From Manhattan to Massachusetts: Downing Chapel Choir Tour
Over the summer, the Downing College Chapel Choir embarked on their annual Summer Tour, this year to the United States of America. Louisa Denby, Director of Music, provides us with a detailed account of the trip.
The Journey
“The whole point of a group booking,” our Organ Scholar was patiently explaining, “is that we all travel together...as a group...”. The girl at the check-in desk looked suitably unimpressed – bucket hats are not known for establishing an aura of authority in the wearer – but after some heated negotiation, it was established that our group would “most likely” all get seats on the flight, and so we decided to let nature take its course.
As it turned out, all 21 of us were indeed allocated seats on the aircraft, and once we had found them, settled into the eight-hour journey. There was much excitement over the manifold films and games on offer on the in-flight entertainment system, causing several people to immediately launch into a deeply profound character analysis of the various personalities (including the dog) in Downton Abbey. After an uncomfortable amount of turbulence, we touched down in New York City.
It is worth pointing out at this juncture that despite being rather travel-weary and hot and bothered, there was a distinct air of excitement about the group as we installed ourselves at the back of the Passport Control queue, having merrily waved off to her own queue the one member of our party in possession of a Japanese passport. Joking remarks such as “see you next year” and so on emanated from our lips as we surveyed the scene before us. Forty minutes later, a message popped up on the group WhatsApp chat: “I guess you’re still stuck in the queue; I’ve claimed all our luggage from the conveyor belt,” accompanied by a picture of a row of suitcases, Downing Choir luggage labels plainly visible.
Four hours later, the rest of us began to shuffle through the barriers, even more travel-weary and with excitement giving way to exhaustion, having not been able to sit down or even go to the bathroom during this gruelling test of mental and physical fortitude, the only entertainment being the various scuffles and shouting matches breaking out in the line.
With Yoko, Guardian of Choir Luggage, now elevated to legendary status, we set off to battle the trains and subway. By the time we emerged onto the streets of New York it was well past midnight and the effort of staying alive in the heat and humidity of Passport Control was taking its toll. Fortunately, our accommodation was only a twenty-minute walk away; however, it seemed fate had other ideas. A few minutes into the journey one of the wheels parted company with Yoko’s suitcase, rendering the luggage completely un-trundle-able and necessitating the hasty drawing-up of a rota of gallant singers with longer arms to convey her belongings to our destination. With feelings of relief beginning to blossom in our hearts as we were so nearly there, we continued the trek, only for one of the sopranos’ suitcases to burst spectacularly and fling her possessions into the road. There followed much leaping about and frenzied shrieking on the part of some members of the Choir, while the more scientifically-minded set about attempting to reconfigure the suitcase into some sort of carryable entity. It soon became obvious this wasn’t possible, however, and so a reconfiguration of the group was effected instead, as three people were now required to transport the two dead suitcases at any one time.
New York and Connecticut
The next morning we were all still rather shattered, but regrouped (with varying degrees of success), and made our way to St Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, for a rehearsal in preparation for services the following day. And thence we found ourselves in a classic Downing-Choir-Tour predicament: how to get into the church. After some intrepid exploration of the building site round the corner, it eventually transpired that we were on the wrong bit of Fifth Avenue. With this rectified, we infiltrated the building and began our rehearsal. It was not a total triumph. Jetlag and fatigue had conspired to deprive our brains of any kind of useful cogitation, and we found ourselves with a distinct sense of disappointment (not to mention mild panic) come lunchtime. After mutually agreeing that we would start rehearsing early the following morning, we dispersed into smaller groups for the afternoon. The Great Gatsby and Chicago were two of the Broadway shows some of us managed to catch, which was an incredible experience.
The following day was Sunday, and we were ‘on duty’ for the morning Eucharist and afternoon Evensong at St Thomas. Thanks to an extra hour’s rehearsal, the Choir was on form and delivered accordingly. Evensong was followed by a mad dash back to our accommodation for the Euros final, which we eventually managed to display on the big screen in the common room. A litany of agonies ensued as England failed to win, and those of us not remotely interested braced ourselves for an evening of gloom, only to be surprised and somewhat amused when, after a very short space of time indeed, our avid football fans were back to their usual selves.
Monday saw us boarding a train to Greenwich, Connecticut, for a joint concert with a former Downing Organ Scholar Marnus Greyling and his choir at St Barnabas Church. The humidity was unbearable and saw us rapidly becoming obsessed with the promise of the incoming thunderstorm. After noisily announcing its arrival during our rehearsal, it... disappeared. The presence of several thousand fireflies after dark more than made up for our dismay, however, as they put on a spectacular show for us.
It was great fun meeting the other choir, and we enjoyed putting together our two joint pieces and chatting over dinner afterwards. The audience included a small number of Downing alumni, as well as others with Cambridge connections; we are grateful to all who came and to the church for hosting us. The concert also saw the US debut of the Griffin Singers – Downing’s esteemed Barbershop quartet, who performed three pieces to great acclaim.
Tuesday was our final full day in New York, and Downing’s Director of Drama (who happened to be in New York at the time) very kindly treated us to a boat trip to see the city from the water. The day was also witness to an enforced display of athleticism from our Director of Music, who due to an unfortunate incident involving a bus and the Empire State Building, only just made the boat in time, by virtue of a quick sprint down Seventh Avenue and leaping like a total ninja from dry land onto the ferry.
After lunch at the ‘Tin Building’ we made our way to the National 9/11 Memorial and spent a sober hour or so contemplating and reflecting. Then it was time for our organists to meet the Director of Music at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, and to prepare for our rehearsal. The organ in this church has over 8000 pipes, and is a truly magnificent instrument; it was a privilege (and learning curve!) for Dominic to perform a piece of Bach as part of the concert.
Another Journey
The next day saw us boarding a train for the seven-hour journey to White River Junction, Vermont. Two and a half hours in, a message flashed up on the overhead screen, with four words guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of even the hardiest Brit: rail replacement bus service. Gazing at each other in disbelief, it took a good few minutes for this horrendous reality to fully dawn: we were going to be turfed off our lovely calm air-conditioned train onto some awfully cramped non-air-conditioned bus. To our surprise, though, the dreaded automobile in question turned out to be a lovely calm air-conditioned coach, and the whole thing was handled most efficiently. We arrived in Vermont tired but not traumatised and with all our luggage present and correct.
Our hosts were ready and waiting to greet us and to scoop us up into their respective cars. Our destination was a diner known as ‘White Cottage’, where we were treated to a delicious meal, followed by the most amazing ice cream! Then after a brief paddle in the river it was off to our host families for a good night’s sleep before the excitements of the following day.
Vermont
After a morning exploring Woodstock (including a 15-mile hike through forest for the less sane among us), the Choir’s first duty was to sing the opening Evensong of the Music & Liturgy Festival, at St James’ Episcopal Church, jointly with their choir. The service (featuring Wesley’s Blessed be the God and Father) went well and the church provided a lovely meal afterwards.
On Friday we were treated to the most fantastic pool party, complete with pizza, iced tea, and an inflatable whale called Flipper. Our Director of Music was most disappointed to have to leave early, in order to be on time for her presentation at the Education session back at St James’.
A spontaneous hike up Mount Peg was our destiny after singing Compline, and the sunset was beautiful. It was a real highlight of the tour for many of us, as we sat around chatting and taking photographs, and reflecting on the tour so far.
Saturday was a slightly freer day, with various hikes taking place and more swimming in the Ottauquechee River. An alarm started ringing as soon as we got to Our Lady of the Snows Church to rehearse for Mass, which was swiftly followed by the arrival of a fire engine, a police car, and two ambulances. After a while they still couldn’t work out what had set it off, so silenced it and declared it was safe to enter...
The organ in this church is a delightful instrument, ideal for accompanying a Mozart Mass, which is what our Organ Scholar attempted to do. What no one had told us was that the organ was currently being refurbished, and so half of it wasn’t there. Dominic valiantly did his best with the lack of pedals and various other crucial bits of the organ, and the service passed mostly without a hitch. Following a reception at the church, we made our way to the village green and sat around chatting until it was time to disperse.
Sunday was bittersweet as it was our final day in Woodstock. We were kept busy with two services to sing and then a barbecue at one of the hosts’ houses. It was a wonderful evening at the end of a brilliant few days, and much reminiscing was indulged in.
The Return
On Monday our hosts kindly drove us to Lebanon so we could catch the coach to Boston. Due to the timing of our flight, we had time to explore the city, and duly set off to see the sights, taking full advantage of the free summer travel on Green Line subway trains. Particular highlights were the Public Library, Public Park, and bizarre posters all over the place advertising what looked like a set of Smurfs gone over to the dark side.
All too soon it was time to head for the airport to check in for our flight. To our great delight and surprise, there was a Steinway grand piano in the departure lounge. An impromptu sing-song rapidly began, at which point our Director of Music headed off to the other end of the building, lest it descend into some hideous mash-up of a Howells Magnificat and Floyd McRae...
No one slept on the flight, despite it being overnight, and so it was an incredibly worn-out Downing Choir that arrived back at Heathrow. After spending approximately 40 seconds in Passport Control this time, emotional goodbyes were said – for singers who had graduated, these were their final moments with the Choir – and we all dispersed.
We are enormously grateful to everyone who hosted us on the tour, particularly the parishioners of Woodstock who so generously put us up in their homes and kept us very well-fed and watered. From my perspective, the students were a real credit to themselves and to the College, both in their interactions with hosts and alumni, and with each other. It was a total pleasure to spend twelve days in the company of these fantastic individuals, and I am indebted to them all, especially Dominic Remedios (Organ Scholar), for everything they did to make the tour such a success.
Published 18 September 2024