A month of singing amazing music, experiencing a new culture, appreciating artwork and eating a lot of good food: this is what the Gustavus Choir is coming home from after its 15 day tour of Italy.

Led by Chaplain Brian Johnson and Associate Professor of Music Greg Aune, the Gustavus Choir spent January Interim Experience singing in cathedrals and basilicas all across the country. The choir visited, sang in mass and performed a concert in Rome, Sorrento, Florence, Assisi and Venice.

During their travels the choir members also visited the Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, Sienna, San Giminiano and Orvieto. On their way they had tons of amazing pasta, pizza and gelato. According to Junior Communication Studies Major and Gustavus Choir singer Ben Batz, the sites they saw throughout their trip were “outstanding.” Some favorites included the statue of David in Florence, the Colosseum in Rome and Venice.

The choir sang a mixture of pieces from many different styles and languages, including a number of classical pieces by composers like Brahms and Christiansen. This was especially significant because the choir sang in of venues that were built for classical music, so the acoustics were exceptional. The pieces were in Italian, German and Latin.

The choir also sang some classic American music in order to bring our home culture to their audiences in Italy. The repertoire included “How Can I Keep from Singing” and “I Will Be With You.” This second piece was composed by Minnesota native Stephen Paulus, which was commissioned for the Gustavus Choir a few years ago.

The goal of the tour was to bring a repertoire that paid respect to the cultures of the places visited, while also sharing American and Minnesotan culture with the audience.

The tour was truly a celebration of the Gustavus Choir tradition. Johnson stated that the tour was “a weaving together of culture, beauty, art and music.”

As the final event of the tour, the Gustavus Choir will be performing a home concert in Christ Chapel on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. The choir will present the music from the tour for the Gustavus community.

According to Johnson, students have been writing poetry reflections about their experiences, and these will be used throughout the concert. Peter Michaletz, a junior biology major in the Gustavus Choir, is extremely excited for the concert. “It’s going to be really refined because we’ve done the concert so many times. It’s going to be full of passion.”

This concert is also Aune’s goodbye concert. Aune has worked at Gustavus for 16 years and will be going on sabbatical this next semester.

“Dr. Aune is a terrific director. His conducting makes us all better singers. The choir truly appreciates all of Dr. Aune’s hard work and really respects him as a director and a friend. We are honored to give him this last concert before he leaves.” Batz said.

The concert will bring together all of the choir’s hard work and experiences. “Our tour was better than I ever imagined it could be. It was incredible seeing such amazing sights with my best friends. Our singing grew and improved with every concert we gave and I just know that our home concert is going to be excellent.” Senior Communication Studies Major Bergit Nerheim said.