Rome, Milan, and Naples became the stage for the Penn Glee Club during its 10-day tour of Italy. Thirty-seven members went on the trip, consisting of vocalists, members of the band and the technical crew.
This is the third consecutive year the Club has gone on an international tour, which is unusual, as typically the group alternates international and domestic destinations. Last year the group went to Chile and Panama and in 2022 to France and Spain.
The tour had special meaning for Director Daniel Carsello, who announced that he is now stepping down after six years as director. Carsello has been a part of the Glee Club for 12 years, starting as a first-year undergraduate.
“Everything felt very meaningful,” Carsello says about the Italian tour and performances, especially singing the Glee Club’s historic standards. “It was very emotional.”
As director Carsello guided the Club through the pandemic and the process of becoming fully gender-inclusive. He was also a driving force behind last year’s 160th Anniversary Gala.
Laurie McCall, director of the Platt House for the Performing Arts, says they are conducting a search for a new director. “Daniel has been invaluable,” McCall says. “He is leaving the Club in good stead. They’re at the top of their game.”
The Club had two key performances while in Italy. One performance was at the well-known La Controra Hostel where they were hosted in Naples. They sang outside to locals and hostel guests, surrounded by tall residential buildings. “People were opening their windows and leaning out on their balconies to listen and join in the moment with us,” says rising fourth-year Niara Urquhart, from Philadelphia, who was the tour manager.
“It definitely meant a lot to us,” says Urquhart, who is a double-major in East Asian languages and civilizations as well as health and societies in the College of Arts and Sciences. “We weren’t expecting that at all. We were just expecting the hostel staff and some of the guests. So to see that the locals were also excited to hear our performance was really, really special.”
The second performance was at Castello di San Michele in the town of Teverina, where they performed for an audience of more than 50. Penn alumnae Cécile André Leruste helped with the connection and hosted the group that night. The full choral group sang, and also its two subgroups, the Pipers, which features tenor and bass voices, and the Sirens, which features soprano and alto voices.
“We were able to stay at this gorgeous castle, learn about the history of it, and connect with some local people who were really excited to have us there,” Urquhart says. “Especially because it was the last performance for our seniors and for Daniel as well, a lot of members were really emotional.”
Four May graduates were featured in vocal solos, and they sang a farewell number together. “It was a really meaningful concert,” says Carsello. “It was an hour-and-a-half of us performing the greatest hits from the year for this small town in Italy and getting raucous applause every time we finished a song.”
The trip was also an opportunity for touring cultural attractions, with the Club members breaking up into smaller groups depending on what they wanted to experience. “They chose things they were interested in doing and then gathered as many Glee Clubbers as they could to go with them,” Carsello says, sites including the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon in Rome; Capri, Pompeii, and Mount Vesuvius near Naples; and the Duomo Cathedral in Milan.
The graduating fourth-years were the last to be members when the club was not fully gender-inclusive, which was “quite symbolic” for the incoming president, rising fourth-year Kyne Wang, from Vancouver, Canada.
“This was their send off, passing it on to the new board and new director that has only known a fully gender-inclusive Glee Club,” says Wang, who is in the Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management, with a biology major in the College and a finance concentration in the Wharton School.
There were 65 members in the Club during the past academic year, Wang says. All members are invited to go on the Club’s tours, and expenses were covered by the Club for those who requested financial assistance, he says. The Club brings in revenue through generous alumni donations and by performing at events throughout the year.
“We maintain a no-questions-asked, fully accessible policy for financial aid. As a result, we’ve had students, especially first-generation and low-income students, who’ve never had the opportunity to leave the country before, be able to travel with the Club,” says Wang, who was previously the finance manager.
Looking ahead, Wang says he and the new board members are planning recruitment for new members in the fall, preparing for the Club’s Spring 2025 production, and potential new collaborative performances with glee clubs and performing arts groups from several universities in the Northeast.
“We have forged really strong bonds on this trip that will carry us through this next year with a new director,” says Urquhart. “That way we can continue doing what we do best, showing off Penn in the best light, and showing off our love for music and our passion for performance.”
(Images are courtesy of the Penn Glee Club.)
