everything else that will come!  Damn, if only I joined them three years ago…

Last Tuesday night I attended a concert where Maggio Musicale Orchestra played Beethoven’s 9th Symphony directed by Zubin Mehta.  The concert was in Piazza della Signoria and was for free, so it was packed.  It was a very hot night but despite the sense of suffocation I was glad to be there cause the concert has been great.

After some initial synchronization problem – in the first movement where the orchestra wasn’t carefully following the director – they quickly knitted their sound and made an awesome ensemble.  I was particularly impressed by the sharpness of pizzicatos in the third movement.  Then in the fourth movement when the solo bass started to sing he took my breath away.  His voice was so powerful and determined that the walls surrounding the square vibrated and my skin was blown away.  The tenor, alto, soprano and the 100-people choir were also remarkably good while singing Ode to Joy, the amazing melody which is also famous for being the basis of the European Anthem.  As soon as the finale was over, every body stood up to clap their hands in a long ovation.

Of course, this wonderful music is even better when you listen to it in this open air space right the middle of Palazzo Vecchio, Loggia dei Lanzi, Michelangelo’s David and Uffizi.  I’m glad to live 10 minutes walk from there and it’s this kind of nights that make me glad the most.