Basel Day 5: Taking it to the Streets!

By Saturday morning, it was hard to believe that our time in Basel was approaching its close. The previous days had been so full of great music and cultural exchange that they had just flown by. Fortunately, we were able to put off the inevitable return to the airport for a bit longer because Saturday was to be YPC's busiest day of the entire trip: four performances in one day!

YPC singers take a break in between performances for a photo op!

Our first stop of the day was beautiful Martinskirche (St. Martin's Church), where YPC rehearsed for the evening performance. The Church is situated up above the Rhine and features a lovely and intricate wooden interior as well as a gorgeous acoustic. With each new venue that we sang in, we discovered more and more just how many beautiful spaces there are in Basel!

YPC prepares for an evening performance in Basel's Martinskirche

The Festival garners tremendous support from the community of Basel. At no point in our visit was this more clear than on Saturday afternoon, when YPC joined with other participating choirs in a series of outdoor concerts in several plazas in the central part of the city. The experience of walking from place to place, hearing music from many different ensembles in the air wherever you went, was thrilling. In all of the three outdoor concerts we sang there were people filling every inch of each plaza.

Part of the audience for YPC's first outdoor performance in Basel's Theaterplatz

Having the opportunity to perform in many of the public spaces that we had explored throughout the week was a fun treat. There were even some audience members that walked with YPC from performance to performance to hear us sing two or even three times!

YPC performs a medley of selections from West Side Story at an outdoor performance in Barfüsserplatz