Monastic quarters are fine with me but, for sure, we should all be together in the same place.

Yes, I was wondering if the hotels were a bit too nice, though. I'd rather go one star less and save a little. The 2-star hotel I had in Rome last summer was just fine and it was easy walking distance to St Peter's. Hotel Colors.

Me too, but the tour company has their reasons for sticking with 4-stars (probably reliability). If we discard the company, we would have to arrange our own transportation. Not fun.

Greetings to everyone!

Even if I live in Rome since many years, I do not know to many Monasteries IN the City. Maybe a couple. And, normally, but not always, Monasteries will not have mixed guests. Or they accept men, or women. The only big Monasteries that I know are outside the GRA, which is like a highway around city. A lot of people who work in Rome live outside Rome, and in the morning, if you live just outside Rome, and do not leave really early (6:30 am) you might get in the heavy traffic, and it might take you up to 1 hour and half to get in town. I really would give you the advice to be all together in town.
In the early ages of the Basilica of St. Peter, it was surrounded by little hostels, where pilgrims could find people speaking their own language. There are 2 remains of that tradition... the German College (Collegio Teutonico) with it own little cemetery, few meters from the Basilica, and also the Church of Santo Stefano degli Abissini (north africa) behind the Basilica.
Rome is filled with hotels and also Religious Houses that have been transformed in little Hotels since the Great Jubilee of year 2000. But sometimes, these are more expansive than Hotels.
I really wish you a pilgrimage without the stress of traffic and delays.
And I wish every one a very "Holy" Week.

Fr. Pierre

Greetings everyone, I have some good news and bad news today. The good news is that everything is moving forward quite well. We even have a date for the Chapter Mass requested.

The bad news is that Wilko Brouwers found it necessary to bow out of the trip. He discovered today that the conducting academy that is part of is continuing into June 2011 and that he has been asked to direct it. He is quite disappointed that he will not be able to be with us for this trip, but has recommended a colleague from the Liszt Academy. Of course I will look at all possibilities and get back with you, but I am very disappointed as well, having sung under Wilko before.

The show, of course, must go on and I encourage everyone to continue working on their recordings for the event.

Best,
Mike

We are shooting for 30, but not quite there yet. I can't be certain who is a CMAA member or not, but most of the inquiries I've received are from this forum. I have a few people outside our orbit and I suspect we'll need more to make the choir the proper size and quality. I'd hate to miss out on singing at St Peter's because we couldn't muster enough voices (with money to spend). I trust in the Holy Spirit to guide us in this and provide when needed. If we do get a number of non-CMAA people, this only extends our influence that much further.

Hi Mandee,

I'll have something for you soon. Right now I'm working on getting us a new conductor. As time approaches, there will be details to work out. Also, since I cannot go to colloquium this year, I'll need some folks there to organize some reading sessions of the proposed music.

Mike

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder to speak to everyone you know about the trip. We need a few more singers to be sure that the group is large enough to sing at St Peter's. This is a great way to get the word out about CMAA!

Rome Trip Update:

As I mentioned before, Dr Timothy McDonnell will be leading the polyphony choir for the trip to Rome. Dr Jennifer Donelson has agreed to lead the chanted portions. The three of us met today to go over plans for the trip and I think it will be even better than originally conceived. This will be a chance of a lifetime, I think. Please consider joining us next May. As soon as all the details are worked out we will contact everyone and post them to the MusicaSacra Florida website. I can't reveal some things right now, but I'm very excited about some new possibilities for liturgical singing in Rome, Assisi and one more beautiful location!

Received today: An official document from Fr. P. Pierre Paul, Maestro di Capella, granting the choir, representing the CMAA, permission to sing for the Chapter Mass at St. Peter's on 29 May 2011.

?

Hi everyone, I just learned that we were unable to to hold our expected lodgings in Rome. Dr McDonnell valiantly tried several options, but the demanded deposits were just too much to ask at this point. He has done a superb job in organizing all the details, which we were planning to unveil very soon, but we are hoping to try again in May 2012. I will post again here if we are able, but for this year the trip is off.

Mike, I want to express my thanks as well. I wouldn't have been able to go for a number of reasons, but I sincerely appreciate your community spirit, initiative, and dedicated hard work.

Greetings!

How appropriate that this post follows mine from 2010 almost to the day. I want to invite anyone interested in a choral excursion to Rome to contact me at moconnor09 at gmail dot com. I am organizing a trip for May 2015 for my Newman Society students. There are not enough of them, so I thought I would resurrect the idea of taking some singers, rehearsing on-site, and singing informally (or formally if it works out) in the beautiful spaces in Rome. I'm still formulating the plan, but I have a good agency to work with that knows choirs and was recommended to me by Fr. Pierre-Paul back in 2010. Very good people. Let me be clear, though, that this trip will have NO relationship with the CMAA and we will not identify ourselves in any way with the organization. That created way too many problems last time.

We will need a total of 20 people in all, but some will come from my student group. I look forward to hearing from you! Peace.

Mike

Would it be a highly structured trip? I've always avoided "group" trips to Rome since usually there are so many "required things" to do that it cuts into my time sitting around bars/coffee shops and talking with old, wise, philosophical Italian men.

Any possibility of joining up with you in Rome - I'm in Ireland.

Hi all, things are looking good for this. We could use a few more singers, so please consider coming with us!

What would happen if a CMAA choir could sing for the Pope's USA visit?