USD Magazine Summer 2007

SAVE T H E D A T E

VOICES CARRY Choral Scholars embark on a grand tour of Italy’s cathedrals, one song at a time by Kelly Knufken [ m e l o d i o u s ]

The group would be touring a chapel, notice the amazing acoustics and just start singing in their street clothes. “We would just stand in a cir- cle, and Dr. Basilio would stand in the middle and conduct us, and we would just sing. It was crazy. It’s one mindset when you know you’re going to sing at a Mass. But it’s almost more spiritu- al or moving when you’re just in the moment and no one had planned it.” One of those impromptu moments occurred when the group sang at a high school in Venice and heard a performance by that school’s choir. Afterward, the Italian high-schoolers and the USD choir members were talking “in broken English and broken Italian,” struggling to make a connection. But then, they hit on a language they all knew — song. “We found a Spanish Christmas carol that both groups knew,” Infantino says. “That was really neat. That was just making the world smaller.”

May 26-27 Commencement

Myriad events are part of gradua- tion, but of course the celebration is really all about that procession across the stage of the Jenny Craig Pavilion to accept a degree. Law school commencement takes place at 9 a.m. on May 26; gradu- ate commencement follows at 1 p.m. Undergraduate commence- ment for the College of Arts and Sciences will be on May 27 at 9 a.m., with undergraduate degrees for the School of Business Admin- istration and Engineering Program presented at 2 p.m. For more, go to www.sandiego.edu/commence- ment. June 4-July 26 Sports Camps USD offers 13 summer sports camps for ages 6 to18, each with an emphasis on an individual sport like baseball, basketball, football, tennis, soccer, softball, tennis or volleyball. Additionally, two sessions of All-Sports camp are offered; each features soccer, basketball, baseball, archery, capture-the-flag and other activi- ties, with the goal of teaching new skills and sportsmanship. Adults can try their hand at mas- ters swim and tennis camp. Alum- ni receive a 5 percent discount. Go to www.usdcamps.com or call (619) 260-2999. July 8-11 ELDA Summer Institute This four-day session hosted by USD’s Educational Leadership Development Academy is designed for school leaders who want to ensure social justice and equity by improving achievement for all children. While featured presenters include author Michael Schmoker , RandolphWard and other promi- nent folks, perhaps the real draw is the opportunity to get together with district-level leaders who have improved student achieve- ment at their schools. To learn more about the institute, go to www.eldainstitutes.com/2007index. html or call (619) 260-8839.

I t was a great concept. Mem- bers of USD’s Choral Scholars would embark on a tour of Italy, performing pieces written for the cathedrals where they were singing. “There are no words to describe it,” says Paul Infantino, a senior who’s double-majoring in music and psychology. “It was amazing. We sang in every big church in Italy. We sang at the Vatican. We sang at the Mass of St. Peters.” The tour was a way for Edwin Basilio, director of choral activities, to help the students connect with USD’s Catholic identity. “From a learning perspective, most students go to Italy and study art and architecture. With choral music, you recreate the art

each time you perform it. The art form is alive. All these things can go wrong — and they can go right. The goal is to perform the pieces in the style and perform- ance practice of the time period from which they were written, in the structures for which they were written.” Their performance tour included the Duomo in Milan; St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, where Bach was the choir master; and a school in Venice where Vivaldi was the composer in residence. At each stop, the students also served as ambas- sadors of USD, Basilio says. “They do a fantastic job.” For Infantino, it was some of the unscheduled performances that were the most memerable.

AF T ER S I NG I NG H I GH MAS S f o r a 6 0 0 - memb e r c o n g r e g a t i o n , C h o r a l S c h o l a r memb e r s p o s e d i n f r o n t o f t h e r e n ow n e d b r o n z e d o o r s o f G h i b e r t i ’s “ T h e G a t e s o f P a r a d i s e ” i n F l o r e n c e , I t a l y.

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SUMMER 2007