Choir Tour to Dublin June 2002
At the beginning of the 2002 summer vacation the Corpus Chapel Choir went on their first ever international tour: they were choir in residence at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin from 1 to 7 July. This meant singing a full week's services consisting of five Evensongs and the Sunday morning Eucharist, at which the congregation numbered several hundred. The varied repertoire of the week included music by Gibbons, Wesley, Lotti and Sumsion as well as the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in C by the Senior Organ Scholar, Tom West, himself. The choir were made very welcome by the cathedral staff and particularly by the Dean's Vicar, Charles Mullen, who intoned at the services, introduced the choir to cathedral etiquette, and made sure they went straight to the nearby pub afterwards.
The choir stayed for the week at the "Brewery" youth hostel on Thomas Street, near the home of Guinness. Having the whole choir accommodated in two dormitories led to everyone getting to know each other very well and a large amount of time being spent waiting for showers ... The Guinness brewery was one of the tourist sites visited when the choir weren't singing, as well as many other cultural highlights of the city including the Book of Kells at Trinity College, Dublin Castle (once the centre of British rule in Ireland), the elegant tea rooms of the Shelbourne Hotel, and the unforgettable Viking Splash Tour.
The tour was a great experience for the choir both musically and socially, and it was especially valuable to get used to singing as much in one week as a professional choir would. The soothing effect of regular glasses of Bailey's on throats infected with each others' colds will also be usefully noted for the future! Many thanks are due to Charles, to the cathedral organist who played for the final Sunday evensong, and to everyone else at St Patrick's; to the Corpus Organ Scholars Tom West and Andrew Radley, especially Tom for organising the entire tour and having the idea in the first place that the choir could really do it; and to the college Clubs Fund and JCR for contributing to the cost of the accommodation. Offers of future places for the choir to sing will be gratefully received!
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