St John’s College School, Cambridge Choir Tour to: Japan - Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto and Kobe 21 to 30 July 2012

The Choristers finished the year with a memorable 10 day St John’s College Choir tour to Japan at the end of July. The tour included several high profile engagements, as well as time for the boys to walk around Tokyo and visit a Buddhist temple and soak up the Japanese culture.

Their first engagement was certainly a memorable one at Seibi Gakuen Catholic Elementary School in Tokyo. After a short rehearsal, the Choir performed a set for the school who were assembled in their Chapel with the choir singing Rachmaninoff, Vaughan Williams, Frank, plus Akentonbo as an encore. Julian Gregory (Choral Scholar) led a workshop in which he taught around 750 children ‘London’s Burning’ and the Choir joined in during the rounds. The school children put on an amazing ceremony celebrating the London Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee. The Choristers watched on proudly in their new kimonos which they were presented with as gifts by the school.

The second day began with our 15 scarlet blazered and excited choristers travelling by Metro to the 33rd floor of the Atago Mori Tower for a live broadcast from a national radio station ‘J-Wave’ which gave the choristers a full panorama of Tokyo. In the evening, the British Embassy in Tokyo hosted a reception where the guests were given their own private version of Rachmaninoff's Bogoróditse Djévo.

The first concert of the tour was at Otsuma Women’s University in Tokyo and the Choir sang to a packed three-tiered concert hall. The repertoire included Byrd’s ‘Mass for Five Voices’, Mathias’s ‘Let all the people praise’ and César Franck's ‘Panis angelicus’. Afterwards, many of the Choristers sampled some Japanese ‘street’ food, with the noodles being the most popular! The Choristers and the Choir received an equally rapturous response at the concert on Sunday was at Kanagawa Kenritsu Ongakudo Hall in Yokohama which included Harvey’s ‘Come, Holy Ghost’.

After four days of varied performances the Choristers set off on the famous 'Shinkansen' (bullet train) on the way to Kyoto. Having arrived, they went to the Urasenke Centre for a tea-making ceremony. The Choristers also squeezed in a visit to

the Old Palace Gardens.

The Choristers sang to a packed venue for the concert in the ALTI Hall in Kyto and delighted the audience with their special rendition of Britten’s ‘Rejoice in the Lamb’. The Choristers held collection boxes at the end of each concert to raise money for the ongoing earthquake and tsunami disaster fund and the target was 1 million yen at each performance.

After a short ride on the bullet train from Kyoto the Choristers arrived in Kobe to sing at Kobe Shoin Women’s University, an Anglican university founded by a Cambridge alumnus 120 years ago. After the concert the Choristers and Choir were treated to some genuine Kobe beef at the evening reception. The Choristers gave another well-received recital in a full St Michael's Anglican Cathedral to an audience of primary school children. The school children joined the Choir to sing a favourite ‘Make me a channel of your peace’. The tour ended back in Tokyo with two final concerts at the Opera City Concert Hall and Suntory Hall before the Choristers headed back to Britain after a highly successful tour and a well-deserved summer break.