The St. Olaf Band encountered new cultures and entertained new audiences in spring 2014 when it embarked on a 15-day tour of Spain, France, and Italy. It was the ensemble’s first trip to the region.
First stop was the community of Valencia in Spain, home to some 500 symphonic band societies dating back hundreds of years, and including more than 40,000 active members. “Valencia was the anchor of our tour,” says St. Olaf Band Manager Terra Widdifield ’95. “We knew we wanted to visit a region where band music was so well known.”
From Valencia, the group traveled through the Catalonia region and its capital, Barcelona, and then on to the Provence region of France, where they visited the Darius Milhaud Conservatory in Aix-en-Provence. The St. Olaf Band was the first American ensemble to perform at the newly founded conservatory, which opened in September 2013.
Other highlights of the tour included performing at the Duomo di Pavia, Italy’s third-largest cathedral, and sightseeing in the cities of Florence, Venice, and Barcelona.
“Our international tours allow a few days between performances for study and absorption of the local culture. Personal growth, musical and otherwise, is heightened considerably,” says Mahr.
Some band members shared their language skills in Spanish, French, and Italian by introducing the band’s musical selections to its audiences, and even provided interviews with local media. But for many other members, the Mediterranean tour meant encountering these countries for the first time.
“Some of us learned new foreign phrases and were able to communicate effectively what we wanted,” says Joshua Weinberg ’15. “But even when we couldn’t communicate well using words, we could always resort to our music.”
The St. Olaf Band tours domestically every year, and travels internationally every four years. The group’s last international destination in 2010 was Japan — another country where symphonic band music is immensely popular, and where the group was received with great enthusiasm.
“Our international travels have proven to be life-changing experiences for the band members, as well as for myself,” says Mahr.
Going green
For the Mediterranean tour the band wanted to leave a small carbon footprint, so the ensemble’s Eco Crew struck an ecologically friendly deal with local farmers to help them do so.
The Eco Crew, led by Amy Neidich ’15, calculated the carbon emissions the band would generate on its tour. They then purchased carbon credits from farmers near St. Olaf who practice no-till farming, which is the process of leaving cornstalks in the soil after harvest rather than turning them over and releasing carbon back into the atmosphere. This resulted in carbon-neutral travel that reduced at least as many greenhouse gas emissions as the group generated.
To cover the cost of purchasing carbon credits from the farmers, the Eco Crew asked for a small fee to be included in the band’s annual dues. The remainder was collected as a voluntary donation before the tour.
Creating carbon-neutral tours since 2009, the Eco Crew also works to raise awareness among band members about the environmental impact of sending such a large group on tour. Crew leaders are responsible for adding recycling bags to tour buses, limiting the number of programs printed, and pointing out to band members simple, eco-friendly actions such as taking shorter, cooler showers and traveling with reusable water bottles.
Read more about the band’s and college’s sustainability initiatives.
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