Matthew Engel

Saint Anthony’s High School Orchestra - Athens College, Greece

Welcome! My second trip abroad in one month ended in complete success! I was able to manage 2 weeks off from work and travel to Europe with Saint Anthony’s High School from South Huntington, NY. Saint Anthony’s is located 35miles west of NYC and run by the dedicated Franciscan Brothers. Our 12 day tour was special as we were a travelling orchestra performing in each of the countries we visited: Greece, Italy and the Vatican. These special features come at a cost, as it is a considerable amount of extra work to travel abroad with a 100 instruments! The orchestra contained students ranging from freshmen to seniors with full woodwind, brass, percussion and string sections. This meant lugging over huge cases containing baritone saxaphones, french horns, cellos and so many other large bulky instruments. Fortunately, we were able to rent some of the larger instruments in advance which would have been to crazy to pack like the piano, drums, and basses. All togehter we made for quite an ensemble!

The faculty consisted of about 12 chaperones including the vice-principal and choral director, Brother Joshua, and the principal Brother Garry, a world history teacher. Other chaperones included professors of economics, foreign language, literature, social studies, and of course music! My father, Bruce, is the orchestra director and was faced with the formidable challenge of transporting, setting up, and conducting this mighty force. The group is greatly indebted to the unending amd tireless dedication of Brother Joshua who organized every minute detail of the trip from start to finish. His careful planning and vast experience allowed to the trip to proceed smoothly without a single unsurmountable hitch. And let me tell you, flying a german airline is not easy when they want to search the 4 french horns, 9 trumpets, 10 violas, 14 violins, 11 flutes, etc, etc.. In addition, B. Joshua and Mr. Engel each has several large trunks which contained things like extra music, repair kits, tuning instruments, extra clothing, first aid kits and many additional emergency gear for human and instrument repair.

The Saint Anthony’s Faculty Chaperones - Patras, Greece

Finally, and most importantly, I was asked to go on this trip in order to supervise a young man, who I will call Bob. Bob was a successful musician, but due to his special needs, required extra supervision along the way. We spent our free time together to make sure he did not wander off, get lost, and that he was on time for meetings and kept organized.

Briefly, I would describe Bob as a personable, intelligent fellow with a huge capacity for learning and a vast intellectual curiosity. However this is accompanied by off-color social skills, anxiety, and an unconcern for social acceptance. He is the kid walking through the hallway with 8 hard cover books swaying back in forth in his arms, sweating profusely trying not to be shoved into lockers. Taking care of Bob was going to be quite a task! But nothing I couldn’t accomplish.