When in Rome: VHHS band, choir headed to Rome New Year’s Day Parade in 2024

The Vestavia Hills High School band and choir will have a unique New Year’s Day experience in 2024, as they ring in the new year with the people of Rome.

The band has been invited to participate in the Rome New Year’s Day Parade, the latest in overseas trips for the band, which participated in the London New Year’s Day Parade in 2010 and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin in 2018.

This will be the first international trip for the choir which is set for Dec. 27, 2023-Jan. 3, 2024.

Being able to go on the trips gives students an advantage and different perspective on life and performing. The students are exposed to international travel along with a great performance opportunity, band director Jerell Horton said.

During the past trip to London, students visited Buckingham Palace, and Stonehenge, Horton said. “This trip, students will visit the Vatican, Pompeii, the Sistine Chapel, the Coliseum and more. “It’s pretty exciting, I think it’s one thing to tell a student about a place like Rome but it’s another thing to let them go and experience it.”

There was an audible gasp when the band found out about the news during an assembly on Oct. 20, and Horton said there was a lot of cheering.

The choir was “thrilled,” Director Taylor Stricklin said.

Stricklin said he anticipates taking about 100 students and is excited to collaborate with the band.

“It makes the arts department special and unique,” Stricklin said. “We really enjoy working together.”

Horton echoed Stricklin’s comments.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to travel with the choir,” Horton said. “This will be the first time both groups have traveled together, though they try to collaborate more often.”

There will be multiple performances for both groups with the possibility of a joint performance, Stricklin said.

Being able to be part of an international trip is not something to pass up. Each time he has gone abroad with choirs, Stricklin said foreign audiences have loved seeing American performing groups. Horton said that is his experience, as well.

“I want them to understand that continuing in music will take them places,” Stricklin said. “You’ve seen pictures, but seeing them yourselves is a whole new experience.”

The choir will take part in a four or five day festival of performances, one of which will be their own.

Possible venues for their performance include a cathedral, the Pantheon and St. Peter’s in the Vatican, which has “incredible” acoustics. To be able to sing in the revered space is a “once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Stricklin said.

The choir will have extra rehearsals for their performances and Stricklin is working on choosing the music and doing other planning for the festival.

Horton noted that the band will be working on how to handle the parade from an endurance standpoint. He said while the parade route length is unknown, the standard is 2.5 miles, Horton.

Bob Bone, managing director of Destination Events, which founded the London parade and facilitates parades for multiple cities, said the band’s past experience in London left a great impression. That helped sway the group when Horton called, asking if the Rome trip would be possible.

“It was really a no-brainer,” Bone said.

Destination Events has an “extensive network” of music consultants who recommend bands to the group to use in parades, such as Vestavia’s band.

The reputation and record of excellence of Vestavia’s band, along with his prior knowledge of Horton helped. That choice was solidified when he watched them perform when the announcement was made this fall.

“They were every bit as good as expected,” Bone said.

Bone said the Rome Parade will be a terrific event with a lovely parade route and he is hopeful the choir can participate in it as well.

The easiest way to explain the parade, Bone said, is that the band will “be mobbed, in a safe way, by 200,000 to 250,000 Romans.

“It will be a pretty fantastic experience,” he said.

The band and choir are also invited to a smaller festival in the Italian city of Frascati, near Rome. The mayor will entertain the students and invite them to lunch.

Being picked to march in the parade is an honor, Horton said.

“It’s really humbling, actually,” Horton said. “Neither one of us [Horton or Assistant Director Heather Palmer] got these opportunities when we were in high school band.”