Lituania

Well well what a fantastically enjoyable tour. It would be too easy to blame the post tour “emotional” hangover for the late arrival of this final blog entry. In fact it was a flurry of subsequent holidays and the impending doom of A-level results which are my most reasonable excuses for the delay. Nevertheless, I hope the intervening time has allowed me to reflect more soberly and reasonably on what was a truly once-in-a-lifetime trip for me as a tour debutant. I hope it makes for entertaining and insightful reading.
To pick up where Edan left us, on our way to the Crowne Plaza in Vilnius, we interrupted this long coach journey with a lunch stop at the Hill of Crosses. Cynically referred to as a “forest of superstition” and reminiscent of the eerie Elephant’s Graveyard in the Lion King, it certainly was a monument to be remembered. Our packed lunch from the hotel, consisting of left-overs from breakfast sandwiched in stale bread, was even more bizarre and in stark contrast to the succession of restaurant food we had enjoyed until then. However such inconveniences as rotten apples and grotesque religious idols are quickly forgotten among friends and we conspired to enjoy our stop nonetheless.
Arrival at the Crowne Plaza was most welcome and eagerly anticipated, due equally to the length of time spent on a coach and its five-star status. Messrs Ferris and Putt’s encyclopedic knowledge provided the format for a very enjoyable tour quiz after dinner. The quiz was yet another example of good-natured banter amongst boys from all years typical of the tour, with team names that were both undeniably humorous but unfortunately unrepeatable and intense rivalry between teams which consisted of boys from each year group. All in all a good first evening in Lithuania.
The following morning’s guided tour of Vilnius ended at the Museum of Genocide Victims in the old KGB prison. As you may expect this was an extremely sobering contrast to our usual merriment, but as in Riga and the Occupation Museum it also provided an important reminder of the tragic recent history of the Baltic States and personally an inspiring context to pieces such as Tippett’s Five Spirituals. After an independent lunch we returned by coach to the hotel and got suited and booted for our concert in St. Casimir’s Church, one of the sights our tour had covered that morning. The rehearsal went well and there was a general excitement about the evening’s performance our only worry after Riga was, how many people would turn up?
Any worries harboured by members of the choir turned out to be unfounded and our performance fully justified the full-house. Highlights were the Tippett which had improved and been refined with every performance. Zadok the Priest was particularly satisfying if not for anything other than the choreography. Following their performance of the Gibbons, the chamber choir was required to hot-foot their way up to the organ loft from the altar in the small amount of time granted them by rapturous applause and the sympathetically long organ instrumental-introduction to the piece. This turned out to be a master-stroke as the choir was restored to its full complement in plenty of time and Zadok received a standing ovation in the middle of the concert. Given that this was the last occasion that this collection of people would sing pieces such as Zadok and Rejoice in the Lamb together, I am glad to say we gave them a good send off.
As a reward for a successful concert the previous evening, those of positions of power within the choir decreed the guided tour of Kaunas cancelled and afforded the entire tour a welcome extra hour in bed. After a long journey by coach; a nutritious lunch in Pizza Jazz, Hesburger and other local eateries and a successful rehearsal the moment finally came. Cramped into a quite intimate organ loft in a packed St. Michael the Archangel Church the choir delivered another exceptional performance which was one again well received by a an enthusiastic audience.
Opening with a rousing and nerve-quelling rendition of Britten’s Jubilate Deo provided a good platform for what was an extremely satisfying performance of Finzi’s Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice with some particularly impressive solos. The entire concert was a great success and earned another standing ovation and led to our now customary encore of Riu Riu Chiu. Walking past applauding audience members, who returned to their feet after the encore, left the whole choir and especially Mr Toyne glowing. Our good spirits were maintained throughout the return journey by a raucous rendition of the entire tour repertoire on the top deck. Dinner was in a traditional Lithuanian restaurant. After which Mr Toyne delivered a short, heart-felt and fondly received speech about each departing Upper 6th Chorister. To which the choir replied with humble gifts for each member of staff on the tour, without whom this wonderful trip could never have taken place let alone done so with such enjoyment and absence of incident! After such and emotional and memorable evening it is hard to believe that the entire choir and touring staff returned straight from the restaurant and directly to bed, but it’s true. In no case were any establishments explored or beverages imbibed!
It merely remains for me to give short personal and universal messages of gratitude. Thank you to all the Staff who joined us on tour and made it possible, I have mentioned them all far less than their endeavour merits. There are some moments that will stay with me forever, mostly linked to the enigma that is Piters Jekels. And finally thank you to you reader, for staying with me to reach the merciful end of my, I know, extremely long blog entry. I apologise profusely for wittering on for so long and continuing to do it, but even as I come to my conclusion I know there a more things I could add and plenty of anecdotes I simply dare not! On that enticing and perhaps dangerously mysterious note I wish to bid farewell to a choir I only joined for four months of my seven years at Tiffin (even I don’t know what I was doing the rest of the time probably chasing a load of muddy men and a muddy ball around a muddy field) and wish it well for next year and all of the years, concerts and tours to come.


Sam Dowsett
Upper 6th