Day 3 - Friday 4 May

We woke up to a beautiful, sunny day in Ulm, with just a slight nip in the early morning air.  The boys’ hosts dropped them off at our meeting point, the city hall in Ulm, at 08:30 this morning.  We were greeted by the organiser of our stay in Ulm, Mr. Josef Christ, who is also the conductor of the Junge Bläserphilharmonie Ulm.  This morning the boys were guests of the city hall and sang to the mayor, Mr. Gunter Czisch.

We told the boys to meet us again at 12:15pm at the Ulm Minster Church in the city centre (the one with the highest steeple in the world), where Chef wanted the boys to sing in the church, which has an echo of about 5 seconds.  The church really is a magnificent piece of architecture, built more than 500 years ago. The boys sang Ndikhokhele Bawo and Great God almighty to a very appreciative (accidental) audience.

Thereafter we went to the Rathauskeller, a traditional and very famous German restaurant about a 2 minute walk from the church, where the boys were treated to probably the first of many schnitzels and chips.  The boys could choose from a number of soft drinks to enjoy with their meal, but most popular was something called an Apfelschorle (the drinks that look like enormous jugs of beer in the photos – stop stressing parents J), which is simply apple juice mixed with soda water. 

At 14:00 we set off on a walk to the Kongresszentrum, where our concert was tonight.  It is about a 20 minute, very picturesque walk from the city centre.  The Danube river flows through Ulm, and the whole walk is along the banks of the river, with ancient moats, cobblestone bridges and majestic trees framing the scene.

From 15:00 to 17:00 the boys had a sound check and rehearsal in the Einsteinsaal – a truly magnificent venue, seating more than a thousand people.  We had dinner at 18:00 at the Einstein Cafe, just opposite our performance venue, where the boys enjoyed "Einstein" burgers and chips.

Our concert started at 19:00.  We shared the stage with our hosts, the Junge Bläserphilharmonie Ulm (JBU), and were blown away by their clarity of sound and technical brilliance - surely one of the greatest youth orchestras the boys have ever seen. The JBU is a youth wind orchestra, consisting of boys and girls from the age of 12 up to 28.  The boys started the performance with a 20 min set, consisting of songs we usually perform in the first half during our Wednesday concerts, then the JBU performed an exciting programme consisting of, amongst others, Jupiter by Holst and the Tom Sawyer Suite by Cesarini.  After an interval, the boys performed their Folklore set, which was met with standing ovations by the audience.

Thank you Mr. Josef Christ and the JBU for organising our unforgettable stay in Ulm, and to all the host families who opened up their homes to our boys.  We have had a wonderful time in your beautiful city, and hope to be back one day.  You are also always welcome to visit us again in the Berg.

We are meeting tomorrow morning at 08:00 when we will leave for Munich.