The first stop on our tour was to sunny San Diego! We drove there after a night in LA, stopping on the way to reflect in the breathtaking Self-Realization Fellowship Gardens in Encinitas, and then to sink our toes into the sand for the first time at Coronado Island. Ashby Cogan '14 writes about our first concert of tour:
After a couple hours soaking up the sun and ensuring a
prosperous quarter for the MooTime Creamery, the Glee Club boarded the buses to
the First Presbyterian Church of San Diego for rehearsal and joint concert with
the Whiffenpoofs.
We speedily rehearsed our program, which included many pieces we
had not sung in a while. Among them, terrifyingly, was a 24-part canon we had
not performed since December. With fewer than fifteen minutes to review it we
ironed out our missed entrances and proceeded through the program.
Pre-concert energy levels varied—personally I felt like the
jetlag monster had just scraped me off the bottom of its shoe—but as we got
ready to go on and sing the first concert of our spring tour, the excitement
was contagious. Being one of the last to go onstage, I listened to the audience
applauding for a good sixty seconds; it was a full house.
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| Pensive glee clubbers in the Self-Realization Gardens |
After singing the Yale song "Gaudeamus," we began our
program with the Sanctus from Frank Martin's Mass for double choir. From its
opening that evokes ringing church bells all the way through our first set—the
24-voice canon went smoothly!—the Glee Club's focus felt almost palpable to me.
The intensity with which everyone committed to making beautiful,
thought-provoking music was so exciting!
After intermission we enjoyed the Whiffs' set and patiently
endured their ridicule of our eclectic program. Who could blame them for being
a little insecure? Did any of their pieces begin with the tenors interrupting
the director's address to the audience mid-sentence by breaking into pitched
screams? Didn't think so.
In the second half we invited the Whiffs onstage again for
"Raise Your Voices," which Jeff wrote for the Glee Club's 150th
anniversary season last year, and the Football Medley. We closed, according to
custom, with our alma mater, "Bright College Years." The alums in the
audience stood along with us for the final handkerchief salute.
We headed off to our homestays full of post-concert glow. I
couldn't believe how wonderfully everything had come together for an awesome
concert—and I couldn't wait to do it again in LA!