Örebro
June 25, 2019
On Monday evening the bus got us to Örebro in time to check into the hotel and relax a bit before we had a buffet supper together in the hotel dining room.
On Tuesday morning we had a guided walking tour of the city. Then we had a tour of the castle. After a bit of free time, we boarded the bus to have a 4pm rehearsal and then our concert.
See Rock City
The name comes from the little rocks they called "öre." The town has a rich cultural heritage. According to Wikipedia, it is known as the home of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and numerous punk bands and the like. Its university is rated among the top younger universities.
Every other year the town has a festival of public art, called OpenArt. This year's theme seemed to be pink. The tank in the main square commemorated the Velvet Revolution of thirty years ago.
The concert hall is by the river.
This is not the castle. It is a hotel. Still it is pretty neat looking.
The original part of the castle is just to the left of the tower on the right side. It was added to over the centuries.
The city tour guide for one of our two groups also plays the queen in the castle tours.
Before we entered the castle, we sang the "Irish Blessing" in a reverberant courtyard.
It was something we could sing from memory.
The king portrayed was Gustav I, I think.
The shield design is inlaid on the floor in marble.
There was a big exhibit of costumes made out of paper. Videos showed some of how it was made.
After our tours and free time to explore, we headed for Olaus Petri Kyrka for our rehearsal, supper, and concert.
Joe got to play some Bach for us on the organ in the gallery during the program.
He had played a movement from a Mendelssohn sonata during our program in Copenhagen.
In their narthex were posters advertising our concert and then an organ recital by Patrick Pope in August.
Joe accompanied us in the Mozart "Ave Verum Corpus" on the chancel organ.
