“Our students enjoyed performance experiences that many singers are not offered until they reach college,” said SMS Music Director and Fine Arts Chair Beverley Gordon.

In addition to singing with a larger chorus than would be possible in many high schools, the SMS vocalists prepared a number of pieces with a high level of difficulty, Gordon said.

“Our girls then had the additional challenge of adapting to a wide variety of concert venues, including a massive cathedral with a four-second sound delay,” she added.

The 10-day choir tour took singers to London, Edinburgh and York, where their program included selections from Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater” and other sacred music for the Easter season, traditional Scottish and folk songs, and “Singing Bird,” a suite by British composer Richard Morrison that was inspired by the life of St. Margaret and commissioned for the schools. A special highlight was the concert at Dunfermline Abbey, the Scottish castle where St. Margaret lived and is buried. The combined choir was greeted warmly by residents who appreciated its connection to “their” saint. Local women held a high tea in the town pavilion for the singers, treating them to scones, dainty sandwiches and sweets.

In addition, the 203-member choir performed before appreciative audiences at the Old Royal Naval College Chapel in Greenwich, St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh and the historic York Minster in York.

The concert tour was coordinated by the Queen Margaret of Scotland Girls’ School Association, a group of 13 schools in 9 countries named for the eleventh-century Scottish saint. This tie uniting the 12 schools participating in the tour made it easy for the 18 SMS singers to develop friendships with girls from around the world that they met during rehearsals, at meals and on sightseeing trips, Gordon said.

Participants from St. Margaret’s in Tappahannock included local students Becky Clark of Lively, Rebecca Dickinson of Loretto, Sarah Reilly of Bruington, Katy Saunders of Tappahannock and Hope Scott of West Point. Other SMS participants included Vera Attaway, Katie Coffey, Danielle Farara, Melissa Farara, Sally Giles, Anna Gilman, Marissa Lambert, Sojin Lee, Maggie Lin, Jennie Lynne Leonard, Susannah Orem, Julie Tezuka and Eileen Tsai.

QMSGSA schools taking part in the choir tour represented Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, England (Bushey and York), New Zealand (Christchurch and Wellington), Scotland (Aberdeen and Edinburgh) and Singapore. For more information about the Queen Margaret of Scotland Girls’ School Association, visit www.qmsgsa.org web site.

One student's perspective.. Picture Gallery from the UK Tour