Experiences beyond the classroom: International Music Festival

This month saw one of the most exciting Globeducate events of the year: the International Music Festival, which this year took place in Barcelona and brought together 250 students aged 10-17 from 22 Globeducate schools around the world. It was four days of learning and challenging experiences, as our students joined a large orchestra along with their peers from other schools to perform a concert on the last day with a repertoire based on songs related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The experience has been so wonderful that two of our students, Irati and Paula, have granted us an interview to share with the rest of the educational community what they experienced during those days.

After landing in Barcelona, they were welcomed by the music teachers from all the Globeducate schools that participated in this edition, as well as by some old friends from their last music festival. Paula commented that she was very happy to see some familiar faces. Over the course of four days they rehearsed for many sessions, but it was all rewarded with delicious lunches at the Sant Cugat School. At the end of the rehearsal days, they were picked up by the family who agreed to take care of them. Our two girls lived with an Argentinian family who had three other children. They made their stay as comfortable and cheerful as possible, making sure to prepare traditional Argentinean and Spanish food. Irati was very impressed by the family's hospitality. 

 

The last day of the event our four students were very nervous about their performance, but once our directors and coordinators had delivered their speech in front of 900 people, the 250 students behind the red curtain were eager to begin their festival-closing performance. Of the four St. George's students who participated in the festival three were vocalists and one vocalist, Iker, was particularly excited to showcase his talent.

During the closing concert they performed a total of seven songs aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including "Blowing in the wind", "Another day in paradise", "Colour esperanza" and "Moving",

After the curtain came down, all the students gathered to sign their books and diaries, with the hope of seeing each other again next year. Our four students have been part of a real world learning journey, and will continue to practice as much as possible to perform again next year and create something special with new friends and new music.

 

 Listen to the full interview ->