Back from a Land Down Under

By Misty Cryer

A trio of Carlsbad Early College High School choir students earned a spot to perform in the Sydney Opera Honor Choir in Australia this summer under the direction of Dr. Jeffery Ames.

Aside from the excitement of traveling abroad, the highlights of the trip included a first-time experience performing internationally for Pablo Florez, with Jacob Chapler and Ethni Florez earning lead roles in the concert.

Jacob and Ethni are 2025 graduates and performed last year in the Honor Performance Series at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Pablo, Ethni’s brother, just finished his first year in choir as a freshman.

“The neatest part of the trip was experiencing the amount of musicianship and talent that all gathered in Australia to sing at the Opera House,” said Jacob. “Everybody that sang in the choir, they were talented, and they cared about music. To me, that meant a lot— we were all basically unified by music,” he said.

“It was smaller than last year, actually, but it was very nice to work with that group. It felt like everyone was very prepared and ready to learn, so that was really wonderful,” said Ethni.

Pablo said he most enjoyed performing, which he described as a “surreal” experience. “A year ago, I never thought I would even be in choir, then all of a sudden I’m performing at Sydney Opera,” he said.

Robin Irving, the CECHS Choir Director and Academic Achievement Advisor, called Pablo’s story incredible, saying he has only been singing in choir for one year and was selected for New Mexico All State this year. “Ethni and Jacob were already scheduled to go via the audition that they did for Sydney Opera House,” she said, with Pablo going as a family member.

“We found out that the Sydney Opera House Honor Choir, they needed some good tenors, and Pablo is a very good tenor,” said Irving. “After the fact, they were opening up auditions again, which was extraordinary,” she said. Pablo auditioned and was accepted.

The director, Jeffery Ames, was from Belmont University, said Ethni. “He was the arranger of one of the pieces that we got to sing,” she said.

Pablo said they did a Puerto Rican piece, and the director asked if there were any Spanish speakers to help. “Ethni helped with pronunciations,” he said, adding that she got to do a solo dance.

Dr. Ames asked her if she knew how to salsa dance. “I said no, but I can learn,” Ethni said. To prepare for the dance, she said her mom showed her a few steps, and she and her partner collaborated during lunch to put something together. A dance choreographer helped them refine their ideas with counts. “Me and my roommate stayed up late that night and worked on steps,” she said.

“There were two solos in this set of music that Dr. Ames chose,” said Irving, Not knowing if there would be live auditions, if they were for a boy, a girl, or a group, she said, “We just tried to prepare the music to the best of our ability, so all three of our students prepared all the solos so that they were ready when it happened.”

“There was a solo/duet in a piece called ‘Come and Go to That Land.’ Dr. Ames was looking for a guy and a girl to sing this part. He asked if anyone wanted to try it out. I put my hand up and I just sang,” said Jacob. “By the grace of God, I ended up with the solo, or with the male part of the duet,” he said.

Pablo explained the audition process and said about Jacob, “We were really proud of him.”

Accompanied by Ethni and Pablo’s parents, Pete and Sandra Florez, Irving, and her husband, Aaron Irving (aka “Choir Dad”), Pablo said, “We went a little bit earlier, before the program started.”

After traveling, Ethni said it was nice that they got to stay at the beach for the first couple of days before going over to Sydney, checking in with their chaperones, and getting to know their roommates and groups.

The days before the program started, they stayed at the Adia Hotel on Coogee Beach and had the opportunity to experience the Coogee to Bondi Coastal Walk.

“In Australia, it was winter, so I was telling Mrs. Irving, I want to go ice skating,” said Pablo. “We walked from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach. They were having the Bondi Festival; they had games, a Ferris wheel, food, and they also had ice skating, so she scheduled that, and we got to ice skate on the beach in Australia,” he said.

“We walked the coastline for about two miles, I believe,” said Jacob. He said he enjoyed seeing wildlife. He also said that the cemetery along the coastline was quite impressive.

“We also got to watch a performance in the hall that we would be performing in,” said Ethni.

The tribute concert was called “Give Peace a Chance,” said Pablo.

“The people who were singing were well-known Australian singers. They got together. They were singing classics from the Beatles—mostly John Lennon, but Beatles-style,” said Jacob.

They also got to see the Cats Musical. “It was wonderfully weird,” said Pablo.

Other sightseeing adventures the students mentioned included visiting the Blue Mountains, seeing the Three Sisters rock formation—central to an Aboriginal legend—visiting the Sydney Zoo, and taking a boat trip.

The students said they enjoyed the food. “I was given the chance to try kangaroo steak and crocodile burger, which I thought was very interesting. I thought it tasted pretty good,” said Jacob. Ethni said she liked it, and Pablo added, “It tastes like chicken and steak.”

On July 25, the three students shared their adventures with KSVP Radio’s “Good Morning Artesia.” The broadcast is featured on ksvptv.com.