Embarking on an unforgettable experience, members of the Powell High School band and choirs recently traveled to Italy to perform at historic venues from Venice to Rome.

Thirty-nine band and choir students attended, with 68 travelers total including chaperones and family members. The trip took place March 14-21 during spring break, with the group spending two days in Venice, Florence and Rome before heading home. 

“I went on the Italy trip because I thought it would be a good learning opportunity,” junior choir student Anika Anderson said. “I’ve never left America before and I was curious what a foreign country would be like. My favorite part of the trip was wandering around and exploring the different cities during our free time. There were many cool places, like a cat cafe, that I got to go to.”

Planning begins

The trip was the brainchild of band director John Fabela, who back in 2012, took a group of PHS students to Italy with then-choir director John Miller. 

“It was a very similar trip, and it was a big success,” he said of the first excursion. “We decided it was time that we did it again with our current students.”

This was Fabela’s fifth time traveling to the country, and said he chose it for the trip because “there’s just so much to see and that I wanted our students and families to experience.”

“To see my students’ faces when they walked into the Coliseum, for example, or when they saw the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel,” he added. “Just to see their eyes open and the wonderment when they saw the statue of David.”

Choir teacher Drew Murray was unable to go, so Southside Elementary music teacher Katie Sears directed the choir. 

“I am humbled to have been able to conduct the choir,” she said. “It was so fun making music with our great high school students. Many of the students that performed were my students in elementary school, so it was fun to get to conduct them again. The entire trip was a highlight of my career and I am grateful for the opportunity to represent Powell High School and music in Park County School District 1.”

Planning began three years ago, with students who wanted to go making monthly payments toward the trip. There were no individual fundraisers, but some local groups made donations.

“I decided to go on this trip because I thought it would be a great once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share the Powell High School choir’s talent with people around the world and experience different cultures,” junior choir student Alexandria Turner said. “My favorite part of the trip was the food. In Italy, they don’t just make food, they put time and love into each dish.” 

Junior band and choir member Austin Sears also wanted to visit a foreign country, and said he really enjoyed the food as well. 

“Even though I ate most of the same dishes throughout the trip, they were different each time, and it was also super delicious,” he added.  

Busy week begins

After more than 15 hours of travel, the group hit the ground running. They started in Venice, sightseeing and performing at Santa Maria dei Miracoli (St. Mary of Miracles).

“The most memorable part of Venice was how different it is from a traditional big city,” Austin said. “While Rome and Florence just felt similar to New York City, Venice was unique in the way that all of its streets felt like alleyways; it didn’t feel like a big city at all.”

Because their performances were in churches, the band performed all sacred pieces including “Gabriel’s Oboe” by Italian composer Ennio Morricone and one of the movements from “Four Seasons” by Vivaldi.

“It’s interesting to note that while we were in Venice, we walked right by the church that Vivaldi worked at,” Fabela said.

The choir also sang sacred/religious music, Katie Sears said, along with some Latin text, and even a traditional spiritual.

“The choir did amazing,” she said. “Singing in those incredible venues really allowed the students to hear what they are capable of. I hope that they always remember what they sounded like and how they felt when they performed in these beautiful churches.”

The group also had a performance in Ponte San Nicolo, about 18 miles from Venice, at a church that has hosted international music groups for the past 34 years. In attendance was the town mayor, members of the police force in their dress uniforms and most of the church congregation.

“We were the first group from Wyoming to be asked to perform there,” Fabela said. “This is a big deal for them. They prepared a home-cooked meal for us before the concert.” 

Turner said the small village was her favorite place to perform. 

“They really enjoyed our performance, and they prepared a nice dinner for us,” she said. “At the end, when we were getting ready to leave the church, the community that came to watch us asked us to sing one more song because it was the best choir they had ever heard.” 

They then made their way to Florence by bus, where they performed at the Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore).

There the students also got to see Michelangelo’s statue of David, the Ponte Vecchio, a medieval stone arch bridge and the only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during World War II, and Basilica di Santa Croce, a church which is the burial place for Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli and Florence Nightingale.

“The most memorable part about Florence was going with my group to see the tomb of Galileo Galilei and the tomb of da Vinci,” Turner said.

After performing at Saint Mark’s English Church they headed to Rome for the final leg of the journey. While there they toured the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, Saint Peter’s Basilica, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and Colosseum.

“The most memorable part of Rome was the Colosseum,” Anderson said. “I wanted to buy a battle helmet from the gift shop, but by the time I got there it was closed. Later that day I ended up buying two helmets, a gladiator helmet that was actually made of metal, and a Roman soldier helmet made of plastic.”

Their Rome performance was at St. Paul’s Within the Walls.

“I enjoyed performing at the very last church we went to in Rome,” Anderson said. “It was a beautiful place. There was a small pond outside of it where I stood and watched some fish swim around before we performed. When we sang and played our instruments, they had the doors open so people walking by could hear us.”

Well worth it

While the trip mostly went smoothly, there were a few difficulties. 

“The most challenging part of our trip was the schedule,” Turner said. “We had a very set day ahead, and we had to stick to the times, which was upsetting because we did not get enough time to look around.” 

Anderson added that packed days and little sleep led to exhaustion for much of the week, but that “it was worth it, though.”

“The most challenging part was definitely moving our equipment from place to place,” Austin, who plays percussion, said. “Many of the instruments that were taken aren’t exactly lightweight instruments, and the fact that there were multiple big instruments made it even harder.” 

When the group returned home a trombone was missing. However it turned up a few days later.

Chaperones included PHS assistant principal Steve Lensegrav, PMS art teacher Jane Woods, Southside teacher Karine Aure-Takos, and parents Leigh and Travis Dusenberry. 

“We all want to express our deep gratitude for the community for their generosity and in helping us pay for baggage fees for our instruments and for the many individual donors who helped our students be able to have a great time and not have to worry about food insecurity,” Fabela said. “All of our breakfasts were scheduled together at our hotels and then we had group dinners. But every day when we were sightseeing, we all were expected to order our lunches in Italian, and some kids just didn’t have a whole lot of spending money. We had some individual donors who, through their generosity, made sure that those kids didn’t have to worry about it.”