The day began early for many glee clubbers, who spend the wee hours after midnight enlivening the sleepy streets of Vilamoura or gathering on the hotel’s opera-esque balconies overlooking the harbor. Thankfully, the day had a late start with an after-lunch call time to take our buses to Faro. Groups of glee clubbers spent the morning exploring Vilamoura. Some took to the sea or the pool for a quick dip, others walked along the shore and enjoyed the view of massive waves, and a few caught on sleep. One group visited the Roman ruins of Cerro de Villa and enjoyed views of the surrounding landscape as well as a beautifully-deserted ancient site.
After the daunting ride down the Villa Gale’s tower of terror (the elevators), the quarter zip army boarded buses A and B (A for autó- B for -bus) and rode to Faro. Upon arrival in the coastal town, the glee clubbers made their way to the Igreja de São Pedro. The church graciously provided their parish office as a green room for the choir, but upon arrival the glee club discovered a truck full of lumber had parked directly in front of the door. The glee club cheerfully filed through the gap between the truck and the building, mission glimpossible-style. After gathering in the church and determining how the glee club would stand in the small performance space, the choir rehearsed.
Igreja de Sao Pedro was a small barrel-vaulted church with a wood-formed ceiling and white plaster interior walls. Built in an eclectic manner, just about every nave and side chapel was constructed in a different architectural vernacular—rococo to the choir’s left, gilded baroque at the center, and Palladian at the right. In the choir gallery behind, a steel lattice held up a wooden balcony. The intimate space would be perfect for the choir’s second performance of the tour.
After a warm-up and rehearsal which revealed the resounding acoustic of the church and Henry Hsiao ‘26’s excellent conducting, the glee club explored the city and grabbed dinner. As black concert shoes and flats hit the mosaic-tiled streets of Old Faro, the junior and senior classes departed for their class dinners, a cherished tour tradition. The seniors gathered at a small, cozy restaurant while the 17 juniors shared grilled octopus and steak at a delightful Portuguese kitchen. Meanwhile, other groups of glee clubbers visited the Chapel of Bones and sought out pastel de nata.
After the glee club was fed and revitalized, they gathered back in the green room to prepare for the concert. Energy was high; glee clubbers shared stories of their afternoons, made last-minute adjustments to their concert black, and prepared for our performance.
The concert opened and closed with stupendous performances by all six soloists in the Kyrie and Agnus Dei from Ariel Ramírez’s Misa Criolla. Karlo Andrei Antalan ‘25 and Eleanor Monroe ‘25 left the audience in quiet awe after their soaring melismas during Agnus Dei, accompanied by Arturo Cruz Urrutia ‘27 on classical guitar and Matthew Higgins Iati ‘25 on charango.
After the concert, excited glee clubbers sprang into an impromptu performance of You Must Have that True Religion, before returning to the hotel and preparing for Lisbon the next morning.
Robert Mohan ‘26 and Maddy Murnick ‘26
