Sarah Conducts an Honors Choir in Bangladesh!

Although Sarah was disappointed that she had to cancel her presentations at the Association of Music in International Schools’ (AMIS) annual conference in Hong Kong last November–due to her first ever in India single step autologous cartilage replacement surgery in her left knee–she was excited to have been invited to conduct a combined Honors Choir of elementary grade children from four prestigious schools in Dhaka, Bangladesh, just when her knee had nicely healed! She of course looks forward to doing her international presentations next fall when the AMIS conference is held in The Hague, Netherlands, but that will be another story, right?

So, we flew from Chennai through Chittagong, Bangladesh, on the coast of the Bay of Bengal, and then on to Dhaka. BTW, when’s the last time you took a flight that stopped at a location to unload/load passengers while you sat in the plane for a couple hours? By the way, Sarah is not alone among the faculty and administrators at AISC who are honored to present and lead sessions at conferences around the world–another benefit of being a part of such an organization. At any rate, Julie Overlie, the event’s organizer and the primary level music teacher at the host school, American International School Dhaka (AISD) met us at the airport and showed us to our hotel, the Ascott Palace, in the heart of the Gulshan/Baridhara diplomatic zone.

In Dhaka, as in many other international cities, most of the embassies and consulates are clustered together in a compact neighborhood that also houses hotels, restaurants, shops, residences, and even private schools (like AISD) serving the diplomatic and international community. In Dhaka’s case, the entire dip zone–as it’s called there–has even tighter security than some other cities due to the Holey Artisan Bakery attack of 2016. The bakery/restaurant–known for the “holey” texture of its breads–was among the most beloved restaurants in Dhaka, popular with expatriates and locals alike. It has since reopened and has a branch in Bangkok as well, but the city and the community continue to feel the lingering impact of the attack.

Sarah looked forward to working with the well-prepared kids from the four Dhaka schools–AISD, the host school; the International School Dhaka (ISD); Grace International School, and the Aga Khan School. She was thrilled at the excellence and discipline the eighty children showed–and highly impressed with the prep work done by the four music teachers–as it allowed her to put the graceful, humorous, and, sometimes, emotional finishing touches on the pieces to add a greater sense of the music’s beauty, meaning, and depth for the kids and the audience to enjoy. For example, Sarah told the choirs that she had brought along several of her closest friends, like the well-known connections from her twenty years as Associate Conductor of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, Henry Leck, its founder, and Ruth Dwyer, it’s Education Director; and Cindy Giebler, a seasoned educator and composer of excellent choral music. Sarah thrilled the children by connecting the choirs in Dhaka with these musicians through their original compositions. She brought home these connections most emotionally, when she shared the background of the lovely, touching piece, Spirits, by another close friend, Douglas Beam, written in remembrance of the tragic loss of two of his closest friends. The choirs better understood and personalized the music and sang it with a delicate, stirring empathy.

I got to photograph Sarah at work with the children over most of two full days, capturing her mastery and charm as she drew the very best from the choir while encouraging them to learn more and to have a great time all the while. Of course, having a North End Coffee Roaster (a nod to Boston’s famous neighborhood, of course) right there in school provided a steady fuel of fabulous, rich cappuccino and latte that was outstanding. And yes, we did buy a larger Bialetti look-alike moka pot and a giant bag of North End espresso beans!

The Ascott Palace was an excellent landing pad for us as it was only a few blocks from the school–but of course we never walked, did we? Anyway, we arrived on our first night just before closing time for their main restaurant but the staff insisted we join in for their once weekly buffet dinner. We hesitated a bit since we were tired from the flight, but they corralled us and we then had to sample everything! Every. Single. Dish. From pasta to pani puri to pancakes to ice cream and cake, and it was truly delicious. Our second night, we went up to the hotel’s rooftop Japanese restaurant and were delighted with a bit lighter fare. On our final night, after the concert, Julie and her husband treated us to even better Japanese fare at Izumi, considered one of the best restaurants in all of Dhaka. Hmmmmm, why have we not eaten any Japanese food in Chennai? That needs to change!

For me, though, another highlight of the visit came the first afternoon, when Aneesh, a former teacher at AISC (Chennai) and now teaching art at AISD (Dhaka), a young man who is a fabulous artist and photographer whose work has been exhibited in Chennai among other venues, took me on a photo walk through Old Dhaka and the wholesale markets.

Hard work and enterprise, sweat and concentration, knitted brows and pursed lips . . . often gave way to a shared connection of the eyes, then, usually, a smile–sometimes only grudgingly admitted–and then typically a handshake when I shared the photo on the camera’s back . . . and even a bit of clowning around and a few gifts of a nod and a friendly, “Brother!” Every minute in the mud of the riverbank and the tightly jammed lanes of the market was truly precious.

So, yes, the Honors Choir children delivered an excellent performance for their families and teachers, making Sarah delighted and proud; and I was able to steal an afternoon to mingle in the crowds, to gather so many wonderful smiles, so many shared moments, and so many brief connections in Old Dhaka. Next up, the city that links Asia and Europe: Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul! Many stories, I suspect . . .