Day 1-3: Over 100 Locals Attended Our First Concert in Milan Despite the Pouring Rain

Travel Tip: Never travel abroad with less than 40 people (yes, less than). After a long day of travel and failed attempts at sleeping on the plane, we finally arrived at the hotel and enjoyed our first Italian dinner, prepared by the wonderful hotel staff, and quickly after we took to our rooms and crashed.

 

The next day we explored Milan. Divided into groups, some looked up at the incredible architecture at Il Duomo di Milano, others shopped in Milan’s famous Galleria. Most importantly, we all enjoyed some excellent gelato. While we could have spent many more hours wandering the city, we knew that we could not leave Milan without providing a thank you concert. We headed back to the hotel to get ready for the concert, dropped off our instruments at the church, and ventured to a pizza restaurant for dinner.

 

Turns out, when you order “pepperoni,” you don’t get a suspicious concoction of meats in return, instead you get delicious, pepper-topped pizza. As we finished up our pizza, we looked outside to see that the streets were nearly flooded. Before our dutiful bus driver could pick us up, we did what any musical group would do, and we started tuning glass bottles. Just as the owners of the pizza shop were about to kick us out, the bus came to the rescue and we scrambled on to be transported back to the church.

 

A little wet, Groton’s orchestra members began warming up and tuning their instruments. In the half-hour leading up to the concert, more and more people joined the audience. Despite the pouring rain, over 100 locals attended our concert in Milan. Our dedicated bloggers and photographers, Julia and Jess, made sure to capture brilliant photos and videos with flawless composition.

 

Finally, the long-awaited moment.

 

Mr. T raised his hands. Each member of Groton’s orchestra looked up, poised and ready to play the first note…

 

It was a beautiful concert. Despite only featuring a few selections of the orchestra’s vast repertoire, Groton students filled the church with the beautiful music of modern, romantic, and baroque composers—and one piece was arranged by Groton’s very own Alexander Newman. The orchestra even received a standing ovation and performed an encore! The echoing applause throughout the church indicated that it was a very successful first concert. With three more concerts to go, we are ready and excited to continue sharing our music with Europe!