Virginia Glee Club on Tour

More pics from Ann Arbor

2010-03-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

Here are a few additional photos from our evening in Ann Arbor, March 13, 2010. Click the pic to increase the size. In this shot, members of Club pose with incoming UVa president Teresa Sullivan before the concert.

Here, members of the Glee Club sing for alumni, family and friends at the pre-concert reception.

The evening's conductors: Paul Rardin (Michigan), Jameson Marvin (Harvard) and Frank Albinder (UVa)

Glee Club Alumni Association Chair Doug List came for the concert and joined us at the reception as well.

Faces!

2010-03-16T14:49:00.000-07:00

Stick a camera in the face of a Glee Club guy and you never know what kind of face he'll make. Tingle appears to have won the award for most creativity and elasticity. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Sleep!

2010-03-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

Sleep is definitely a valuable commodity while on tour. Some of the guys are incredibly adept at catching a few winks nearly anywhere. Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Photos from the Road

2010-03-15T17:13:00.001-07:00

Here are some additional pictures from various stops on our Tour of the Northeast. Most of the pics were taken by Garnish (pictured). Enjoy!

At our first stop in Philly, some of us enjoyed cheese steaks, while others (veggies among them) went for pizza. Funny how Keebler is in both pics...

After lunch, a visit to the Liberty Bell was in order.

The Smith College Glee Club thoughtfully arranged an evening of skating for us after our day of rehearsals.

The morning after our DC concert, we got to tour the Capitol and meeting Charlottesville's US Representative, Tom Perriello (son of a Glee Club alumnus). The Captitol police heard we were coming...

Would that the guys looked up this much when I was conducting!

After our tour, we waited in the Visitor Center to see if we could meet our Congressman.

Success!

Tom took us out to see the view from Speaker Pelosi's balcony (Rattleback had a hard time not puking) and we burst into song, only to be shushed by one of Nancy's guards.

Treehouse practicing in Roanoke for his Ann Arbor accompanying. Llama had to return to Charlottesville after the Roanoke concert, and Treehouse gamely stepped in and did a fine job.

Squeegee, multi-tasking...

Barrell shows off his moves...

And that rarest of tour photos, someone actually reading a book on the bus. Go Ziploc!

The End Is Near!

2010-03-13T05:28:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been an adventurous several days on the Glee Club's tour of the Northeast. A lack of pictorial evidence has precluded more regular blog posts, but when we get back to Charlottesville, we'll post tons of pictures that are currently locked in the guys' cameras and cell phones. Here's a nice shot of the guys in front of the Capitol before we took a tour.

As you can imagine, the men have been enjoying their trip to the fullest, leading to occasional unintended trips to slumberland. Here's Ziploc, catching a few winks before a pre-concert rehearsal.

We had a great time in Washington, DC, seeing family and friends and singing a terrific concert with the Washington Men's Camerata. Here we are with both groups rehearsing a combined number at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, and then in performance, singing Franz Biebl's Ave Maria.

The morning after the performance, we went to the Capitol for a tour. The new Visitor Center is pretty cool and its entry hall has a number of statues of prominent Americans on display. Here we see Neutrophil and Diesel recreating a scene from the life of Helen Keller in front of a statue depicting Keller learning her first word at the water pump. Inappropriate? Offensive? Mildly amusing? Probably yes to all three.

We stayed in a hotel in New York City, and since we didn't have to leave until noon the next day, the guys hit the town after our performance. Most of them actually made it to the bus in time to leave the next day.

Keebler and Chutney pose outside the Ed Sullivan Theater after learning that the Letterman show tapes at 5:30, rather than broadcasting live at 11:30. They had so hoped to get in and sing the Good Old Song for Dave.

After touring the Capitol in Washington, Dunkaroo got on the phone with Congressman Tom Perriello's office to see if Charlottesville's representative was available to meet with Club. After waiting awhile, we were met by one of the congressman's staffers and taken back inside the Capitol to the original House chamber (with the famous whispering gallery acoustics). Congressman Perriello came dashing out of the House chamber to meet the guys. He thanked members of Club for participating in his father's memorial service last year (Perriello Père was a former member of the Glee Club) and he took a few pictures with us. He then asked us to come with him and he led us past signs that said "Members Only" and out onto the Speaker's Balcony, just above the "presidential inauguration" level of the Capitol's western facade. The view was incredible and more pictures were taken. We had wanted to sing in the Capitol, but our tour guide had told us it was illegal (!). Since we were now on the balcony and technically outside, we burst into a rousing chorus of 10K. A guard from the Speaker's office came running out to quiet us, so we finished the song sotto voce, hoping to not get arrested.

After our exciting morning at the Capitol, we hit the road for Williamsburg. We arrived late in the afternoon at Williamsburg Presbyterian Church and were greeted our host, baritone Jim Weaver, music director at the church. The venue was fantastic for a choral performance (the old church was razed and a new one was constructed in its place several years ago) and our warm-up sounded great. We were delighted at the size of the audience and happy to see so many family and friends in attendance. We were surprised to find our adopted grandmother, Bonnie Ford (from Alumni Hall) sitting in the front row. We learned this week that Bonnie is retiring at the end of the month, so we were really grateful that she came over from Charlottesville for the performance. We brought her up on "stage" for a special serenade during the concert, and we're looking forward to singing at her retirement party at the end of the month. We'll really miss her in Alumni Hall, but we're sure we'll see her at every Glee Club concert long into the future. A real highlight of the concert was a performance of And the band played Waltzing Matilda, which Club learned just for the concert. The soloist was our host, Jim Weaver, and when the song ended, there wasn't a dry eye in the sanctuary.

Yesterday we journeyed across Virginia to Roanoke, where we were met by John Wood '72, our host at historic St. John's Episcopal Church. The beautiful sanctuary has been recently renovated, and it was another ideal location for a Glee Club performance. We rested for a few hours and then warmed up in the sanctuary, basking in the warm acoustics and beautiful setting. At 5, our guest collaborators, the Oriana Singers from Roanoke College arrived and we rehearsed a joint number with their conductor, Jeffrey Sandborg. We then feasted on a wonderful supper prepared by the church's Parish Life Committee. It was our first official church supper of the tour! After changing into our concert attire, we entered the church to find a full house of enthusiastic alumni, parishioners, family and friends. The concert was great, and our closing combined number, Worthy to be Praised, brought the house down. After greeting the throngs of adoring fans (slight hyperbole), we hopped on the bus and headed for Hunting Hills Country Club, where John Wood thoughtfully arranged a post-concert party for the two choirs. Everyone was carded at the door, and while the youngsters enjoyed soft drinks, those of legal age were astonished to find an entire frosty keg completely at their disposal. After a couple of hours of getting to know the Oriana Singers better, the guys reluctantly hopped back on the bus and I bid them farewell. They were setting of for Ann Arbor, Michigan for tonight's performance. Because I'm old and wouldn't survive an overnight trip on the bus with them, I'm flying up this afternoon. With any luck, they'll have rested and recovered enough today to participate in our joint concert with the Michigan Men's Glee Club and the Harvard Glee Club this evening. We're very excited about the pre-concert reception arranged by UVa's Office of Engagement for local Ann Arbor alumni. We're also excited that Teresa Sullivan, UVa's new president, will attend the reception and the concert. We'll do our best to make a good first impression!

And finally, on Sunday, the guys will head back to Charlottesville and, with any luck, a good night's sleep before classes resume on Monday. Watch this space for more photos after we get home!

Where has the Glee Club gone?

2010-03-10T06:36:00.000-08:00

Well, we sang our first full concert of the tour in NYC last night, and the guys did a good job, all things considered. It was also our only night in a hotel, so who knows where they went after the concert and how many of them will return when the bus leaves for DC in a few hours.

The concert was at the beautiful Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church. We performed there thanks to former Glee Club conductor John Liepold's generosity in arranging the venue and sponsoring the performance. Though the crowd was small, they were enthusiastic, and a number of Glee Club alumni were in attendance. Thanks to alumni singers Matt Herbek, Matt Amodio and Jeff Slutzky for ushering; it was great having them join Club to sing a few numbers too.

We're a little short on photos for today (if only the guys would forward me some of the pics they're taking...), but here are a few of us enjoying Dim Sum in Chinatown yesterday. Treehouse took care of the ordering, Latch helped explain the various dishes, Trifecta ate chicken's feet and Dunkaroo couldn't eat chicken's feet. It was just like Survivor.

As is always the case on tour, members from different sections get to know each other better and learn new things about each other. Here we see Tingle scaring the living daylights out of the innocent and unsuspecting Kit-Kat.

And here we see Radagast savoring his pudding cup, while Torpe tries to explain to Diesel just how a cell phone works.

If it's Monday, this must be Wellesley

2010-03-08T20:34:00.000-08:00

After a moving performance of the Fauré Requiem on Sunday afternoon with the Smith College Glee Club and conductor Jonathan Hirsh, we headed for Boston this morning and a walk on the Freedom Trail. We went to Faneuil Hall and some of dined on traditional New England fare at the legendary Durgin-Park Restaurant. A gaggle of us then walked the Freedom Trail, visiting the graves of Paul Revere and John Hancock, the Statehouse, King's Chapel and the bar from Cheers (outside only). The weather was astonishingly warm for early March--60 degrees. It must be that global warming. :-)

After wandering in downtown Boston and absorbing a little history, we headed to Wellesley College for the evening's performance. This is the third visit to Wellesley we've made in the past seven years, and we were glad to be singing in Houghton Memorial Chapel with our Wellesley colleagues and their conductor, Lisa Graham. Lisa and Frank modeled their new headgear in a post-concert photo taken by Tim Jarrett, UVa '94 and official Glee Club Alumni Association Historian.

We collaborated with the Wellesley College Choir in a moving performance of Franz Biebl's Ave Maria, using an unusual format: The Wellesley women sang verse one, the Virginia men sang verse two, and then we sang verse three and the finale together, in octaves.

We also collaborated with the Boston Saengerfest Men's Chorus and their conductor, Mike Driscoll, who did a set that included a Gershwin medley and an hysterical arrangement of Lydia, the Tattooed Lady. Together, we sang The Pasture by Randall Thompson and Promised Land. It was a fun evening and we're grateful to both groups for taking the time and going to the trouble to host us and collaborate with us on tour. Onward to New York City for our Tuesday night concert.

How come there's less snow on the ground in Massachusetts than in Virginia?

2010-03-06T19:38:00.000-08:00

After a very early start in Doylestown, PA, we hit the road again for Northampton, Mass. and Smith College, where we're collaborating for the first time in 8 years. We only arrived a little late and got to work fairly quickly with conductor Jonathan Hirsh and the Smith Glee Club rehearsing Gabriel Fauré's sublime Requiem. Our own Lobster (Richard Block) is singing the baritone solos, and kudos to the guys for standing in mixed formation for the very first time. Tomorrow afternoon's performance should be a good one.

After rehearsal and a quick bite in the dining hall, our trusty bus driver, J. W., drove us to UMass-Amherst, where the Smith women had thoughtfully arranged for an evening of ice skating. On the way to the bus, several Glee Club guys ran into a police officer in downtown Northampton who remembered us well from last year's roll to Mt. Holyoke. It's good to be famous, I guess. At the skating rink, Club guys exhibited various degrees of expertise, from the struggling beginner (Caspian, Scurvy and Ziploc) to the Winter Olympic-ready (Barrel, Percolator, Doppelgänger, Tingle and Hepsee). A good time seemed to have been had by all, and I'm sure all the guys are soon going to be fast asleep to rest up for our Sunday matinee performance. Hope springs eternal!

Dad Walrus offers encouragement and instruction to Scurvy while others take a break.

Barrel gives the reluctant Caspian a lesson.

Anatomy of a photo op on the ice...

One day down, many more to go!

2010-03-05T21:05:00.000-08:00

Well, it was pretty early and pretty chilly when we left Charlottesville this morning. As usual, several guys showed up late and two guys would have missed the bus had we not called and awakened them. Special thanks to Flammenwerfer for giving so many guys rides to the bus! I'm thinking of getting a cattle prod for future use. We met our seasoned bus driver, J. W., and proceeded to torture him with several B-grade movies on the bus's DVD system. We stopped in Maryland for a quick rest stop. As you can see, some of them weren't quite awake yet. Doppelgänger, though, seemed to have a pretty good time at the rest stop.

We rolled into Philadelphia around lunchtime and headed for the two famous and competing Philly Cheese Steak emporia: Geno's and Pat's. Though Geno's had the flashier signage, the jury's still out on which place had the best sandwiches. After lunch, we headed for the Liberty Bell, where we learned that Pennsylvania is misspelled on the bell. We then tried to get to Doylestown and eventually made it, though the traffic was fierce. We met our generous and gracious hosts, Dr. Joseph Ohrt and the Central Bucks West High School Men's Ensemble. After a quick rehearsal of our two combined numbers (Thompson: The Pasture and Biebl: Ave Maria), we feasted on a dinner provided by some moms of the Men's Ensemble students.

While Balderdash amused (frightened?) some of the high school guys with tales of life at UVA, Radagast reacted with horror. Others (Trifecta, Keebler and half of Caspian) got acquainted in more traditional ways, and a good time was had by all.

I like to call this one "Dumb, Dumber and Percolator," but they didn't think it was funny when I told them (except for Percolator).

The concert went pretty well, considering how long a day we'd had. The Central Bucks Men wowed us with several new works and some flashy movement that was really effective. Who knew there was a place for Ninjas in men's choral music? We enjoyed seeing so many UVa alumni at the concert and were glad to welcome them onstage to sing 10K and the Good Old Song. It was also great to see Glee Club Alumni and Friends Chairman Doug List, who lives nearby and finally didn't have to travel too far to hear Club sing. It was also nice to see last year's Glee Club president, Jack McQuarrie, whose grandparents arranged housing for most of the Club guys in town. Tomorrow, another early day as we head to Northampton, Mass. and our rehearsals with the Smith College Glee Club for Sunday's performance of the Fauré Requiem.

The Night Before Glee Club Tour

2010-03-04T19:46:00.000-08:00

'Tis the night before touring and all over Grounds,
Not a student is sleeping; one hears their loud sounds.
Though all should be snuggled secure in their beds,
With visions of roll candy fixed in their heads,
I fear they're cavorting and rousting about,
With 'nary a thought how our concerts turn out.

We're all looking forward to seeing our friends,
And singing our hearts out–the fun never ends!
But singers, be cautious and get lots of sleep,
Or voices will tire; you won't make a peep!
Drink plenty of water and try not to shout.
Some simple precautions will slow wearing out.

We're all looking forward to hitting the road,
With music to share and CDs to unload.
Though riding a bus for ten days might be tiring,
It all will be worth it, so we'll keep on choiring.
Please check back here often for pictures and stories,
And tales of the Glee Club's misfortunes and glories!