Although The Australian Voices toured China once before (twice if you include Taiwan), the line-up – conductor and all singers – has since turned over completely, so our trip in December 2012 was a first. Like the naive protagonist at the beginning of a roadtrip movie, I felt overly confident and giddily unaware of what was in store.

We at The Australian Voices are pretty used to guerrilla touring (motels with an ‘M’; two to three concerts per day; intimate familiarity with the McDonald’s menu). Compared to our usual standards, this Musica Viva tour was as close to luxury as lowly choral musicians can achieve, funded in part by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and produced by Barry Plews, a fascinating Australian man who has spent the last 20 years working in the thriving arts scene of Shanghai. The great thing about staying in hotels (with an ‘H’!) and giving only six performances in three weeks was the abundance of rehearsal time. We practised all day about four times a week – also a rare luxury for musicians!

The concerts were peppered with the spectacle of two actual Chinese speakers in the group and myself introducing the songs in...