Choir tours have been part of the College’s tradition for more than six decades. Beginning with trips across Western Canada in the mid-1960s, the program expanded internationally in 1969 when the choir undertook its first overseas tour to the United Kingdom, which included singing Evensong at Westminster Abbey. Since then, generations of choristers have performed in cathedrals, churches, and public spaces across the UK and Europe, representing RSGC on the world stage and making lasting memories along the way. Charles Fowler ‘86 participated as a student and, later, as a chaperone and guide. The notes below are from his messages home from this year’s tour of England and Wales, taking in everything from cathedrals, to coal mines, to the birthplace of the Beatles.
By Charles Fowler ‘86
Day One
On the drive into London from Gatwick, it could be the rosy filter of sleep deprivation, fresh off the plane, but England is crazy beautiful. Every fleeting glimpse past the highway barriers at the countryside beyond looks like something out of Narnia.
Our coach stopped on the Embankment, under the watchful supervision of the London Eye. It was mid-afternoon on a picture-perfect day of blue sky, offset only by high, streaky clouds. Watching the crowds, you could tell that the temperature was at that magic point, unique to June, where people feel comfortable wearing just about anything, from layers and formality—one couple sported a tail coat and fascinator—to a summery nearly nothing at all.
Mr. Webb and Ms. Johnson conspired on a brief walking tour along the Thames for our first group photo in front of the Palace of Westminster and the iconic Elizabeth Tower, the home of the mighty bell, Big Ben, which gives the clock tower its nickname. We had hoped to explore Trafalgar Square, but it was occupied by the London Symphony Orchestra, performing Holst’s The Planets, which was live-streamed (in fact, you can view the recording here and listen along to a bit of the soundscape of our day). Diverted along the Strand, we stole a bit of free time before enjoying our first meal together. Then a brief visit to a Marks and Spencer food hall for snacks; a bit of a pilgrimage to the Adelphi building, where Ms Johnson’s grandmother made her contribution to the war effort during WW II, on the way to our coach for the drive to our hotel next door to Heathrow, and an early night.
Day Two
On the bus, on the way to Cardiff, a quiet prevailed, punctuated only by Ms Johnson’s horse-spotting calls – “Horses!” – and the responses from choruses of other other horsey people also enjoying a glimpse. Also Mr. Webb’s heralding of the Prince of Wales suspension bridge over the Severin estuary, which marked our crossing into Wales.
St. Woolos Cathedral, is the church where Mr. Webb sang as a treble, so for him arriving in Newport was very much a homecoming. The building presents as unusually old, even for a British cathedral, featuring curved, Romanesque arches—the visual cue that the building is very old indeed, more so at least than the more recent, pointed arches of the Gothic style. The oldest part of the building is the St. Mary’s Chapel, furthest to the west end, which was where we assembled to perform the introit.
The gig today was Evensong, and we were responsible for the full Monty, from introit to recessional hymn, with even the responses and collects intoned by our Chaplain, the Rev. Dr. Leatch. Rehearsal felt luxurious: we had the entire space to ourselves, and plenty of time, both resources that are usually in very short supply on these tours. Both the introit and the anthem for the service are sung in Welsh, so we were fortunate to be coached by Ms Stephanie Benavente, a local colleague of Mr. Webb’s from his time as a chorister here. The performance was a success. The introit in particular stood out for the passionate, genuinely Welsh sound of our singers.
Dinner in Cardiff, a bit of free time in the hotel and an early night marked the end of day two.
Day Three
We endured a 7am wake-up call today to make an early start at the Big Pit National Coal Museum. As tour side-trips go, this was a stand-out. It was an active colliery from the 19th century until closing in 1980, reopening shortly afterwards in 1983 for visitors, to tell the story of the coal industry that was so formative in Welsh and British history.
To address the risk of fire, we were asked to shed any devices with batteries – phones, smart watches, digital cameras. We then donned hard hats, head-lamps and belts holding emergency gas masks, and in groups of ten, climbed into cage-like elevators to descend 40 m to the pit bottom. Led by a man who had worked in the colliery before it closed, we made our way through examples of several different eras of tunnel construction; we learned the crude but effective way they relayed signals along the tunnel to the operators of the huge winches that dragged groups of one-ton carts or “drams” of coal, linked together in rows like trains; we saw the underground stables where horses spent their days; and our guide told us about the harsh conditions that prevailed, with men crawling in spaces not even half their height, loosening coal from the face with pneumatic drills, then shovelling it out manually into carts.
As we got ready to leave, Mr. Webb led us in a tribute to the history and the people of that place with the Welsh song, Llef - A Cry, standing in the shadow of the winder tower that lifts and lowers the cages to and from the pit.
The afternoon was an opportunity for some free time around the Cardiff Market before dinner and an early night back at the hotel. Tomorrow the pressure is on, as we join the choir of Hereford Cathedral to sing Evensong alongside them, something they rarely do. And we’re all keen to support our recent grad and former RSGC organ scholar, Sebastian Moreau ’25, who has served this past year as an assistant organist at Hereford, as he plays a mid-day recital.
Day Four
Normally these tours put us in places that are vacant, and we perform on our own - that’s nothing to sneeze at, the spaces are always memorable, often iconic, and they connect us to the more than 500 years of tradition we work to uphold. But today, we would join the actual sitting choir of the English cathedral at Hereford in a joint performance. Would we be able to rise to their level, or at least hold our own? The choir director was new there, only weeks into that job, and hadn’t been part of the arrangements, hadn’t had a say in this; so to get a sense of what he was working with, he asked for a rehearsal with our choir alone before the combined rehearsal. What would he make of us, would he cut it all short and box us into the corners of the service, out of harm’s way? One of our key points of connection was alumnus Sebastian Moreau ‘25, our former organ scholar, who has spent the past ten months in that same role at Hereford. Would we do him proud?
Arriving at about lunch time, the signs were promising: Sebastian’s was the first face we saw, waiting at the gates to welcome us. We briefly besieged the cathedral refectory kitchen, then filed into the nave to join the audience for an organ recital featuring Sebastian, where he performed essentially flawlessly, a surprise to no one. In these spaces the organ is typically tucked above and away from the choir, hidden from view, so it was cool to see that they had trained video cameras on the organ console, streaming to a large screen so the audience could actually see Sebastian playing.
After a quick break, Mr. Webb gathered us for a warm-up rehearsal, to shake out any jitters, get some air into the lungs and make some initial noise. Then at three o’clock on the nose, there arrived Andrew Reid, Organist and Director of Music at Hereford, whose background includes stints as sub organist at Westminster Abbey, where he played for the funeral of the Queen Mother, and as Director of the Royal School of Church Music.
There’s a feeling every performer longs for from a conductor, the feeling that you’re in good, and safe hands - and we got that almost immediately from Mr. Reid. With quiet encouragement, he heard and celebrated good things and built on them; he sang beautifully himself to help us understand what he was looking for; he pushed us to extend ourselves, even using physical movement to help convey his ideas - he had us literally dancing a minuette around the room to emphasize the feel of the 3/4 time in one passage. Before we knew it, we had sailed past the expected 45 minutes of the rehearsal, with no sign of letting up. When the clock passed four, Mr. Reid leaned over to the increasingly anxious volunteers who had laid out tea and biscuits for us and begged their indulgence, he wasn’t done with us yet! It was fully 4:15 before he wrapped up, full of kind words about how he hadn’t wanted to stop, that he so enjoyed seeing what we could do.
This left us in a bit of a sprint to get tea into us, to climb into cassocks and make our way into the choir stalls to rehearse with the cathedral choir. It was all business now, as we had time only to touch on the high points of the service, trusted along with the house choir to be ready with everything in the performance. That left time for a very quick run through of the details of the procession, no small thing, as it now featured three or four times the normal number of bodies - on with the surplices, and it was showtime.
Afterwards, Mr. Webb’s assessment captured what there was to know about the service: we sang as if we belonged there. The boys properly levelled up, hitting performance-grade focus at 2:30 in the afternoon, and maintaining that for just past four hours of rehearsal, preparation and very public performance, including what was essentially a masterclass with a world-renowned choirmaster.
In its many iterations over many tours, this choir has enjoyed some red-letter days - but in recording what happened today, they’re going to have to invent a whole new tier.
Click here for Choir Tour Diary Part 2
