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And on the fifth day, my hectic time in Zagreb came to an end.

Today it was observation again at the rehearsal. The choir sang for longer sections of the pieces and polished few details before dress rehearsal and concert, happening Monday and Tuesday next week. It was also attended by the organist that will play Rheinberger together with the choir (how important it is to keep rehearsals with guest instrumentalist very direct to the point and to anticipate possible difficulties!). During breaks there were still some moments to exchange impressions with singers from different sections and to listen to their feedback on my conducting.

After rehearsal I joined my mentor M. Facini for a longer discussion about choral conducting as a profession, repertoire, the development of the Croatian Radiotelevision Choir, and the choral scene in Croatia.

After all these days in Zagreb, my head is full of new inputs,…

My stay in Zagreb slowly starts to come to an end, but the fourth day of the internship has not been less inspiring than the others. This time I started rehearsal in the morning with a short warm up and then we worked on Lachner's Stabat Mater for double choir. A total discovery for myself! I hadn't heard about this composer before, but this Romantic work is so well written and full of great moments of expression. Thanks to my mentor's comments I could also experiment with new ways of shaping the sound of the choir and help with vowels definition, and to reflect about direct/indirect communication with the singers. This was my last session conducting the choir and I was so thankful to all the singers, conductors, and team for their kindness and openness during all these days. What a joy to has been to work with them!

In…

Half way of the internship is already gone, it feels like I would have been here for weeks. Many faces from the choir seem familiar now and even some rehearsal words in Croatian start to be (almost) understandable.

Today it was a great rehearsal for the choir, the programme was going forward and some very beautiful moments were starting to arise with Veton. It also made me feel proud that my work on Poulenc on the day before was helpful in the overall preparation process for the concert. My conducting time today was devoted to Rheinberger. It felt so amazing to work on Romantic music with this group, it totally suits them. Rehearsal went very smoothly, we perfected intonation, created different sound layers and also worked on sound and diction. It was also very useful to be able to try out some of the suggestions both from my mentor and…

Second day in Zagreb has not been less intense than the day before. The main conductor of the programme continues with his work on the repertoire, and some interesting nuances start to arise, especially on the Rheinberger, a pieces which suits the choir perfectly. How important is to find a good balance between pieces that will have a great result, and others that can be more challenging but will get the choir to the next level! During breaks, I had some relevant conversations with choir singers about their experiences with different kinds of conductors, how is the feeling of the group with diverse kinds of methodology, communication, etc. "We all love music, and that's what unites us". A simple truth of great value not to forget!

Today I also had the chance to finally meet the Artistic Director of the choir and mentor of my internship, Maestro Facini, and work…

This first day in Zagreb with the HRT Choir has been magnificent. Singers, team and conductor have all been so welcoming and friendly from the very beginning. There is always this excitement when meeting a new choir and discovering their soul, both musically and as a human group. During the observation time today it was wonderful to hear for the first time the pieces on their voices and how they feel with the different styles of the programme (Rheinberger, Lachner, Poulenc). Some performance and sound questions start to pop-up in my head and make me think on some possibilities to work with them in the next days. Tomorrow it is time for some Poulenc, I will probably focus on "Timor et tremor" and "Vinea mea electa".

In the afternoon, I had some time to go for a walk in the city centre and to learn a little bit more about…

The last few days in Dublin have gone well. The weather is very spring-like—rain and sunshine taking turns.

My trip is coming to an end, and it has exceeded my expectations in many ways. I got to work with the choir more than I had anticipated—nearly two hours in total! It was a great experience to be a student again after a long time. I gained new ideas both in conducting technique and rehearsal psychology. Additionally, I was introduced to a new kind of repertoire and made valuable new connections.

I also had my first pint of Guinness on the last evening with the singers. The evening ended up lasting through quite a few Guinnesses. My conversations with the singers that night gave me great perspectives on my work. It really reinforced my belief that in this profession, there isn’t just one right way to do things.

What an amazing…