This summer, 31 Concert and Chamber orchestra students will have the opportunity to travel and perform across Italy together from June 10-17.

“First we plan on going to go and do some concerts in different cities and then afterwards we plan on going sightseeing in all the cities that we are going to,” Alex Marr, junior and trip participant, said.

The group will start off the trip in Rome and tour the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel and the Coliseum, and after all the sightseeing perform their first concert in the Oratorio de Caravita.

After Rome, the group will travel Siena to see the historical Piazza del Campo.

The group’s third destination is Venice,  where they will spend two days and perform their second (and final) concert.

The trip will conclude in the birthplace of the violin, Cremona, where they will visit the Stradivari Museum to see some of the oldest violin making shops in the world. The next day the group will travel to Milan and fly home.

Students have been expected to rehearse for the concerts independently due to the fact that all the participants come from different levels of orchestra. This helps students on the trip feel prepared, and the added preparation will even allow them to communicate with the audience in a unique way, according to Joseph Gutowski, orchestra teacher and trip coordinator.

“Music is a great medium for experiencing another culture, since music is a universal language.  We might not all experience it the same way, but we can all listen and enjoy a good performance and communicate to our audience through our music,” Gutowski said.

Gutowski also hopes that students will gain a better appreciation of music from the experience.