Memories From China!

     When I found out we were going to Guangzhou, I was very excited. My parents grew up there and I was looking forward to seeing the city and learning more about its culture. It was amazing! It was more rural than I expected but the buildings were colorful and the people were very nice. What I loved most about the city was that it had a very homey feeling to it. The people at the restaurants and the places we went to were welcoming, and one waiter at the restaurant where we went for dinner even offered to teach my friend Sofia some Chinese when I explained to him that she studied it in school. The city was very busy and bustling but there was a small-town feel to it and the hotel was lovely.
     The concert on the first night was with the Gondwana Voices Children’s Choir. We made lots of friends and the concert was a success! In our second concert I especially felt good about our enthusiasm and overall performing skills. The audience loved us and we did “Oye” as the encore. The whole song was an amazing experience because in the heart of the moment, we decided to bring children up on the stage and mothers were practically throwing children into our arms to dance with us. We sang with all the people who came to see us and the ending was so full of power and love. We felt like they took us into their community. After the show ended, the people all came to take pictures with us and shake our hands. I felt so happy when I told some of them I was a Cantonese person.
     Seeing Guangzhou for the first time was life-changing. Getting in touch with my roots was an experience I wouldn’t have missed for the world. I’m happy that I was able to bring my love for singing back to the city of my family.

-       Ada 

YPC at the MasterCard Center in Guangzhou

I had a blast at the Choral Summit! When we entered the hall for the opening ceremony I was blown away. I took so many pictures of this huge stadium. We also had an opportunity to meet different choirs. The great thing about meeting the other choirs was seeing all the diverse cultures from around the world represented! My personal favorite was the Zimbabwe College Choir from Africa. They were extremely friendly. I gave a YPC pin to one friendly girl who I spoke to. In return she gave me one of her bracelets from Zimbabwe! It made me feel so special that I connected with them.

Another cool aspect of the day was when we were filmed and recorded for TV and radio interviews. They wanted to know more about YPC, its purpose and mission, and it felt so good to sing for them. Later, members of the choir from Zimbabwe came in to take pictures with us, and our entire backstage experience morphed into a choral music fiesta! We had so much fun listening to them sing and learning dance moves from them, and it wasn’t long before the Australian choir joined the celebration. It was such a wonderful way to build morale so that we could perform wonderfully in China. In my opinion, we were fantastic!

-       Noni 

Filming for international television!

Concert at China Conservatory of Music in Beijing

This Joint IS Jumpin'!