Written by: Brody R.
Well well well…look what we have here. WELCOME TO #cc26tour BLOG, my dear lads!
June 7th, 2026 (aka 6/7 🤪) officially marked the beginning of our adventure: The 30th Edition of the Cardinal Chorale Summer Tour AND Anniversary Celebration. I know you all missed me so very very very (emphasis on “very”) much. I am so ecstatic to be back and provide with you the top notch tour blog experience. This week you will journey along with us through our countless adventures around Ohio. So, strap in, put on your favorite Chorale song, and join us for the ride.
Yesterday (once more 😉), was a day full of rekindling joy and seeing familiar faces as we came together for the first time since our reunion concert in February…oh so long ago. The first day back together is always a great experience to get our bodies, minds, and voices, back into the Chorale spirit.
This will officially be my 4th tour with the Chorale and I am infinitely so excited for this experience. Especially with the rehearsal we had. Naturally, we had some lapses with some of the music, but in typical Chorale fashion, we took those mistakes and absolutely crushed them to make sure they were fixed for the next run. We are in amazing shape to be starting this tour, and we can only go up from here!
I loved being able to be together once again. There is just such an aura that the Chorale gives off that completely brightens my mood. There have been many days recently where my negativity has gotten the best of me, but simply being in the presence of such a fantastic group of individuals and being able to sing again since my school year ended is an absolute blast.
The day was heavily focused on rehearsal and so we took the whole day to go through all of our music to really drill in all of our repertoire to see what shape it’s in. It definitely took some time and focus for us to lock back into our true sound, but we’re definitely close. We’re going to have plenty of time to be able to polish more of our music before the concert in Marion (June 8 at 7PM!), so you best be ready for us to blow your socks off. I am especially pumped for this tour because of the progress I’ve personally made during my first year of college and being able to apply it to this chorus. I love being able to think about how much I’ve been able to grow as a singer.
THEE Erin Jobes made us an absolutely delectable dinner that consisted of two types of meatballs, mixed vegetables, salad, a ONE OF A KIND “mix your own water flavor bar,” fresh cut fruit, and, of course, cookies. I must admit, I had perhaps one too many meatballs for dinner… but as of now, I have yet to regret any of my decisions. One of my many favorite parts of the Chorale tour is the countless variety of meals we are offered to consume. I am quite excited to see what’s on the menu for the rest of the week. For the days I’ll be blogging, expect a thorough review on the meals. Today, I’d give the meal a 9.5/10 simply based on the fact that I overindulged a little bit more than I should have. I enjoyed the variety and the surplus of greens to offset the meatballs. A great meal to get a great week started… with all thanks to, ours truly, Erin Jobes.
My homestay was with Aidan Thomas and Nathan Mozena. Most of the Northwest Ohioans in one place (sorry Garrett and Calista). Our lovely host was Jensen’s Grandmother, Peggy Du Bois…she was fantastic! Being from Northwest Ohio, I was personally terrified the final stretch of the 30 minute drive to her place. I’m not used to most of these hilly and scarily curvy roads. She was taking these roads consistently at 45-50mph, but I didn’t feel endangered at all especially after hearing her say that she was a bus driver on these roads and has been around here for about 40 years now. But still, taking those roads that fast was uncanny to me as a resident of the flatlands of Northwest Ohio. I was able to sleep on a mighty comfy, beautifully purple futon in a spare room with a giant stuffed hippo as my pillow. That was a fantabulous experience, to say that least.
I think that covers most of it. Whether you’re reading these blogs as they’re coming out or reading them after the fact, I hope you enjoy being able to join us on this incredible journey. I am most definitely looking forward to sharing this experience with you AMAZING individuals. As always, thank you so much for taking time and effort out of your day and I hope you stick around
Guiding with love,
Yours, Brody Rodriguez