On August 07, 2017, twenty-seven of the CCCS’s choir members along with sixty-five guests met in Rome Italy to begin a fourteen-day concert Tour of Italy and Croatia. CCCS is grateful to Anna and Božidar Stajrer of Spring Travel for organizing this memorable trip!
Visits to St. Peter’s Basilica (Michelangelo’s Pieta), Vatican City, Spanish Steps (where we performed), Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Palatine Hill and the Coliseum were awe inspiring but the Audience with His Holiness Pope Francis was indeed a moment in time never to be forgotten. The singing of Mozart’s Dona Nobis Pacem and Moj Isuse will always be etched in the treasure box of memories. An interview on Croatian Vatican Radio Station was immediately aired throughout Croatia. On our third night in Rome, we were privileged to perform mass in the magnificent St. Jerome’s Croatian Roman Catholic Church, another trip highlight, where we were warmly welcomed by the vice rector of the Institute of the Church of St. Jerome, Marko Đurin and Josip Gelo Ambassador of Bosnia and Hercegovina to the Holy See along with his family.
A visit to the Postojna Caves, Slovenia provided the choir natural amplification for its performance there rather than the use of microphones. Travels through Ferrara, Venice, and Croatia’s Istra brought us to Zagreb where on August 15th (Velika Gospa) the CCCS, along with Zagreb’s HSPD “Podgorac”, sang holy mass at Zagreb’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral, another musical note never to be forgotten. The choir performed in Krka National Park, Šibenik and in Split where we had the honour of performing with a Dalmatian Klapa.
The tour was an unparalleled cultural and musical experience for all!
