It’s hard to know where to start. I guess I’ll begin by saying I’m
totally exhausted tonight. (In a totally ‘wunderbar’ kind of way.) The tired feeling I’m experiencing is not solely tied to the sheer physical exertion of travel/sight-seeing/performance. Rather, as I compose this (speeding down the autobahn on a charter bus from Wittenberg back to Berlin) I think my body is responding to a wonderfully exhilarating performance at the Phoenix Theater of Wittenberg (and related events detailed in this post). Add to this that it was our final performance of the tour, and that it was the final “high school” music performance for many on this tour, and we’re all feeling a bit sentimental tonight.
Aside from our time in Bietigheim with host families, I think today has been my favorite of the tour. So, this will also likely be my longest post of the journey (just skip it now if you like). I also suspect this will be my last post prior to our arrival back in DG. (I’m sure a few concluding posts will trickle in from our Blogging team in the days following our return, so I encourage families to check back – especially for the chance to hear more from students who had little access to blogging technology in the second week.
We began with a visit to the Reichstag (Germany Parliament), which is the equivalent of a stop at the U.S. Capitol Building. Normally, a student tour such as ours would be limited to the standard public tour of the reconstructed dome (which was indeed cool). Here’s a shot of it …
But because of the special exchange relationship we have with the Bietigheim Musikschule, our group experienced a very special meeting with a member of the German Parliament, Herr Harald Leibrecht. Mr. Leibrecht is a representative from Bietigheim, and actually played in their Musikschule’s band when the first exchange to the United States was forged many years ago. It was very exciting to meet him. What a charismatic man. Our meeting at 8:30 AM began with his Chief of Staff, as he was on a plane early this morning from southern Germany back to Berlin. He got off his plane, and was driven quickly back to the Reichstag to meet with us. Mr. Leibrecht, if you are reading this: THANK YOU AGAIN for meeting with our students, and again reinforcing the importance of this international exchange. Following the meeting with Mr. Leibrecht the official photographer “made picture” of the group, and I asked Ben S. if he would please present our official tour polo shirt to Mr. Leibrecht as a thank-you. Ben did a great job. Both pictures follow …
Our tour of Berlin today included the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall. Both are destinations that I have looked forward to visiting for many years (especially since ’89 when The Wall fell). The visit again confirmed for me that you cannot truly appreciate history by only reading about it in books. In the upper left hand corner of this picture you might be able to make out some writing that several of the students took note of during the tour. It read: "Maybe someday we will be together." I think that one thought, frozen in time, was meaningful for our students who have really appreciated the connections forged these past two weeks in Germany.
After a quick stop for lunch our buses proceeded to Wittenberg, where we visited the church where Martin Luther is buried. Our local guide – an English teacher originally from Iowa – was very easy to understand! Yet again, another incredible encounter with history. Here’s a shot of the church where Luther preached and is buried. The bell tower is inscribed with the phrase “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” (but of course in German).
Our students played so musically and with such passion and energy tonight. The theater was very special. Having been constructed in the 1920s, the building was acquired by the Third Reich during Hitler’s rule, and was converted to the headquarters of the Nazi party. Later the German Democratic Republic took control of the building, and it became a state-run theater, producing opera and classical music for the area. In the 80s, the funding stream for the arts was depleted, and the theater fell on very hard times. Just recently (about three years ago) an American couple bought the theater at auction, and has opened it up as a private theater with hopes of improving cultural offerings in the city. This is a proud city, but one that is dealing with hard economic times (10-12% unemployment currently). There’s not a lot of money for the arts, but it is so exciting to see this beautiful old theater being reinvented with an eye to the future. The owners, and many from the town, came out to hear our concert tonight. It was a ticked event, and was a sell-out. I think our students felt like musical super-stars tonight. Loud applause greeted both the concert band and the jazz band, and they cheered for multiple encores. Cory P. did a great job introducing each piece in German, and they really appreciated his smooth use of the language. In fact, near the end of the concert, the coordinator of the event asked Cory to return to the stage where the audience again applauded his efforts to connect our students with the German audience. Here are some shots of the concert …
While the concert band was doing a sound-check on stage tonight, Mr. Williams pointed out to me a wall of the theater lobby that recognized patrons who have supported the ongoing renovation of the theater through financial contributions. We jointly agreed that it seemed very appropriate – given the warm reception we felt today from Wittenberg (and those associated with the theater) – that we as a Fine Arts program make a contribution. So, as we invited the owner of the theater, and her colleague who had coordinated the concert onto the stage for the sharing of our tour shirt, we surprised the audience by announcing that the District 99 Honors Band would pledge a 500 Euro contribution toward the restoration of the theater. I have to tell you, I will NEVER forget the reaction of the audience. Mr. Williams and I were sure they would be appreciative, but we could not have anticipated the way in which this announcement seemed to literally “take the breath away” from the audience, and the concert coordinator in particular. There was an audible gasp as we offered our financial pledge, and both women had tears in their eyes.
You know, there have been several moments on this tour where I have been acutely reminded how fortunate I am to be an American. How fortunate I am to live within the District 99 community. How many opportunities our children/students have that get taken for granted. (Our hotel in Prague was no ‘Holiday Inn’ … but I’m actually really grateful that our students had the opportunity to live in a hotel that was once a communist house … and realize how fortunate they are to be free.) Tonight, as we shared our music with our final European audience – an audience that is yearning for the arts to return in a more prominent way to their small corner of the world – it felt really, really good to give.
One final word tonight: we had the good fortune to meet a DGN Band Alumnus today in Berlin. Karla Gutzke, a 2006 North High graduate, is studying this year in Berlin as a part of an exchange in consort with the University of Illinois. Karla traveled on the tour to Germany/Austria with us in the summer of 2005, and it was so much fun to see her today. Before we left for Europe, Karla helped Mr. Miller with many of the translations we needed to coordinate for the trip (concert announcements, etc.). Thanks Karla, and enjoy the rest of your stay in Berlin! Thanks for coming to our concert in Wittenberg.
.jpg)
