The all-female ensemble just announced its 2020 tour to Athens and the Greek Islands
The Times
While the 95-voice Bucks County Women’s Chorus (BCWC) stays plenty busy at home, performing about a dozen concerts each season in various venues in and beyond the Greater Philadelphia area, it is the overseas performance tours the group takes that attract many avid singers to the ensemble.
With three successful European performance tours in the bag since its founding in 2012 — the most recent to Northern Europe in May of this year — the chorus has announced that an April 2020 trip will take its singers to Greece, where they’ll enjoy several days in Athens, a visit to Corinth, and a 4-night cruise to several Greek islands including Mykonos, Patmos, Crete, Rhodes and Santorini, as well as to Ephesus, Turkey.
“It’s like a huge celebration when we announce our next trip destination,” said artistic director, Path Guth. “We try to keep it a secret until we’ve got all the details in place, which can take some time. Then we do a ‘reveal,’ which is really exciting for our singers who also love to travel.”
So far, destinations have included various cities in Northern Italy; Budapest, Hungary; Vienna and Salzburg, Austria; Helsinki, Finland; Tallinn, Estonia; and Stockholm, Sweden.
Not all of the 95 women partake of the trips, nor do the same singers travel each time since the different destinations appeal to different people. On average, about 45–55 singers and their guests have enjoyed each tour.
“Sometimes people sign up for the trip because there’s a family connection to a particular location. Others just like to travel in general and love the opportunity to sing in some really iconic locations, such as the famous Rock Church in Helsinki, at a venue along the canal in Venice, and even at the Sound of Music church in Mondsee, Austria,” said Guth. “These are experiences that our singers are likely to remember their whole life long.”
The Greece trip will allow them to perform at recognizable venues such as the Acropolis in Athens and the Temple of Diana in Ephesus, one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World.
However, the trips include much more than just singing. Sightseeing is a big part of each day’s itinerary and the group also enjoys bonding over activities such as cooking classes. So far, the choir has cooked Tuscan specialties in San Carignano, Italy, created an Austrian feast in Vienna, and whipped up a 4-course dinner in Tallinn, Estonia, where the flavors are very different than what we eat in the U.S.
And it’s not too early to think about the next culinary adventure and the other details of the trip to Greece, which will be organized by a performance tour company in Colorado Springs.
“Some wonder why we plan these trips so far in advance,” Guth said.
According to her, the 18-month window before the departure date gives choir members the opportunity to spread out their trip payments rather than pay a huge sum all at once. It also gives the choir something special to which they can look forward and provides plenty of time for additional planning necessary to schedule concerts and other details.
In the past, several women have joined the choir specifically for the tours, and have wound up staying with the group and enjoying the local concerts as well as the camaraderie that membership in BCWC offers.
BCWC always welcomes new members. The choir rehearses each Monday evening from September through early June at Twining Village in Holland. For more information, call 215–968–9542, email [email protected] or visit buckscountywomenschorus.com
