Viva Italia - Day 3 - Sistine Chapel and David's European Premiere

It's 2:30 a.m. in Rome and I've been trying since midnight to convert our video files in order to post the performance of David's song. Obviously, it has not gone well. The concert, however, was AMAZING. The San Gabriel Valley Choir is a volunteer choir from the Los Angeles area made up primarily of singers originally from the Philippines. They sing with so much emotion. They did a beautiful job with David's song. I cried through the whole thing.

Note David's name on the poster.

We have been telling people that the performance would be at the Vatican. That was incorrect. This particular concert was at the Basilica di San Ignazio, a beautiful basilica just a couple blocks from Trevi Fountain. It was attended by the Philippine Ambassador as well as the Consul General and Vice Consul. CNN World was also there. We took some pictures of the basilica, but as with all our pictures, they are not great.

Front of the basilica

Organ

This is a picture of the rehearsal. The song is called "Creation" and the text is from Genesis, telling the story of the creation. It is timed to last seven minutes, symbolic of the seven days of creation. The acoustics in the cathedral made the song even more powerful and the organ was beautiful, even though the organist only had a few minutes to get ready. In the past, it had been performed with piano as an organ was not available. The entire choir does not perform David's piece because it is very difficult.

David was so excited with the results. This was truly a great moment for him and I'm so grateful we could be here for this.

HERE is a video of the performance and HERE is a video of the basilica.

Earlier in the day, we visited the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's. I think this was my fourth time to see the Sistine Chapel. It is such a beautiful place. I always imagine Michelangelo on his back, painting for four years on scaffolding stretching so high. Incredible. Because tour guides are asked not to speak in the chapel, they have set up displays around a courtyard outside the Vatican Museum where guides can give information on the chapel. When our guide (who is fantastic) started to talk about the creation portion of the ceiling, the members of the choir in our group (about 15 or 20 members of the choir) broke into singing David's song - just on the spur of the moment. It was so sweet and beautiful, and of course I cried then too.

View of St. Peters from the Vatican Museum courtyard.

People sometimes ask why Mormons do not let non-recommend holding people into our temples once they are dedicated. From now on, I'm going to tell them that if they want to understand, they just need to visit the Sistine Chapel. People are asked not to speak loudly and told not to take photographs. Many people completely disregard that and do not show any kind of reverence for this special place (I'm not speaking of our tour group; they were respectful.)

Tourists

One of my favorite sculptures

Mosaic floor from the 5th Century - it was moved tile by tile from it's original location.

Tomb of Constantine's daughter.

Flemish tapestry depicting the slaying of the innocents.

Ceiling detail (following three pictures - I love the ceilings in the Vatican  Museum)

 

Ancient map of Sicily - where David served his mission.

Michelangelo's Pieta was curtained off during the mass on Sunday, but we got to see it today. It was his first major sculpture and he was only 23 or 24 when he created it. Nothing compares to it.

Swiss Guard

Mailing postcards with the Vatican stamp

Standing in the very center of Vatican City

Filling our water bottles

 

We did get to talk to the kids today and it was so great to see them. They were bored with talking to us after about 10 minutes. They spent the day at the zoo.

We are completely amazed at how perfectly this trip is going. We are having such a wonderful time. Our 10th anniversary was in June, so this is like an anniversary trip for us. We're just enjoying being together in this beautiful place.