The Trip of a Lifetime

This was our very last concert of the two week tour of Italy. We had sung in Venice, Piazzale Roma, Padova, Nove, Verona, Sirmione, Montegrotto, Pisa, Florence, Pompeii, and Rome. We had concerts in restaurants and in the streets to two hundred year old churches but none of those concerts measured up to what myself and thirty of my peers were about to embark.

It was the morning of our last day in Italy August fifth two thousand and six. I walked down the stair case to were the hotel staff was serving our complimentary breakfast. It was the same thing that we had been given for the past two weeks croissants, tasteless orange juice, and the strongest coffee I have ever had anywhere. The coffee tasted like they had just crushed up beans and added a drip of hot water. After I had downed my coffee and orange juice I made my way back up to my room where I put on some cloths that I hoped were clean. I walked back down stairs to see if anyone else would want to accompany me around Rome. But not to my surprise only the adults were awake and having breakfast. So I took to the streets by myself to discover more about the city that you could not learn from in a tourists guide. The city was busy and everyone that I saw seemed to have a destination whether it was going to work or dropping their child off at school. After roaming around Rome I came back to my hotel Nord to get ready for my final concert of the summer.

I went to the closet and took out my smelly tuxedo. It had been threw a lot over the past two weeks. I had worn it in temperatures exceeding one hundred degrees and in the pouring rain. I put on my tux shirt first then my black pants and black tux jacket. I then polished up my old shoes that had gotten dirty from the concert before where we had to walk threw a field for the after party. This last concert was the concert to end all concerts. I had sung at Carnegie Hall and all up and down the New England coast but none of those measured up to what I was about to experience. I had finished getting dressed when I made my way down the stairs to where everyone was what for the coach bus to pick us up. As soon as it had arrived got on and headed for our destination. The ride took no longer than thirty minutes when we had arrived at our destination. Hundreds of thousand of carefully placed stones lined the acres of open ground we walked on. I looked up to see the building that had taken over two hundred years to complete and is the focal point of millions of people all over the world. St. Peter Basilica.

We entered into St. Peter's Basilica and mad our way towards the middle of the church where all of the church services were held. We filed into the wooden chairs up on bleacers overlooking the crowd of people infront of us. We begain to sing our very first song as the catholic priests began to shuffle in up to their seats. In the middle of our second song two men in black suits walked up to the second row in the crowd and ask for most of them to leave. As our song was about to end a man now surrounded by the two men in black suits walked up to the row they had just cleared and sat down. He was obviously of some importance because many peoople begain to stare in his direction. At the end of our very second to last song the man was helped up from his seat and escorted towards the side exit so as not to be lead threw the crowd. He seemed as if he was blind because it seemed as almost he was beeing lead by these two men in black suits. Who was this blind man who everyone seemed to recognize that I did not? We begain our last song of our concert in St. Peter's Basilica. It was the sixth movement in the Faure Requiem called Libera Me. It began with a solo by our very talented senior bass singer Donni. As soon as the song began the blind man who was leaving had stopped and had turned around as if to listen to us directlly for our last song. The two men were tugging on the blind man and wispering something in his ear. They wanted this man to leave before the end of the service so that people would not bother him but he stayed. He waited and listened to every note that came out of our mouths to the very end of the song. Though I did not know the man I felt that he had given us the biggest compliment that no amout of words could express. We finished the song and got a standing applause from the crowd. I looked around to find mother in the crowd and she was sitting right next to were the blind man was sitting and she was cheering not just for me but for us. As we filed back out into the church I looked up to find this mysterious blind man out in the crowd but he had dispeared with no sign. People began to chatter as we entered into the crowd. I finally overheard domeone say the name Andrea. Who is Andrea I thought to myself. Then I realized that it had been the italian singer Andrea Bocelli.

I left italy not just having great memorys of the past two weeks but also a new idea of respect. The blind man for all I have cared could have been the poorest man in the world and it would not have made a difference in what he did meant to me. I learned that no matter how famous you are art can still be enjoyed even if you have made more money and done more things than the person performing.