USA Tour 2025
The Choir’s tour to the USA began, with some minor pre-tour detours to the US Embassy behind us, with some glorious sunshine in Cambridge on the 2 April. We were hoping for a similar welcome for our first day in Nashville, however Midwest weather had other plans for us. Tornado warnings at 2 am are not a regular occurrence in the Boarding House, but years of School and House Fire Drill practices paid off, as we spent the early hours of our first morning sitting out the storm in the Hotel’s underground parking lot. Returning to bed, the group managed to get a few more hours sleep and later ventured out into still intact Downtown Nashville for a visit to the Nashville Country Music Hall of Fame (“When in Nashville…”), lunch at the Hard Rock Café and ending in an afternoon of catching up on tornado interrupted rest. The following day was the first concert day of the tour, with an evening performance at St. George’s Episcopal Church. Here the Choir brought their carefully selected repertoire that transposed the sound of Chapel to a new audience, who showed their appreciation with the first of the four standing ovations of the tour.
Leaving Nashville, saw us in more familiar weather patterns in Washington, DC, with temperatures and harmless drizzle that we were more accustomed to in England. Our Washington activities took us to see some of the most influential buildings in the world, with the White House (I did enjoy telling them to story of how it became known as the White House), Capitol Hill and the Lincoln Memorial to name a few. The evening brought, what was the musical highlight for many, the concert at the Washington National Cathedral. Although it was livestreamed, it was impressively filled by a cultured audience who let their appreciation be known to all who witnessed the event.
The final leg of our 2025 tour of the USA took us to Palm Beach, Florida. Here we were met by superyachts and supercars on our first walk around the Marina, despite the noise of the latter, a much better reception than our first day! With two concerts, over two nights, at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Church we had two mornings to fill with activities. The first was the Cox Science Centre & Aquarium, where we learnt about astronauts in the Planetarium, walked with dinosaurs and mined for gems amongst other hands-on activities. Our final group activity was due to a special invitation by a friend of the Choir who kindly permitted the boys to be guests at the Palm Beach Bath & Tennis Club. Here the boys had a wonderful time in the pool, using the diving boards and swimming in the sea before lunching on the terrace. This preceded the final performance of the tour, which provided the final standing ovation to conclude an eventful and enjoyable tour.
Finally, an American-sized thank you to all the boys and to the staff for all their care, positivity and humour who made the tour a pleasant experience.