USA Tour 2001

The whole choir (boys, girls and men) undertook an 11 day tour of the USA in the autumn of 2001. The tour took in a five day residency at the National Cathedral, Washington D.C., as well as concerts in Washington, Philadelphia and Boston. 

Here follows a diary of the tour.... click on the pictures to see them in full size (and for explanations if necessary!).

More pictures from the tour are now available to view: click here!

Tuesday 23 October

An horrendously early start – for those people, at least, who had gone to bed at all – saw the tour party gather at Sheffield Cathedral at 3.00 am. Unfortunately, a hitch with the arrangements made with the coach company meant that the large hampers containing robes, music and programmes would not fit into the coach! After a 40 minute delay, one was squeezed on, and many thanks are due to Brett Payne, who offered there and then to drive the other down to Heathrow himself.

A slight delay to the flight meant a longer wait at Heathrow than had been anticipated, but otherwise the flight to Washington was without problem, children and adults alike enjoying the benefits of Virgin Atlantic’s in-flight entertainment system and better-than-average food! Late in the journey, after a request from the cabin crew, the choir gave an ad-hoc performance of Bruckner’s “Locus Iste” whilst flying over New York city, apparently reducing some fellow passengers to tears (hopefully for the right reasons).

We were all bowled over by the temperature in Washington – 85 degrees on arrival, it was to get even hotter the next day – but after 18 hours travelling, we were relieved to get to our base for the next 5 days, the National 4-H Conference Centre, just outside Washington D.C. Settling in, a wonderful supper, and some time familiarising ourselves with the fantastic TV/games room – before we all crashed into bed, exhausted!

Wednesday 24 October

Up bright and early for an excellent breakfast, following which we ventured to the National Cathedral for the first time. An immense building, with an organ to match, the National Cathedral is reminiscent of several mediaeval English cathedrals, despite being barely 100 years old. Morning rehearsals for the choristers were followed by a group trip to the highly impressive Air and Space Museum.

After lunch in the open air (in temperatures exceeding 90 degrees), we walked from the museum to the Lincoln Memorial, via the Washington National Memorial. Unfortunately, several buildings in the capital were closed to visitors due to security fears, including the White House, the Capitol and the National Memorial; however, they all looked quite magnificent from the outside. At this stage, the girl choristers returned to the Cathedral to sing evensong (and managed to impress the listening National Cathedral girls’ choir), whilst the boys walked some more, taking in the moving Vietnam memorial and the White House (from a distance!).

Wednesday evening saw all choristers take part in a knockout Air Hockey tournament back at the 4-H centre: Georgina Hulse was the winner, beating Gilbert Payne 7-3 in the final.

Thursday 25 October

After morning rehearsals, the boys went off to the zoo, leaving the girls and men to give a concert at the British Embassy. The concert was entirely unaccompanied, and went well despite the complete lack of any acoustics in the hall! After this, the girls went shopping… and the men returned to the Cathedral, to be joined by the boys to sing evensong.

Friday 26 October

Another busy day began with the usual morning rehearsals at the Cathedral, after which the boys and men visited St Paul’s Church, K Street, to rehearse for that evening’s concert. The girls spent the central part of the day seeing more of the sights of Washington, before joining up with the men to sing evensong (which was exceptionally well sung – Ed.)

After returning to the 4-H centre for a quick supper, the men joined the boys for a concert at St Paul’s Church, K Street in the centre of Washington. This concert was, for me at least, one of the highlights of the tour, bringing excellent performances from all involved – not least the boys, who sang the best they had for several years. This was clearly appreciated by the audience, who were very generous in their donations towards the cost of the tour. Whilst the boys returned to the 4-H centre to go to bed, the men stopped off in Georgetown for a few soft (!) drinks, and (much later!) a visit to a hamburger joint…. a most enjoyable way to finish an excellent day’s singing!

Saturday 27 October

Our first day off of the tour, and we took the short trip up the coast to Baltimore. After passing some amusingly-named restaurants, we visited the aquarium, where we all saw a fabulous dolphin show, and some of the party were lucky enough to see a seahorse giving birth! The afternoon was spent looking around Baltimore, which is an industrial city with much recent development.

Back at 4-H in the evening, the choristers enjoyed a last-night party, splendidly organised by Catherine Heginbotham. Games included threading-cutlery- through-clothes-as-quickly-as-possible, blind jelly (or jello) eating, and team truffle-bobbing! Much fun was had by all.... and we finally got the place clean afterwards....

Sunday 28 October

We left the 4-H centre for the last time after breakfast, before joining up with the boys, girls and men of Washington National Cathedral Choir to sing the morning Eucharist. This resulted in a choir of over 100 voices, with the conducting shared between the two Directors of Music, singing to a congregation of around 2,000 people.

After a lunch provided at the nearby St Alban’s School, we departed Washington and set off on the three hour journey to Philadelphia, where we were greeted by the Organist of St Peter’s Church, Tom Whittemore, and were taken home by our hosts.

The story continues! Click here to read about the Philadelphia and Boston legs of the tour.