A chance for a 2008 summer concert tour
in Europe

Are you a young Missouri musician who'd like to take a two-week concert tour to Europe in the summer of 2008? You might be able to if you start planning now.

(Left to right) Rebecca Lubiewski, Krista Bulva and Alyssa Crapin

Sixteen-year-old Rebecca Lubiewski of Hazelwood Central High School was one members of the 2006 Missouri Ambassadors of Music. The group took a 15-day tour through seven European countries last summer.

To qualify, she had to get an endorsement from her school music director. And, she spent a whole year raising money to pay her way.

Rebecca and several of her classmates were among the musicians who played and sang in England, France, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Germany and Italy last June. Since 1990, similar Ambassadors of Music groups from Missouri have toured every other year.

The Ambassadors of Music tours was the idea of Robert Gifford, the director of bands at Southeast Missouri State University. He recruited school band directors across Missouri to find kids who could benefit from the foreign tour experience.

Bob Altman is director of bands at Hazelwood Central High School. He's one of the Missouri band directors who help find young musicians for the tours. The kids selected range in age from 14 and up.

He plans to start work shortly after this month's holiday break to recruit kids for the 2008 tour. He said the band directors want to have plenty of time to make selections. And, the recruited kids also need time to raise money to pay their way.

(For more information, you can e-mail Mr. Altman at acealtman@aol.com. He suggested it would be good to start planning now.)

Rebecca admitted her fund-raising consisted mostly of "begging" her parents and relatives for help. She said the trip cost her and others about $4,000 each.

Eighteen-year-old Frank Hartfield Jr. said he and his mother organized several personal fund-raisers. He concentrated on "cookie sales" while his mother did fund-raising at work.

(Left to right) Erica Mills, Kevin Doyle and Garrett Hemann

Seventeen-year-old Erica Mills said her fund-raising included getting a job at Baskin-Robbins. She added, "I'm still raising that money as well as raising money for a trip to Spain this summer."

For many of the local musicians, the Ambassadors' tour was their first foreign travel.

Young Saint Louis.com interviewed nine Hazelwood Central kids who took last summer's tour. Most of them said their favorite stops on the tour were England and Switzerland. But, other places also were mentioned.

England was fun because their concert was held outdoors right after a birthday parade for England's Queen Elizabeth. Their concert started shortly after the parade ended.

(Left to right) Javonni McGlaurin, Sara Coats and Frank Hartfield Jr.

Eighteen-year-old Javonni McGlaurin said, "We were right across the Thames River from the Big Eye." That's the giant Ferris wheel that is a landmark in central London.

Eighteen-year-old Garrett Hemann said he also liked walking around London seeing the sights. "We had the most time for sightseeing in England," he said.

Another favorite country was Switzerland, with its mountain scenery.

Seventeen-year-old Alyssa Crapin said their concert in Switzerland was in a tiny mountain town of Crans-Montana. Several of the kids mentioned the Swiss concert because, as seventeen-year-old Kevin Doyle said, "the whole town came out for it."

But, Alyssa also mentioned Paris, France, as one of her favorite stops. "There were so many big churches in Paris," she said.

Seventeen-year-old Sarah Coats said she liked the scenery in Germany. She said, "We had a lot of time to walk around there also."

Seventeen-year-old Krista Bulva said her favorite part of the concert tour was "to be with new and old friends."

As for the most hilarity, several of them mentioned a fondue party they attended. Frank Hartfield remembers that party because of his embarrassment.

It seems that one of the rules of a European fondue party is, if you drop a piece of bread or cake while dipping it in the various dips, you have to kiss other people in the party.

Frank said he dropped a piece of bread and his picture was taken while he was kissing the girls. "Then Javonni's mother showed my mother the picture. I was so embarrassed," he said.

But, some of the other kids-including the girls-though dropping of the food was a pretty good idea.