Keble Choir on Tour | US East Coast
Caption
Choral Scholars Katya Dobatkina, 2024 History and Modern Languages, and Anna Ost, 2025 Chemistry, write:
After two busy terms of CD and BBC broadcast recordings, as well as the annual Keble Early Music Festival, Keble College Choir set off on a tour along the East Coast of the United States on 15 March. We began in Washington DC with a concert at St John's Church, McLean, where our generous hosts Kannon (1993 Classics) and Vicki (1993 Physiological Sciences) Shanmugam treated us to a magnificent BBQ dinner in true local style. Our programme spanned a wide range of musical periods, from Renaissance polyphony (including the choral classic Ave Regina Coelorum by Orlando Lassus) to Cecilia McDowall's mesmerising setting of Alma Redemptoris Mater. The following day, we were honoured to participate in Evensong at the National Cathedral, with an alumni reception afterwards. With ample free time, we made the most of DC's wonderful museums and attractions, the most intrepid among us braving torrential rain at the top of Capitol Hill.
During our brief stay in Philadelphia, we enjoyed some sightseeing, including a visit to the Barnes Foundation's renowned collection of Impressionist art. On 20 March, we travelled into the Philadelphia suburbs to sing at St Thomas, Whitemarsh, one of the oldest churches in the US.
The next day, with a pit stop in Princeton for lunch and rehearsal, we made our way to our final destination, New York. We stayed within walking distance of Times Square, in the vibrant heart of Manhattan. 22 March was a full and rewarding day at St Thomas Fifth Avenue where we were warmly welcomed by the church's professional choir and their new Director of Music Richard Tanner. We sang Eucharist and Solemn Litany in the morning, followed by Evensong in the afternoon, and were struck throughout by the church's magnificent architecture and its extraordinarily gratifying acoustic.
In our free time, we threw ourselves into the city, exploring as much of it as possible, walking the Upper East Side, taking the ferry to the Statue of Liberty, admiring the breathtaking view from the top of the Rockefeller Center and hunting for treasures in Brooklyn's thrift shops. A dedicated contingent brought the Keble Park Run club across the Atlantic, enjoying scenic morning runs in Central Park. We visited the Met, and spent our evenings sampling the city's cultural offerings: some attending the opera or a jazz concert, others catching an ice hockey match as the New York Rangers played at Madison Square Garden.
We brought the tour to a close with a short recital in the beautiful historic Steinway Hall at Bonhams auctioneers, followed by a splendid reception that was undoubtedly the highlight of the tour's alumni events. The evening ended on a high note with a wonderful Italian dinner, generously provided by our host Zain Talyarkhan (2007 Philosophy, Politics and Economics).
Overall, the tour was an incredible experience for everyone as we got to perform in some of the finest sacred and concert spaces on the East Coast. But, beyond the music, it was the warmth of our alumni hosts, the richness of the cities we explored, and the memories made with each other along the way that made the trip truly memorable.
