Reflections!

Greetings loyal glee club fans! Thank you so much for following us on our first international tour since Mexico in January 2020! We hope you enjoyed reading about our memorable journey through the Balkans from current glee clubbers, young and old. 

This tour culminates not only in the final duties for the current Glofficer Corps, but also the last major set of concerts and group experiences for the seniors. I’d like to give a special thank you to the people behind the scenes that worked tirelessly and poured hours of dedication into making this tour an outstanding success and unforgettable experience for each of us.

Sydney Eck ’24 and Emily Della Pietra ’24, our phenomenal tour managers without whom this tour would not have commenced. Organizing a rowdy crowd of over a 100 Princeton students is not an easy undertaking. Thank you both for your dedication and selfless effort in putting together this amazing feat. There is no one else we would have rather been (graciously) reminded by to be on time each morning. You handled unexpected plot twists and navigated uncertainty with such composure and unwavering calmness, which made even the tiring times a bonding experience to be remembered. When you were beyond exhausted, you consciously made an effort to have a conversation with the younger, new gleeple, and put a smile on their faces; this did not go unnoticed. Because of both of your energies put into making this experience positively formative for the underclassmen, we have been able to revive the culture of friendship, reliability, and love within the glee club that was harder to find during the pandemic years. On behalf of the entire glee club, you both deserve a hearty locomotive!!

Sloan Huebner ’23, president and Shruti Venkat ’23, manager, you both stepped up to lead without being asked. Whether it was to relieve the tour managers of the high volume of responsibilities on their plates, or being inclusive of new glee clubbers, you both were essential to the smooth running of our tour. Thank you for setting an example of what servant-leadership looks like, and we will forever cherish the profound imprint you made on each of our hearts of what the camaraderie of the glee club means to us.

Reese Owen ’24 and Katie Chou ’23, our wonderfully talented publicity chairs. While the gorgeous historical sites we explored were breathtaking in and of themselves, you both made it a priority to photograph the glee club’s many reactions to these :) Thank you for being on top of the social media game, and for photographing a legendary tour so that the memories we made can stay alive eternally! 

Savvas and Sasha, our fearless couriers. It is an understatement to say that we got super lucky with y’all. Your sense of humor even in times where managing us can be stressful, was what kept us going even when we were exhausted. You went above and beyond your duties by looking out for each and every one of us, ensuring that we were comfortable and enjoying every moment of tour. While we (selfishly :) hope that we were the best tour group you’ve experienced, we wish you both a restful recuperation and hope that you enjoyed coming along with us and hearing us belt chaotic versions of our music on the bus! 

To the talented, organic, creative, and humorous writers among us who volunteered to write the blog post following each day of tour. These individuals (who are mostly underclassmen!) willingly stepped up with enthusiasm to document what we did on their assigned blog day, and stayed up into the wee hours of the night to write these posts after our packed day of activities had concluded. We hope you enjoyed hearing from the voices among us. A special thank you to this tour’s bloggers (in blog post chronological order): Hannah Bein ‘22, Madeleine Murnick ‘26, Robert Mohan ‘26, Braiden Aaronson ‘25, Ishani Kulkarni ‘22, Anna Ferris ‘26, Zach Gardner ‘26, Charlie Ambach ‘26, Theo Wells-Spackman ‘25, and Evan Chandran ‘24.

And last, but most definitely not least: Gabriel, our beloved conductor, and Christie, our glee club mom (also Gabriel’s wife) whose radiant smile never fails to light up the faces of glee clubbers. It is very difficult for me to express the joy these memories have brought into my life and I know I am speaking on behalf of all the seniors who were in the thesis trenches prior to departing on this trip. What we missed most about glee before the pandemic was the tight-knit culture, friendship, and passionate expression of singing alongside our best friends. Gabriel, thank you for giving us this experience to rekindle these relationships and grow new ones. Over this past week, I know that many new friendships formed and will blossom over the younger glee clubber’s next few years. One of the fascinating aspects of the Glee Club is the breadth of talents and disciplines represented—not only musicians but engineers, writers, scientists, sociologists, mathematicians, economists, linguists, and historians alike all unite with a shared purpose, our love of music. You have fostered these relationships among us and we are ever so grateful for the impact these friendships have had on our college experience and will have on the rest of our lives. Thank you for caring genuinely about every one of our members on this trip, and we hope that you will recover soon from those many sleepless nights! This culture that you have created, has been the sole source of pure joy, happiness, and passion for many of us, especially through the pandemic interruption when we were not allowed to make music together. We will forever treasure these relationships and experiences, and know that we credit you with infusing these blessings into our lives. 

To share a few of our fond memories, we enjoyed meeting Gabriel’s dear friend, Stefan—he was an incredible host to us in Klagenfurt, Austria, and we hope that his solo chant in honor of us will live rent-free forever in the Glee Club (at least until his next one in October!). The senior dinner in Zagreb, Croatia was a night not to be forgotten; it was lovely reflecting on the hilarious memories throughout our four years, and to experience the life-long family that is being a member of the Glee Club. For the lucky half of us that were on the LaudiBus (in reference to a signature chamber choir piece, ‘Laudibus in Sanctis’ by William Byrd) we enjoyed goofing off, cracking jokes, clowning the other bus in our group chats, and all of the contagious laughter that transpired on the bus rides between tour destinations! To the many new friends we met while traveling that were residents of the countries we visited and we recruited to our concerts, the overwhelming happiness of seeing a friendly face in a foreign audience was so comforting, and we hope that we can continue planting glee club seeds all over the world, empowering our audience members with the transformative power of the music we sing. And lastly, the farewell dinner we enjoyed in the deep Hungarian woods outside Budapest with our friends from the Princeton University Orchestra (PUO) was such a fun night following our final performance with the amazingly talented PUO at the renowned Liszt Academy. It was a night in good company with our beloved orchestral friends where we enjoyed a lavish Hungarian meal and native dancers who managed to convince some brave glee clubbers (and Gabriel!) to join in too! 

It has been a joy to serve as your technology chair this past year, and an extremely rewarding experience to document our adventures on this memorable trip across the world. I hope this blog can be a place where glee clubbers past, present, and future, or just inquisitive readers who may happen to stumble on this can relive these fond memories :)

Viszlát! (A Hungarian Farewell) from your 2022-23 tech chair, 

Katelyn Rodrigues ’23

Pictured below (in order) are our 2022-23 Glofficer Corps along with Glee Club members of each class (Class of 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, some 2022 alumni, and the graduate students) at our farewell dinner.

2022-23 Glofficers (left-right, top-bottom)

Sydney Eck ‘24, Tour Manager; Shruti Venkat ‘23, Manager; Emily Della-Pietra ‘24, Tour Manager; Reese Owen ‘24, Publicity Chair; Corinna Brueckner ‘23, Social Chair; Catherine Keim ‘23, Concert Manager; Katie Chou ‘23, Publicity Chair; Katelyn Rodrigues ‘23, Technology Chair; Sloan Huebner ‘23, President; Jenia Marquez ‘25, Archivist; Grace Morris ‘24, Social Chair; Braiden Aaronson ‘25, Editor (not pictured); Chloe Webster ‘25, Alumni Liaison (not pictured)

Day 8: Budapest, Hungary & Farewell!

Day 8 - Budapest, Hungary & Final Concert at the Liszt Academy

On Saturday, the Glee Club’s final day of tour, we began with rehearsal. Directly after breakfast, we were welcomed into the magnificent Liszt academy. There, we reunited with our friends in the Princeton University Orchestra, legions of whom were rehearsing Gustav Holst’s seven-movement classic “the Planets.” Our soprano and alto sections were directed from place to place in an ongoing effort to maximize the heavenly Liszt acoustic.

There were some initial hurdles; after the first run of “Neptune,” orchestra conductor Michael Pratt turned to his vocal counterpart Gabriel Crouch with a furrowed brow. “It’s getting really behind,” he said, or rather bellowed out of necessity from one side of the concert hall to the other. “We can only stretch so much.” Ultimately, the higher voices were placed behind the second-floor balcony, allowing their haunting melodies to flow easily through the hall’s upper atmosphere. Later, ending “the Planets” with this effect would spark a standing ovation.

The morning rehearsal left us with several hours to enjoy the sights of Budapest in some lovely weather before our evening concert. After quick lunch stops near the concert hall, the glee club once again boarded a pack of buses, but this time on a hop-on-hop-off sightseeing tour, which crossed the Danube to visit the parliament building, castle hill, and various other crucial destinations in the city.

Back at the hotel, the Glee Club donned its formal black for the final time of the tour and proceeded to the venue. The pre-concert huddle was a Crouch special, the gist of which was simply: stay in the moment. “Ignore that,” he said as a loudspeaker interrupted him to summon us to the stage. “The show starts when we say it does.”

Five minutes later, four separate glee club choirs strode onto the stage and into aisles among the audience to open the program with the cascading “Immortal Bach.” Further highlights of the concert included a genuinely chill-inducing duet between Sloan Huebner ’23 and Hannah Bein ’22 in “O Salutaris Hostia” and chamber choir’s ever-impressive “Laudibus in Sancti.” The choral set concluded with William Henry Harris’ “Faire is the Heaven” (“that was the one,” said Gabriel later).  After a warm reception and brief encore, the choir filed up to the choral stalls for a rendition of Borodin’s thrilling “Polovetsian Dances” for which caution was thrown to the winds. PUO closed out the concert with a truly awesome performance of Holst, concluding one of the most memorable programs in our glee club careers.

Only a single venue in Budapest would accommodate the over two hundred members of PUGC and PUO for a farewell dinner at nearly 11pm on the last night of our tour. We navigated twisting and wooded turns through a wildlife preserve to a seemingly remote restaurant, which had arranged for us a vast celebratory feast. As we enjoyed kettles of Goulash and platters of seasoned meats, vegetables, and rice (among other arrangements), musicians and dancers in colorful attire performed quintets and dances. The dance floor was soon crowded with glee clubbers and PUO members in a merry finale to our tour.  

Signing off from back in Newark, NJ, 

Theo Wells-Spackman ‘25 and Evan Chandran ‘24

Day 7: Arrival in Budapest, Hungary

Day 7 - Budapest, Hungary

Helló, as they say in Hungary!

Thank you for checking in to read about the next step of the Glee Club’s epic journey through the Balkans. 

Most of us were roused by alarms for our reasonably late 9:45 departure time from Zagreb. Others were roused by pounding headaches, but all were thrilled to begin the 4 hour drive to Budapest. 

After a very European breakfast of meats, cheeses, and fancy coffee, Bus 2 enjoyed a lesson on the history of Budapest from Professor Ilia, as part of its semi-unwilling enrollment in Balkans 101. The thought-provoking lecture left many wondering, is it possible to switch to Bus 1? 

Meanwhile, the folks on Bus 1 learned essential phrases in Hungarian from their talented guide, Sasha. The group favorite was “Felsobbrenduek vagynuk a PUO-nal,” (we are superior to Princeton University Orchestra). As our buses rolled eastwards, PUO raced westwards from Serbia to meet us. The face-off would ensue in Budapest later that night.

We had long heard of the authentic Hungarian cuisine that could be found in gas stations. After eating and thoroughly disrupting the rest stop with our rendition of Happy Birthday (for Anna Eaton ‘24), the journey continued, and the two buses engaged in productive dialogue in the infamous Glalkans group chat. The scholar-singers debated ethical quandaries, animal rights, and problems of identity. 

Upon arrival in Budapest, most Glee Clubbers took the metro to the city center, where we marveled at the incredible Hungarian Parliament and took pictures of its soaring Venetian Gothic spires from the nearby Margit Bridge. From the Margit, glee clubbers split off and took to Budapest’s vast web of public transit to meet their friends for dinner across the riverbank area.

In the candlelight of a small, log-clad dining room in the Park District, the Gleshmen gathered for their exclusive (and much-awaited) dinner. They played several rounds of Hot Seat and enjoyed lively conversation about the things only a ‘26 could understand.

After eating, some groups cruised down the tranquil Danube on sightseeing boats to marvel at Budapest’s multitude of architectural feats, all lit up in a hazy golden glow. These glintellectuals watched in awe as the night unfurled to reveal Renaissance and Baroque towers rising from the Danube’s Eastern bank. Others went straight to the bars. 

Many a Glee Clubber could be found at Szimpla Kert, Budapest’s top ruin bar. Following the contours of its labyrinthine eco-industrialist interior, they caught a glimpse of Eastern Europe’s most famous nightlife. They met with students from Princeton University Orchestra, who had arrived in the city just hours before to end their tour of the Southern Balkans.

After a long day of driving and city exploration, the quarter zip army retired to their beds to get a good rest for the next day’s joint concert at the Liszt Academy. 

Signing off from the Budavári Palotanegyed,

Charlie Ambach & Robert Mohan ‘26

Day 6: Zagreb, Croatia

Day 6 - Tour of Zagreb, Croatia and Third Concert

Ah Zagreb, the land of Brutalist architecture and shining night light displays. After a great first day in Croatia’s capital, we were ready for our concert day! After a 9:45 am call time, we made our way to the lobby and headed into the old town for a guided tour. After hopping off the bus and scurrying into a little park, we broke off into four groups and took guided tours around the bustling city. Our tour guides were full of wisdom about a variety of topics, including political corruption and the necessity of absinthe to a successful art career (*disclaimer that this comment is not officially sanctioned by PUGC). We also learned about the city’s recovery from a 2020 earthquake, the daily lives of its citizens and…

BOOM!

Sorry for the mid-glog interruption, that was just the Grič Cannon, which fires every day in Zagreb at exactly 12 pm (Gabriel probably wishes we were that punctual). The tradition dates back almost 150 years, and it commemorates a Croatian victory against the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. For the casual observer, however, it might seem as if we had traveled to Croatia to perform Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture. Or, better yet, perhaps it was the Hunger Games cannon alerting us to the dead acoustics we would later encounter at our concert venue. Either way, it was both terrifying and magnificent at the same time.

After taking in the sights and sounds of our city tour, we were let loose into Zagreb to continue exploring and get some much-needed grub. After a few hours of being out and about, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our pre-show rehearsal. At 4:20 pm, we set out from the hotel, concert black and folders in hand, to the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall just down the street. The sight of over 100 glee clubbers trying to cross the busy street was quite one to behold. That reminds me: why did the Princeton Glee Club cross the road? I actually don’t know the answer to this question, so that’s why I’m asking. Maybe the dedicated readers of the tour blog can help!

After a productive rehearsal, we gathered in the lobby to hear a rousing speech by our lion-hearted (or maybe tiger-hearted?) leader Gabriel before setting out to grab a quick bite to eat before our 8 pm show. Many of our hunger-weary souls found themselves drawn to the shining Golden Arches of a McDonald’s right near the concert hall. As you know, Glee clubbers only eat the most authentic local cuisine.

After a few songs by the Ivan Filopovic Chamber Choir, we took the stage for our third concert of the tour. Although packed in like sardines, we packed quite a punch with our sound! The concert was wonderful, and we garnered a long applause from our audience. We even finished our concert with an encore of “I’m a Train''! As the lyrics of the song say, it indeed has been a “hard day” in Zagreb, Croatia, but it’s nothing a good night of sleep can’t fix. 

Hvala ti Hrvatska! Next up is the final stop on our Gleuropean Glour: Budapest!

P.S. As I was writing this glog post, I watched the Princeton basketball team upset Arizona in the first round of March Madness! Go Tigers! So the Zagreb cannon was actually firing in celebration of our victory! I think the occasion calls for the singing of “The Princeton Cannon Song '' and other traditional tiger fight songs! More on that to follow. 

BOOM!

Zach Gardner ‘26

Day 5: Postojna Caves in Slovenia & Arrival in Zagreb, Croatia

Day 5 - Postojna Caves in Slovenia & Arrival in Zagreb, Croatia

At 8 AM sharp, the Glee Club enjoyed one last Slovenian breakfast before setting out for Croatia – the third country of our tour. Bus 1 assembled promptly, much to our fearless conductor’s surprise. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Gabriel! I cannot speak to Bus 2’s timeliness, but we made it to Postojna Caves, our final destination before crossing into Croatia, with quite a few minutes to spare.

At Postojna, our over-100-strong choir disembarked, and set off into the yawning abyss with nothing but our coats, a guide, and the hope of finding gems in the cave Webkinz-style. We hopped on a small yellow train and pulled the lap bars down, our eyes still bright. We were so young, so naive. Dear reader, your beloved author spent most of the train ride cringing into the seat in front of her, convinced she would hurtle into the oncoming rocks. Once the other (braver) Glee Clubbers dismounted the train, we headed off into the dank, cold, welcoming arms of the Postojna cave system.

Did you know Empress Sisi visited the caves? And that they hold full concerts under the ground in one of the larger chambers? And that iron and clay turn some of the stalactites and stalagmites red? I certainly do after the highly informative walking tour! I’m going to be so much fun at parties after this.

We had a great time! The Glee Club admired Proteus, a transparent species of underground amphibian with atrophied eyes, saw sparking pillars reaching toward the ceiling, and even got to sing in the most acoustically live chamber of the cave. We enthralled the rest of the (confused, but pleased) guests with a rousing rendition of Faire is the Heaven. 

We finished our time in Slovenia with a nice lunch right outside the cave. The burek comes universally recommended.

From there, we hopped back onto the Gleemobiles, and crossed the border to Croatia! After settling in at the hotel, we had plenty of free time to explore the city of Zagreb. The seniors had their super-special supper with Big G tonight, so the underclassmen made dinner plans alone. What a time! What a city! I saw two pigeons fighting over a french fry. Europe is so beautiful <3

Signing off, this is Anna Ferris ‘26!

Day 4: Ljubljana, Slovenia

Day 4 - Tour  and Concert in Ljubljana, Slovenia

After a good night’s rest, the Glee Club assembled to enjoy a full day in Ljubljana. They fueled themselves for the adventures of the day with a continental hotel breakfast, complete with Slovenian honey and mini pancakes.

Though it was a cloudy and rainy day, the spirits of the Glee Club were bright. At 10 am, they split into their Immortal Bach choir groups, not to sing, but rather to embark on a walking tour of Ljubljana, led by engaging and knowledgeable tour guides. One tour guide commented that he heard that the Glee Club was directed by a famous conductor, unknowing that the embarrassed celebrity himself was among the crowd. They walked past gorgeous churches, City Hall, and the second oldest musical society. They enjoyed the main square and a music conservatory where a soprano was rehearsing near an open window. 

Then, they had some free time to explore the sights. Some ventured up to the Slovenian castle for a view of the city, while others perused the city center with chocolate shops, souvenir shops, and clothing stores. All enjoyed the stunning views of the Ljublianica River and had lunch at one of the many restaurants nearby. 

Then, they made their way to the Ursuline church for a final rehearsal before the concert. At 7 pm, the choir walked on stage and began their concert to a full house. Notable pieces were Piispa Ja Pakana, where the tenors and basses shined, and Ave Verum Corpus Reimagined, a chamber piece with a beautiful tenor solo by Braiden Aaronson ‘25. Another highlight was the tear-jerking O Salutaris Hostia with the iconic duet of Hannah Bein ‘22 and Sloan Huebner ‘23. Ilia Curto Pelle ‘22 thanked the audience in Slovenian, which was indecipherable to the Glee Club but evidently appreciated by the crowd. They ended with an encore of (a much faster version of) The Word Was God. 

After a successful concert, some members greeted Wolfgang, a new friend of the Glee Club, who fulfilled his promise to attend the concert after meeting Shruti Venkat ‘23 and Katelyn Rodrigues ‘23 on the plane from Munich to Ljubljana. The Glee Club then split up to have a well-deserved dinner in the city center, and finally headed back to the hotel to rest for an early departure the following morning.

~ Ishani Kulkarni ‘22

Day 3: Lake Bled & Ljubljana, Slovenia

Day 3 - Slovenia!

Auf Wiedersehen Austria, zdravo Slovenia!! 

Today’s Gleeified cities (in order): Klagenfurt -> Bled -> Ljublijana

After another delightful breakfast in the Seepark hotel, we em-bussed (as one of our couriers would insist) to leave to Lake Bled. Our gracious President Sloan Huebner ‘23 wore two hats on the group 2 bus, also becoming our tour guide with the go-to chime over thin microphone: “Mountains on the left” (always true, and always beautiful)

Delighting in the ease of border crossings in the EU, the most exciting part of the bus ride was the 5 mile tunnel immediately after entering Slovenia— though, despite all being singers, none of us could hold our breath *that* long to make it the entire tunnel in one breath (as some of us unsuccessfully tried).

Once arriving at Lake Bled, we were met with a fateful decision: do we go to Blejski grad (a legendary castle on a hill) or head down to the lake? Of course, where Gabriel goes, we follow. So, the vast majority of us took in the gorgeous views from the castle grounds, looking out onto the Lake and onto the only island in Slovenia.

After strolling down the hill, many a Glee Clubber discovered hidden animal whispering skills, hanging out with the ducks that lined the lakeside. Sasha Villefrenche ‘26 even befriended an affectionate and amiable gray cat.

Some even ventured by boat to the only island in the country at the middle of the lake, which houses Cerkev Marijinega Vnebovzetja (Assumption of Maria Church). While it is said that any wish you make will come true after ringing the bell on this quaint island, it cost ~8€ per person to ring the fateful bell. So, these resourceful folks tossed pebbles into the mirror-like water to have their wishes fulfilled.

While we went our own various ways for lunch, there was a universal zeal to try the acclaimed jiggly wondrousness that is a Bled cake (especially heavy on the custard). Some dashed into side shops to acquire a taste of this scrumptious treat, while others opted for a robot server to wheel them their cakes.

From Lake Bled, we traveled to the capital city of Ljublijana and arrived at our twelve story hotel, Exe Lev. From there, we walked en masse to rehearse at the Ursuline Church of the Holy Trinity in Kogresni Trg where we sang a wide range from Piispa Ja Pakana (The Bishop and the Pagan ) by Tormis to The Word was God by Powell.

We concluded our day with a collective dinner at Gostilna Šestica Slovenska cesta 40, feasting on pork roast, potatoes, and polenta. 

Stay tuned for more of our adventures!

~ Braiden Aaronson ‘25

Day 2: Maria Saal & Concert in Tanzenburg, Austria

Day 2 - Austria! (no spoilers)

Klagenfurt, Maria-Saal, und Tanzenberg

A small round dog, soaring gothic towers

A beautiful first concert, rehearsal lasting hours

Elusive alpacas reside in the mind

And at the Kunsthaus, glee clubbers unwind.

After a delightful buffet breakfast at Seepark Wörthersee, the quarter zip army filled not one, but two buses and rolled Maria-Saal, a small town on a hill mostly inhabited by an artists' commune, the ringleader of which is Stefan Sveiger. More on him later.

The glee club enjoyed about an hour exploring Maria-Saal in small groups. One group visited the old gothic church and attempted to climb the tower overlooking the city, but were tragically unsuccessful. Another group purportedly observed alpacas, but the alpacas in question could not be verified by any other member of the glee club (keep in mind there are 100 of us). Another party frolicked, Sound of Music style. Like in the movie, they skipped across an open Austrian field while reciting solfège syllables. Father von Trapp (Gabriel) would be so proud!

The von Trapp children also encountered a small dog, which they heroically reunited with its owner, the uncle of Stefan Sweiger. One dog enthusiast described him as “nur ein kleine Hund,” which translates loosely to “a dog whose proportions and size are so unbelievably perfect in every way that you just know that this dog has never done anything wrong in his life.” His underfur nearly grazed the cobblestone. Alas, this blog is not about a dog. Then it would be called Blog with a Dog. It is, in fact, the Glog chronicling our second day of tour.

The quarter zip army then boarded the bus and made their way to Tanzenberg (the Dancing Mountain) but there was no dancing except on a chair (Sarba pe scaun). Embraced by the snow-capped alps of Southern Austria, the Tanzenberg Castle is an arresting image. If picked up and moved by a Princeton construction crew to the plains of New Jersey, it could pass for a modified Richardson if you were squinting hard enough. 

Two romanesque towers soar above the main hall section, wherein the white plaster and stonework glow with the light of stained glass windows in the nave. Our sound lingered in the marble gothic arches perceptibly, creating a highly unique acoustic which enlivened Shaw’s "Blessing of the Boats." 

The concert program was a carefully crafted taster of Glee Club’s repertoire for our new Austrian fans. We began with Immortal Bach in four choirs scattered throughout the building before moving directly into version one of Nun ist das Heil. Next we sang our favorite Estonian number, Taaveti Laul No. 104. After that exercise in linguistics, Chamber Choir performed Laudibus in Sanctis, which was Laudibussin’ and slaying the house down. The next set moved seamlessly from the final chord of the Shaw to Harris's Faire is the Heaven, featuring our distinctive a capella sound as an ensemble. We finished the concert strong with Nun ist das Heil (it's back!) and Magnificat (it's Bach!).

Special shoutout to our soloists Cat, Ally, Tim, Matthew, Halle, Rafael, Corinna, Claire, Madeline, and Reese, and our student conductors Katie and Shruti.

And now we will rate each of their performances out of ten… just kidding!

After receiving a standing ovation and delivering a questionable rendition of Sarba pe scaun as an encore (those multicolored chairs in the aisle were definitely dancing), we headed back to Maria-Saal for dinner and festivities.

Speaking of chairs, Gabriel mounted the hot seat and demonstrated his love for the glee club as well as a diplomat’s gift for evading direct answers. Although the stakes were high during hot seat, they were even higher in the second floor kitchen, where Chef Gabriel and several sous chef glee clubbers were cooking steaks as after-dinner snacks.

Outside the building, a bonfire in the square attracted a cozy circle of glee clubbers who shared stories and—at various points in the night—broke into choruses of Happy Birthday, I’m a Train, and the first half of Faire is the Heaven. It’s safe to say that these faithful renditions truly did the composers justice. 

It’s hard to put into words the sentiment in the air on that cold spring night under the stars of the Austrian countryside. The sight of beloved friends’ faces illuminated by the warm glow of firelight, eyes twinkling with laughter, air humming with song, created a sense of belonging and precious, fleeting beauty that will stay with the authors forever.

Yours,

Madeleine Murnick and Robert Mohan ‘26

 PS. Next, for our first day in Slovenia, stay tuned (at baroque pitch)

Day 1: Arrive in Klagenfurt, Austria

Day 1 - Depart Princeton, NJ and arrive in Klagenfurt, Austria

On Friday, March 10th, the Glee Club embarked on their journey to the Balkans. Armed with their passports, concert black, and Glee folders, they left campus for Newark Airport in two groups. Group 1, led by tour manager Emily Della Pietra ‘24, flew to Ljubljana via Frankfurt. As their first flight landed, Tim Manley ‘24 commented, “I’m in surprisingly good spirits, considering what just happened.” Despite a tight layover, Group 1 made it onto their next flight, aided by Laurie Drayton ‘25, who sprinted through the airport with his European passport. 

Group 2, led by tour manager Sydney Eck ‘24, took the Munich route. On their second flight, Shruti Venkat ‘23 made the acquaintance of a German teacher named Wolfgang, who promised to attend our concert in Ljubljana. Group 2 ooh’d and aah’d at the Alpine views out the bus windows on the drive into Austria. After a quick stop for lunch, the Glee Club reunited at their hotel on the shores of Lake Wörthensee. 

Wasting no time, the Glee Club hopped back on the buses for a short drive into the heart of Klagenfurt, where they met their Australian (yes, you read that correctly) guide, Alex, for a tour of the small town. They first stopped at the Landhous Building to see the heraldry in the Wappensaal. After some confusion about the definition of “heraldry,” all became clear when they entered the Great Hall of Coats of Arms and craned their necks to look at the brightly-painted royal crests representing the Carinthian Estates. 

Next, the Glee Club stopped at the Klagenfurt-Dom, the main cathedral of Klagenfurt. After examining a modern art installation at the front of the church, the Glee Club met the priest, who shared the history of the Rococo-style cathedral. 

Finally, the Glee Club headed to the State Theater, where they met Stephan, their musical host. After admiring the ornate and intimate interior, they made their way back to the hotel. 

The Glee Club ended their long day of travel with a delicious dinner at UniWirt, digging into garlic soup, vegetable curry, goulash, and chocolate mousse. They celebrated Alex Giannattasio’s ‘23 birthday with a spirited rendition of Poulenc’s “Happy Birthday.” Some Glee clubbers (including Gabriel Crouch) could not resist the tug of their heavy eyelids, and the Glee Club, tired and grateful, retired to sleep, looking forward to the Balkan adventures ahead.

~ Hannah Bein ‘22