The journey began over a year ago when we received a call from the Vail Valley Foundation asking if we would consider learning 14 national anthems (in their native languages) of the world’s top skiers? They were hosts of the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Vail and Beaver Creek and they wanted to do something new and different — have the winning medalist’s national anthem sung live, instead of using the standard prerecorded instrumental version. It meant that, for two weeks, the Chorale would sing in the nightly medal ceremonies, learning only a few hours beforehand, which country’s athlete they would serenade. Boy, are we glad that we said “yes!”
After many, many, MANY hours of research and preparation over the past nine months, the Colorado Children’s Chorale is proud to have participated in the World Ski Championships from February 1-15, 2015. We won’t go into details about the process — if you want to learn about all the “inside stuff”, simply click on the posts (with “Vail 2015” in the title) to the right and you can catch up. However, if you just haven’t had an opportunity to follow along on social media over the past two weeks, we’ve gathered pictures and videos and put them all in one place for you to enjoy.
Presenting……drum roll, please……..the 2015 Alpine World Ski Championships as seen through the eyes and ears of the Colorado Children’s Chorale members, family and friends:
Sunday, February 1 – Opening Ceremonies
We sang the Austrian anthem five (yes, 5!) times for Anna Fenninger (Ladies’ Super G and Ladies’ Giant Slalom), Hannes Reichelt (Men’s Super G), Marcel Hirscher (Men’s Alpine Combined), and the Nations Team event.
Tina Maze from Slovenia won both the Ladies’ Downhill and the Ladies’ Alpine Combined, so we sang the Slovenian anthem with her, twice.
Patrick Keung of Switzerland was the winner in the Men’s Downhill.
USA, USA, USA!!! Ted Ligety won the Men’s Giant Slalom and Vail local Mikaela Shiffrin came out on top in the Women’s Slalom race.
We ended the week singing the national anthem for Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Grange, who won the Men’s Slalom.
And, here’s a snippet from the Closing Ceremonies. The Chorale sang with local musicians, Hazel Miller and FACE.
In addition, there were news stories about the Chorale on local news stations, as well as around the world.
9News.com, KUSA: http://www.9news.com/story/sports/ski/2015/02/10/nation-teams-event-tuesday/23155919/
Fox31, KDVR: http://kdvr.com/2015/02/11/colorado-kids-learn-14-national-anthems-for-ski-championships/
Channel 2, KWGN: http://kwgn.com/2015/02/11/colorado-kids-learn-14-national-anthems-for-ski-championships/
Lastly, here are a couple of videos from various events during the week.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful time with us!
choraleconnection.wordpress.com 