Summer vacation plans for one group of Auburn students include Milan, Florence and Venice, Italy.
The Auburn Music Department will be taking a group of singers on a performing tour in Italy this summer.
Varna International, a music tour company, invited William Powell, director of choral activities at Auburn University, to recruit a choir for a 12-day tour of Italy.
"They invited me to conduct Verdi's 'Requiem,"' Powell said. "That's a great honor as a conductor to be invited to do that."
Powell said the choir will be performing a piece titled "Requiem Mass" by Giuseppe Verdi.
"The 'Requiem Mass' is a large, multimovement work, and it is considered to be one of the greatest requiems and greatest works to be written and performed," Powell said.
Another part of Powell's responsibility was to organize rehearsals for the group.
Powell said students in the music department were invited to go on the trip through an open application process, and there will be both choir and orchestra members going to Italy.
"Every Tuesday and Thursday we practice Verdi's 'Requiem,'" said Carolann Johnson, sophomore in Spanish who sings in the chamber choir. "We're giving a performance of it here in Auburn so that we can be ready to perform it in Italy."
Powell said singers from various choirs are going to Italy from Auburn's Music Department, not just one choir.
"All of the choirs will be represented," Powell said. "It's a combination of students from each of our seven choirs."
Powell said students going on the trip will be paying their own way, and some students are participating in fundraisers.
"We just got done with our hot chocolate sale," said Rachel Niedzwiecki, junior in music education. "It went pretty well."
Niedzwiecki and Johnson are the fundraising coordinators for the choral group.
Niedzwiecki also said there will be more fundraising activities throughout the semester.
"Our next big thing is going to be singing grams which will be for Valentine's Day," Johnson said. "Somebody can give us the number of someone they want us to sing to, and we'll leave them a voice mail of a cheesy Valentine's love song."
Johnson said all the proceeds from the fundraising will go toward lowering costs for students in the group.
"It's just a fun, creative way to get some cash for Italy," Johnson said.
Powell said the group will visit five cities in Italy, performing at venues in each.
The group will also have time to do some sightseeing in each of the cities.
"We will be there from June 28 through July 10," Powell said.
For most of the choir students, a trip to Italy is a once in a lifetime experience.
"I've never been out of the country," Niedwiecki said. "So I'm really looking forward to exploring Italy."
Johnson said the musical history is intriguing to her.
"I'm really excited to see an Italian opera in an authentic Italian opera house," Johnson said.
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