Vale - St. George's College

The Winthrop Singers Trip to China
A GREAT RECEPTION FOR THE WINTHROPS' FIRST CONCERT
In early August of this year, I was fortunate enough to travel
to Beijing with the Winthrop Singers to participate in the
29th International Society for Music Education (ISME) World
Conference. This experience has been, without a doubt, one of the
most formative of my life so far, not only because it was musically
challenging, but for the wealth of knowledge
I gained about China and its culture.
Our week in Beijing was jam-packed to say the least. We gave four
concerts in total; two concerts at the Conference Centre (within
walking distance to the Olympic Bird’s Nest and Water Cube), a
concert at the National Centre for the Performing Arts and a Fringe
Concert in conjunction with a local choir, the Beijing Baroque
Choir. Our performances were well received and enthusiastically
applauded by hundreds of local Chinese. Our fi rst concert was
attended by over 400 people – a reception we did not expect!
As well as performances we gave a workshop in Kodaly and chord
singing, led by our esteemed director, Nicholas Bannan. This was
a tremendous success and we were asked to be in approximately
10,000 photos! What was rewarding for us was that we could
communicate and share musical knowledge with complete
strangers, which demonstrated in my eyes the power of music,
particularly choral singing.
Aside from the Conference program, we had plenty of time to fi t in
some culture. On the second night we watched the Peking Opera,
which was a both an eye-opening and ear-blasting experience. The
next day we visited the Bird’s Nest, the extraordinary architectural
centrepiece of the 2008 Olympic Games, which was aweinspiring.
It literally blew my mind to behold the athletics track on which
Usain Bolt and other athletes had performed their miracles.
Shortly after, Richard Pengelley and I swam in the practise pool
inside the Water Cube, which no doubt had been a dream for
Richard for some time. We also walked through Tiananmen Square
and strolled through the Forbidden City amongst crowds hundreds
of thousands strong. Equally fun was bartering for tacky goods at
the Silk Markets, and the favourable exchange rate ensured that
16 The Georgian | December 2010
everyone got a “bargain”. The absolute highlight for me was having
a traditional Noodle dish for my birthday (on the fi fth day) and
then climbing a 900 metre high section of the Great Wall. It was
amazing to get up so high and above the smog of Beijing. Equally
thrilling was to imagine the work that must have gone into such a
massive engineering task.
Beijing surprised me in many ways. Firstly, the infrastructure is
world class. The highways, railways, malls and facilities were top
drawer; sometimes we had to remind ourselves that we were in
a Communist country. We were given a reminder of this when we
got lost trying to fi nd an Italian restaurant and found ourselves
in the Russian District; a precinct that I assume was built when
the partnership with the former USSR was strong. Secondly,
the people were so enthusiastic to meet us especially at the
Conference. Our tour guide, Mary, was a particularly kind lady
and we were able to communicate with many Chinese thanks to
her fl uent translations.
THE WINTHROP SINGERS PANDA TO ALL TASTES....