Dear family and friends of TABC,

Well we are home. The tour was excellent in all aspects. Here are some of the details of the last segment of our trip in Hong Kong.

Thursday, July 26

Since we went to bed very late the night before, our morning call was adjusted to 10:00am to let the boys sleep in. Several boys didn’t make the 10:00am call and overslept. They had to hustle to get to the bus and we were delayed about 20 minutes.

We stopped and got breakfast to go and make a money exchange at the Hong Kong Bank so the boys could withdraw some Hong Kong dollar spending money from their accounts. We drove for almost two hours to Lantau Island and through a very winding mountainous road that was under construction. We had to stop numerous times on one side of the road to let oncoming traffic pass. Needles to say it was an interesting ride, but the scenic view was breathtaking. The green trees and the blue water were beautiful. We were headed to Ngon Ping 360, home of one of the world’s largest Buddhas sitting high on top a mountain peak. Upon arriving, I was surprised that there were so few people. It seemed like we had the entire park to ourselves. The Sky Tram was shut down for repairs and most people don’t drive that mountain road.

Our visit started with The Monkey Theater where we saw an amusing animated program of a monkey. The monkey is important in Chinese culture including the ancient antics of the Monkey King in Peking Opera. A version of the monkey was prevalent at Ngon Ping. In fact, there was a person in a monkey suit walking around similar to a Disney character. Of course, we took the opportunity to get photos with the monkey.

The next program was entitled “A Walk With Buddha”. It explained the story of the original prince in Nepal region who gave up riches and privilege to find inner enlightenment becoming the Buddha. It was interesting and I suspect it was the first time most of us had a glimpse at Buddhism.

The boys were definitely ready for lunch. They paired off and I gave them money to buy something to eat. They chose everything from Euro pizza, egg noodles, Chicken Kiev and sandwiches from 7-11. Most got a gelato for dessert. A couple of the boys bought Oriental shirts at a shop giving a 10% discount. Well, when the others saw the shirts they wanted more shopping time. I gave them another 30 minutes and now many of the boys have additions to their wardrobe. I think Michael Eakin bought the most. He looks great in his new apparel.

Well, it was time to go to the enormous Buddha statue. We took photographs at the bottom of the stairs then sojourned up to the top. The boys counted the steps. It was somewhere between 279 and 290 steps. One boy told me it was 302, but I’m not sure what exactly he was counting as steps. Regardless, it was a challenge…..similar to a mega stair master I suppose. I did great the first 150 steps, but I admit my legs started burning.

Hurray! I made it to the top, even though it took a few minutes to stop panting. An example of youthful exuberance and physical fitness was Josh Green. He left his bag of souvenirs at the bottom where we took the group photo. He realized he left it when he got to the top. So he ran back down to get it then up to the top for a second time. I was impressed. We took more photos of the statue then headed down. As you can imagine, going down was much easier than going up! We boarded the bus for the mountainous ride back to the university.

Dinner was in the university cafeteria followed by a free night. Mrs. Pierce and Mrs. Ackerley, with a couple of noble volunteers, did laundry for all the boys. It was quite a task in a hot and humid laundry room. Other boys spent time on the computers sending emails home while others just hung out in their rooms. The other choirs participating in the festival had arrived and I had the opportunity to conduct a portion of a rehearsal of the Mexican national choir.

We had an early lights out to catch up on rest. And thus the end of lucky day thirteen.

Friday, July 27

A breakfast buffet in the cafeteria awaited us at our 8:00am gather time. Today was the beginning of the ISCCPA (International Society of Children’s Choral and Performing Arts) Festival. Entitled “Children of the World In Harmony” the festival was the 16th International Choral Festival presented as well as celebrating the society’s 25th Anniversary. We met Kelvin, our escort for the festival. Kelvin is an 18 year old English Language student who sang in the Hong Kong Children’s Choir and plays violin.

I had triple duty at the festival. In addition to conducting TABC, I am a board member of ISCCPA and the Artistic Director and Co-conductor of Voices Without Borders (VWB). VWB is an international choir made up of singers from the US, Mexico, Venezuela and Vietnam. These singers came together to form a choir that performed at the festival.

The plan for the morning was for the boys to walk to a nearby shopping mall with Mrs. Pierce and Mrs. Ackerley as I had a board meeting and a VWB rehearsal. However, we learned that the mall stores did not open until 11:00am and we had to be back for lunch at noon. There wasn’t enough time. So, plan B was free time for the boys which they loved. They played foosball, Kongii, worked on the computers, got caught up in their journals and had the morning to relax.

After lunch, the bus brought the choristers to the Tsuen Wan Town Hall, the auditorium for the evening Opening Concert where I met up with the group for our afternoon rehearsal. We had not sung for three days so it was an important rehearsal. A large part of the choir is in the voice change process or already has a changed voice so vocal production changes daily throughout the choir.

We had a good rehearsal, and then walked across the street for two hours at the mall. It was a different mall than the one we were suppose to visit in the morning but, in the typical Hong Kong way, it was a large facility. I am surprised at all the malls and shopping opportunities. There are stores everywhere….and our boys like to shop in them! On this particular mall visit the most popular item purchased was the new Harry Potter book.

Back at the auditorium we had a boxed dinner brought in and had an hour to prepare for the concert. The Opening Concert featured all the performing groups with two or three selections. TABC performed Sing Joy, Blue Skies and Riders In The Sky. Once again, the audience gave a great ovation especially for the roping seven man pyramid.

Unlike the World Vision Festival that was only for choirs, the ISCCPA festival featured other performing ensembles in addition to choirs. There was an excellent orchestra, a dance group from Mongolia that was superb and Ballet Petit from Los Angeles which was a musical theater group incorporating singing and dance. Our boys enjoyed meeting and visiting with the seven girls and one eight year old boy in Ballet Petit as they often shared a bus with us throughout the festival.

It was after 10:00pm when we got back to the dorm after the concert so it was right to bed. And thus the end of day fourteen.

Saturday, July 28

Another great breakfast buffet started the day. The morning was spent touring around Hong Kong. Our first stop was the famous Stanley Market where you can buy just about anything and everything. In a farmer’s market set-up with rows of vendors next to each other, the market offers all kinds of goods from the touristy Chinese souvenirs, to custom made clothing, tennis shoes, watches, jewelry, leather-craft and many other items. One aspect of the market that has changed is bargaining with the vendors. We were not as successful as in year’s past of getting a lower rate. The listed price was pretty much the final price. However, the boys still enjoyed looking and buying their tour treasures.

Next stop was The Peak. This distinctive building atop a mountain is another shopping mall. However, significantly different than other malls is the observation deck at the top which offers a panoramic view of Hong Kong and the Kowloon Peninsula as well as the Hong Kong Harbor. We took obligatory group photos then spent some time exploring with our buddy. More souvenirs were purchased by the boys. Since this is close to the last shopping opportunity the boys were spending out their accounts.

From The Peak we went to Hong Kong University (not the Baptist College where we were staying). We took a self guided walk around the campus then had lunch in the cafeteria. After lunch we were taken to Avenue of the Stars, a wonderful developed area on the waterfront at the end of the Kowloon Peninsula looking across to Hong Kong Island. The view was spectacular of the Hong Kong Skyline. We took photos, and then had a fifteen minute outdoor program for people passing by. It was still warm and very humid. I was wearing a black sport coat which was drenched by the conclusion. After our brief concert, I was whisked off in a taxi to go to a Voices Without Borders rehearsal and the rest of the group stayed and watched the remainder of the outdoor concert.

Back at the auditorium, the boys had free time backstage while I was still rehearsing Voices Without Borders. Many were captivated by reading Harry Potter while others wrote in journals or played Kongii. When I came backstage after the rehearsal I actually saw two boys sound asleep. I think the fatigue factor may be setting in.

We had another box dinner at the theater then attended the evening concert. TABC was not performing this evening but rather were audience members. The Voices Without Border did perform so I had conducting duties. Another late night returning to the dorm so it was immediate lights out. And thus the end of day fifteen.

Sunday, July 29

We had our last morning buffet breakfast in the cafeteria. The last two days of tour we were served a sandwich and a box of juice for breakfast. The buffet was better. I was glad the boys had a good breakfast as this was the day of our main showcase concert and I wanted them in top form.

After breakfast, we were taken to a new auditorium, the Tuen Mun Town Hall and given one hour to prepare our thirty minute program. It was a good rehearsal. Due to some vocal issues with changing voices, we listened to understudies in singing solos. It is always nice to have a back up with the unpredictability of the male adolescent voice.

They served us a box lunch and we were invited to sit in the audience for the first half of the program. Once again, our position was last and, once again, the boys were received with tremendous applause. We are making quite an impression with all of our performances.

After the concert, we were escorted out of the building to the loading dock and were told to leave all of our belongings as we were walking to dinner. I inquired why we could not leave our items in the building and was told that they needed to lock up the hall. Kelvin, our guide, told me in his broken English not to worry as one of the staff members would stay with our things. And besides, there was a security gate at the parking lot and “….no bad guys can come in here.” I just had to have faith in their plan and hope there were no bad guys around.

We walked a couple of blocks to the restaurant that served food we preordered. It was a good meal. Back at the loading dock an hour later we found all of our belongings in order with not one, but three festival staff sitting guard. Kelvin’s plan worked.

We went back to the Avenue of the Stars for a night view of the city. The spectacular daytime view was even more spectacular at night with millions of lights. We saw a laser light show from both the Kowloon and Hong Kong side of the harbor. The waterfront was significantly more crowded at night than in the previous afternoon. We stayed and listened to three other groups do their outdoor concert, the Mexicans, Mongolians and the Voices Without Borders. Then it was a last look at the city lights and back on the bus to the dorm rooms. We got to bed a little earlier than usual which was greatly appreciated. And thus the end of day sixteen.

Monday, July 30

The last day of the festival had arrived and the big finale concert was tonight. I think most of the boys were surprised to see a sandwich instead of the buffet for breakfast. All the choirs were bussed to the Hong Kong Cultural Center, a huge fine arts complex similar to the one in Seoul.

We had a morning massed choir rehearsal that was scheduled for two hours. It took an hour and fifteen minutes just to organize the more than 500 singers on stage in addition to an 80 piece orchestra. That only left forty-five minutes for rehearsing repertoire. The massed choirs were performing three selections; So Long, My Friend conducted by Alfredo Mendoza Chairman of ISCCPA, What A Wonderful World, conducted by Sincere Yip Festival Chair and Let There Be Peace On Earth, conducted by me.

By the time we got to my piece in the rehearsal there were only ten minutes left. I asked if the orchestral score was the same as the vocal score that I had and was told that it wasn’t….there was an 18 measure introduction and a slightly different orchestral version. So I asked to see a copy and was told they were not sure they had one nearby. Great! Well, I guess I can “wing it”. I did finally get a score but we only had time to rehearse the piece once! I took the score with me and did some study the rest of the day to be prepared for the gala evening event.

After the rehearsal we walked to a nearby McDonald’s. It was 12:00 noon, the peak of the lunch hour, so it was packed with people. It took a while for everyone to get their orders but eventually everyone was served. Back at the auditorium, we took some time to write postcards to our friends and patrons of the Chorus. The boys did a great job on the postcards. They were very focused and worked quietly and efficiently. We were able to write 360 postcards in just a little more than one hour.

We were given a half hour rehearsal on stage for our final presentation in the Closing Concert. We programmed Give Us Hope, Riders In The Sky and Praise His Holy Name. We had some intonation and blending problems in the rehearsal so I was hoping that the boys would rise to the occasion for the evening concert. Since all the postcards were completed and we had a couple hours before dinner, I gave the boys some additional free time to walk around the waterfront shops and the mall across the street from the Cultural Center.

For the box dinner back at the auditorium, some of the boys mixed and mingled with the girls from the Mexican Choir that shared our floor of dressing rooms. Others continued playing Kongii. I was even persuaded to give it a try. My first attempt was dismal, but the second time around I got to “three-sies”. Pretty good for a novice.

At sunset, we took the boys outside to a small amphitheater area on the waterfront for some group photographs. It was a terrific setting with the Hong Kong skyline in the rear. We spent some quality time watching the boats in the harbor, taking numerous photos and looking at the gorgeous view, nothing like you would ever see in Tucson.

The concluding concert of the festival was impressive. Each choir performed their best ten minutes. TABC ended the first half to great applause. Then the second half featured the orchestra followed by the grand finale of massed choirs and orchestra. I stood backstage and watched the two pieces prior to mine on the TV monitor. Then, this was it. Time for me to lead the hundreds of young musicians on the stage with only a one time run through for rehearsal. When I got to the podium, I noticed that they had a different score, a larger one but one without all my markings. Oh well. I had studied the score and felt pretty familiar with it so raised the baton and went for it.

Obviously, everyone was focused as this was the real thing. It went well….very well. We only had one very small tempo problem near the end which was little noticed by the audience. It was a rousing and inspirational way to end the concert and the festival. I was thrilled as was the audience who gave a long exuberant ovation.

After the concert, there was a farewell reception held right there at the Cultural Center. All the participating choirs were present enjoying food and drinks. Many email addresses and small gifts were exchanged as well as dozens of photographs taken. It was a wonderful culminating social event that achieved the festival mission of developing international friendships. At 11:30pm, the staff tried to close up, but it took another full thirty minutes to get everyone to leave. We were the worst offenders as we were the last ones out

Back at the dorm, we had our nightly meeting in the 4th floor Lounge giving important pack-up instructions for the trip home, then to bed. And thus the end of day seventeen.

Tuesday, July 31

We are on our way home. By 9:30am we had our breakfast sandwich and the bus loaded to leave for the airport. On the way, we said goodbye to accompanist Erin Cho on the bus as she was taking a different flight back to her home in Seoul. We will miss Erin, but send her off with great thanks and best wishes for her future. She will be back in Tucson for two weeks in January 2008 to finish up final requirements for her doctoral degree. We will get an opportunity to see her again then.

The check in at the Asiana counter was very long and cumbersome. Something was wrong with about one third of our reservations so they had to go back into their computer systems to recreate them. What would normally take about fifteen minutes took close to an hour and a half. Good thing we arrived early. When all were finally checked in we said good-bye to Kelvin and thanked him for all he did on our behalf.

Once on the plane we collected the passports…..there was one missing. We realized it was Nick McFarlin’s. So we looked around. Nick was nowhere to be found. We looked again. Mrs. Ackerley, Mrs. Pierce and I were all looking. I knew he was somewhere close because we had just had a “count off” at the gate. We asked the boys if they had seen Nick. No one had. So, I went to the flight attendant, told her we were looking for a boy and perhaps I should go back to the gate. Just as I was leaving, Mrs. Pierce came out and said Nick was found. It seems that Nick was one of the reservations that needed to be recreated. They assigned him a seat in the back of the plane away from the group. We got him relocated up with the group, and all was well.

The first leg of our flight was from Hong Kong to Seoul. This was our third time at Seoul’s Incheon Airport so we were getting to know it well. We went through the “transfer” security which was quite easy as compared to other security points, and then up to gate 12. There was about an hour until our scheduled flight departure, so the boys were paired off to explore the shops. Our flight was actually delayed an hour, but it really didn’t effect us much as we had a very long layover in Los Angeles.

Once in the air, we had an eleven hour flight which included two meals. There were individual video screens for each passenger with a variety of choices from movies to news and music video programs. We also had time to sleep. Sleeping on a plane is restless at best, at least for me. But I was hopeful that most of the boys would get some sleep to help sustain them through the journey.

Once arriving in Los Angeles, we still had a little less than five hours until our next flight, and it was a good thing. When we got to immigration the line was immense. There were hundreds of people everywhere. They had seventeen stations but it was moving very slow. We were directed to get in the line at station 13. It took over an hour for us to get to the head of the line and then another fifteen minutes for all to get through.

Unfortunately, we didn’t all get through. Once again, Dillon was stopped. So Dillon and I were directed to go to the line at station 17. We needed to fill out an additional document. There were only four people in the line ahead of us so I was fairly optimistic that it would not take long. Wrong. It took over another hour to get Dillon cleared through immigration. The other boys patiently waited at the baggage claim area. One good thing about this delay is we could see each other. I could see the group and they could see us. Therefore, there was less anxiousness as to what was going on.

Once Dillon cleared immigration, our next task was to get through Customs and recheck our luggage. This time, everything went according to plan. We walked to terminal seven, got our boarding cards for the final flight, went through security and made our way to gate 83. It was dinnertime and the boys were hungry. I gave them money to go off in groups of five and get something to eat. Arriving back at the gate it was 9:00pm and we had about forty five more minutes until boarding so I encouraged those who were not caught up in their journals to spend this time writing.

Once again, our flight was delayed, this time by about thirty minutes. I knew that meant the parents would need to wait. But we were finally off. The pilot turned out the lights and within minutes almost all of the boys were sound asleep. The plane got very quiet. Upon touching down in Tucson they were awake and as excited as ever. We received a cheering homecoming welcome when we made it down the stairs to the baggage claim area being greeted by family and friends. And thus the end of day eighteen and Asian Tour 2007.

Postlude

As I reflect on our tour activities, I am reminded of the incredible popularity of our program. There is no doubt that we were well received by Asian audiences. Standing ovations are uncommon in Asia. We found that when they really like something, they clap along in rhythm with the songs. That happened to us often, sometimes even at the expense of hearing the boys.

TABC was also very popular off the stage. Maybe it was because they are American, or maybe it was because they are boys, but crowds seemed to flock to our guys asking for emails and to take their photos. This popularity was not only from the Koreans and Chinese, but also from those of other countries participating in the festivals.

I am thankful for the tireless efforts from my traveling colleagues. My wife Jane who, in addition to handling health issues, is always on hand for chaperoning duties and Wendy Pierce, who coordinates all wardrobe and is a dedicated chaperone as well. And, we were very fortunate to have Erin Cho as accompanist who definitely was essential to the musical success of our performances.

I also appreciate the efforts of festival organizers at World Vision in Korea and ISCCPA in Hong Kong. The logistical aspect of such major festivals is immense and they were successful in presenting quality opportunities for the participants as well as wonderful programs for audiences.

Others essential to our success include parents, board of directors, staff, corporate sponsors, contributors, families and friends. All of your efforts and investments in the TABC program are appreciated.

And finally, a special personal thanks to the thirty-one gentlemen of the 2006-2007 Touring Chorus for a great season. Lifelong memories were made this year and I will always value our friendship. You sharing your talent and considerable time commitment have been essential to TABC success. Thank you.

All best,

Julian Ackerley

1st Tour Letter

2nd Tour Letter

3rd Tour Letter