trinitybostonchoirs's posterous

"Greetings for tenor-land!

It has been a wonderful, whirlwind tour that, sadly, has come to an
end.  Tomorrow morning the Trinity Choirs leave our hotel in
Chichester for Heathrow Airport in London and then will be back in
Boston around 6:30 p.m. EST.  It has been agreed amongst many of the
choir members that it does not feel like we've been here for only
twelve days, it seems at once a thousand years and a single day!
Chichester has been grand, except for a few people getting sick during
it, with a marvelous cathedral to sing in and gracious staff and
clergy.

[insert picture of choir stalls]

The cathedral itself is much smaller than that of Ely and is a bit
more modern (only 900 years old) and includes quite a bit of modern
art including a stained glass window by Marc Chagall.  I roamed around
the cathedral before Evensong last night and came across what I had
been looking for: the grave of Gustav Holst.

[insert picture of Holst's grave and Chagall window]

Many of you reading this blog will know him most for his famous suite,
The Planets, but he was also an organist and a composer of choral
works.  I still haven’t been able to figure out what Holst’s
connection to Chichester is, but I hope to find out before the end of
our stay here.  Chichester Cathedral also has an interesting site in
the South aisle of the cathedral.  Sunk into the floor is a glass
panel which which allows you to look down onto Roman mosaics dating
from the 1st century.

[insert picture of Roman mosaics]

The cathedral itself is cruciform in shape and, as I said, much
smaller than Ely Cathedral so the Quire allows for a much more
intimate setting, and thus facilitates better cooperation between the
choirs.  It's a greatly different experience singing here, the organ
is much closer to us, as we are also much closer to one another.  It
took a little getting used to but we were soon back in the swing of
things and singing Psalms like nobody's business.  We have sung a
grand total of 343 Psalm verses in the course of our time here, which
may seem like not that many (all things considered), however the
achievement is significant when one considers that each day's chants
were often learned that morning and sung the same evening.  The level
of musicianship, as our choir director Richard Webster said, is
amazing.  There is so much can one can say about the group of singers
we have, but suffice it to say that each and every one of us was truly
blessed to be able to come and sing together here in England, in this
great cathedrals, and participate in a cycle of daily worship that has
been going for over a millennium.  That is the true achievement, the
worship of God.

Since you couldn't be there with us for Evensong in Chichester, I have
included links to video from our time in Chichester, as well as videos
from our time in Ely.

Chichester Evensong I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6HP-A4WMX4
Part II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvLLY2GJIFg
Part III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj9QkXYzTAg
Part IV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yipfr-v0tus
Part V: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JVlg0uZBhU

We cannot thank our tour organist, Ross Wood, enough for his help in
accompanying the choirs and we could have done nothing without our
beloved choir director, Richard Webster.  See you all soon!"

Today, after a very long wait, fourteen of us climbed the stairs to
the towers of Ely Cathedral and made our way into the Lantern.  It was
a truly magnificent experience, made only more exciting by the wedding
taking place in the Quire below.  The girls were very keen to see the
bride depart, which we were able to do from about 160 steps above the
floor!  After the rain let up, we were able to go up on the roof of
the East Tower and see a great deal of the (slightly damp) East
Anglian countryside.  Just gorgeous.

Tomorrow marks our last day of service at Ely, singing both Eucharist
and Evensong.  I hope to have greater bandwidth to post more videos
from our recent services, but in the meantime I direct you to the
youtube channel of Ian Abodeely, one of our tenors:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Iabodeely
He has cleverly posted some stealth video from our evensong service in
the Lady Chapel, one of the finest acoustics in the UK and Europe.

Photos from the Lantern tour:

Hi everyone!
It's hard to believe that we're already pasted the half way mark. So
far the trip has been great. Between singing and touring, our days are
a mixture of hard work and fun.
For us, the highlight was the trip to Cambridge, which we took
yesterday.  Our specific group had a fantastic tour guide who showed
us around King's Chapel at Cambridge University. King's Chapel is
beautiful and has one the biggest collections of medieval stained
glass in England. Due to the chapel being built over the course of six
kings, the architecture changed significantly over the years. We
learned about the different styles of architecture in the building and
their respective time periods.  After the chapel, we walked around the
streets of Cambridge with our guide, who shared many fun facts with
us.  For instance, we learned that at the end of each year,  math
students of the university receive their exam grades from their
professors.  Seems like a normal routine, right? The catch is, the
teacher stands on the steps in front of the main building and shouts
them for everyone to hear. If your not there, you miss your grade! We
also walked past a bar where,  rumor has it that a group of former
university professors first discussed DNA!
We also had free time to wander in a market called Market Square.
Market Square has been there for a thousand years and is similar to a
flea market with a huge variety of booths. Here, one can find produce
to thai food to beads. It is hard to imagine that hundreds of years
ago, people were in the same location shopping at a the market. To see
people in 21st century walking the lively streets of a town that was
built several millenniums ago is amazing! We finished our visit
getting a sugary snack at Berkley's,  a local ice cream and pastry
shop. The food was delicious and was gone very quickly!
Our trip to Cambridge was so much fun! Many thanks to Paul Barbone for
organizing it.
On a different note, our choir had the privilege of singing in the
Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral yesterday evening. The Lady Chapel, built
in honour of the Virgin Mary, is a huge room on the North end of the
cathedral. It is a beautiful room with stone carvings covering the
walls and glass windows to let in sunlight. There is also a statue of
Mary near the alter. Oh, and the acoustics! Sound reverberates for
several seconds, which magnified and transformed the voices of our
choir during the service. It was such an fantastic experience that
shall never be forgotten.
We continue to create memories and look forward to the good times to come.

Cheers!

-Alex Dalby and Katie Shiang

It's been a busy few days for us with two day-trips to some very
exciting places: London and Cambridge.  We had two groups taking part
in some sight-seeing: The Tower of London and a walking tour with our
former chorister, Seth Schmitt-Hall, who did a study abroad in London
and, as a result, is exceptionally well-qualified to talk about the
city.  Our two groups reconvened for a group tour of the Globe Theatre
and then a lovely visit to Westminster Abbey.  A few photos from
Cambridge:

A snippet of "Hail, gladdening light" from last night's Evensong

Evensong at Ely - some photos from rehearsal and videos from the
actual Evensong, care of tour mom Kim Ellwood. Fun fact: the organ
console is within the organ loft, rendering the organist and the
choirmaster unable to communicate through normal visual cues. Take a
look at the interesting solution they've worked out at Ely. Do you
think Ross gets cable on that TV?

The divine Madelyn was good enough to share these lovely photos from
our send-off evensong and reception on 7/29. It feels like forever
ago that we processed into the nave, over the broad step and into the
choir stalls at Trinity. Stay tuned for Evensong: part 2, with videos
from our evensong at Ely.

Tomorrow, to London!

Or: How Heidi made her strangest dream come true and did her homework
on a warm cow.

Today we took a motorcoach out to the Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey,
a priory of Ely Cathedral (formerly monastery). We got to explore the
Abbey and learned a little bit about the business of farming in East
Anglia. The choristers has a marvelous time playing in the sunshine
and just being together. We hope you enjoy the photos. Evensong
videos to follow!

Eucharist and Evensong at the Cathedral - tomorrow is our first day as
the choir-in-residence. Rehearsal comes early and breakfast even
earlier, so it's really early to bed for us. Will try to post video
tomorrow!