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2001 USA tour diary

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.

Visit our USA tour gallery to see more pictures of our visit.

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.

The National 4-H Conference Centre - home for the first five days of the tour 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

The national Cathedral in Washington 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

The girls and men give a concert at the British Embassy 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.

Supper was provided at the Cathedral in the form of pizza, and we then had a joint rehearsal with the boys, girls and men of Washington National Cathedral Choir, in preparation for Sunday morning. The temporary Director of Music at Washington was Dr Graham Elliott, formerly of Chelmsford Cathedral (England), and more than one Sheffield choir member remarked on how similar his choral direction – and sense of humour – were to that of our own Director of Music’s!

Friday 26 October

The girls head off to see the sights in Washington 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

Games in the recreation room at the 4-H centre 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

Singing Eucharist with the Washington Cathedral Choir 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.

Monday 29 October

The boys and men went out to give a lunchtime concert at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian church, on the outskirts of Philadelphia A busy day’s work began with everyone singing at assembly at St Peter’s school, which is associated with (and sited next to) the church. This involved a 10 minute demonstration of a rehearsal (with Neil Taylor interacting with the pupils) before being joined by the boys of St Peter’s choir to perform Brewer’s Magnificat in D.

After a short rehearsal in the church, the girls had several hours off to explore Philadelphia, while the boys and men went out to give a lunchtime concert at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian church, on the outskirts of Philadelphia. The audience consisted mainly of groups of pupils from 5 local schools, and we visited two of these schools after the concert to be given lunch.

After some more rehearsal and dinner with hosts, we returned to St Peter’s church to give the main concert of the day. Not put off by the TV cameras (we later appeared on three different channels), the boys, girls and men gave another good performance, although the highlight of the concert for many was the superb rendition of Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes For Ever”, played as an organ duet by Neil Taylor and Peter Heginbotham. We were delighted to receive a big standing ovation at the end of the concert, which then finished with us joining up with the whole of St Peter’s church choir for an encore of Brewer’s Magnificat in D.

Exploring the sights of Philadelphia, including the famous Liberty Bell.

Tuesday 30 October

A free day! After stopping briefly at the Philadelphia Museum of Art to imitate Rocky’s training by running up and down the steps, we spent the morning shopping at the giant King of Prussia mall – a giant complex that makes even Meadowhall look small.

The afternoon was spent exploring the sights of Philadelphia, including the famous Liberty Bell, before returning to our hosts to be entertained for the evening.

Wednesday 31 October

Halloween party in Belmont

A long drive to Boston was broken by a coach tour of New York City, thanks to our driver Lee Allender, who was fantastic throughout the tour. We stopped at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, although unfortunately we were not allowed to sing there. The Cathedral – not yet complete – will be the largest Cathedral in the world apart from St Peter’s, Rome, when it is finished, and we were mightily impressed by its size, if not by its staff…

We finally arrived in Belmont (a suburb of Boston) at around 6.00 pm, where we were greeted by the Director of Music of Plymouth church, Helen Taylor, who proved to be a superb tour guide over the next three days! We were treated to a Halloween party on arrival, enjoyed by all. After a brief rehearsal, we were introduced to our new hosts (one of whom was dressed as a cow!), and were taken home to collapse into bed.

Thursday 1 November

2 of our choristers get to help out with the Sea Lions at the New England Aquarium The morning consisted of some exploration of Boston, followed by (for the girls and men) a rehearsal for the lunchtime concert at the Federal Reserve Bank. The concert again went well, despite some very dry acoustics! The Bank then treated us to a lunch of pizza, which was most welcome.

In the afternoon, we visited the New England Aquarium, which featured several creatures not included in the Baltimore one, including penguins and (unbearably cute!) otters. We saw a demonstration of skills by a sea lion, which involved two volunteers…. both of whom happened to be Sheffield choristers (Annie Talbot and Colin Melia). This included both being kissed by the sea lion! I am pleased to report that all members of the party managed to refrain from singing Walton’s “Set me as a seal upon thine heart”….

Friday 2 November

Concert at Plymouth Church On the way into Boston, we stopped for a tour of Harvard University, which is situated in the neighbouring town of Cambridge. In common with various sights seen throughout the tour, it was surprising how familiar it seemed (due mainly to television), even to those of us who had not been before. We then went for a rehearsal at Trinity Church, Copley Square, where we gave the lunchtime concert in front of a good audience.

We were taken for lunch at the nearby Hard Rock Café, where Daniel Keating-Roberts’ 20th birthday was announced to the whole restaurant! We then went up to the viewing deck on the 50th floor of the massive Prudential Tower, where we had a superb view of Boston and the surrounding area.

After tea with hosts, we returned to Plymouth church to give our final concert of the tour. A special mention here goes to Peter Heginbotham, who coped admirably with an organ which was certainly not designed for accompanying some of the pieces we were performing! Once more, the concert was very well received, and the singing part of the tour was brought to an end.

Saturday 3/Sunday 4 November

After bidding farewell to our hosts, we ventured once again into the centre of Boston, where we went on a “Duck Tour” – a 90 minute tour of Boston, by road and river, in the same vehicle! Quite apart from seeing the sights of the city, we were all highly entertained by the wonderfully comic tour guides. We went for lunch in the eclectic Quincy Market, before making the short coach journey to Boston’s Logan airport, during which official “thank-you”s were said and gifts given.

A four-hour check in period, and a six hour flight later, we suddenly found ourselves back at Heathrow at 7.00 am (Sunday). After a delay of about an hour (caused, amazingly, by exactly the same hitch with the coach that we encountered at the very start of the tour!), we enjoyed a very sleepy journey back to Sheffield – and reality!