Make no mistake about it - that was an historic year for the Glee Club. For the new audiences we reached, the exotic and exulted locations we performed in, the challenging and uplifting repertoire we mastered, and the world-class musicians we shared the stage with, I think we set the bar extremely high for future Glee Clubbers, and created memories for our current members which will sustain us all for a lifetime.
From a shortlist which is anything but short, I would isolate three events which shine especially brightly in my own memory: Performing Bach's 'Magnificat' in Bach's own church, the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, with the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra; bringing together an unprecedented gathering of Glee Club alumni for the Football Concert Centennial celebration; and seeing our very own concert series, 'The Glee Club Presents', get off to such an extraordinary start with the visit of Calmus in April.
Next year promises the breaking of yet more new ground, with two more concerts in our 'Glee Club Presents' series (the first of which comes very early in the year with the visit of Oxford University's premier chamber choir, the 'Schola Cantorum') and a professional 'studio' recording in collaboration with one of the world's leading choral producers. Our Nollner Concert will mark the 300th anniversary of the coronation of George the first with a performance of great British coronation music, and the year will also feature collaborations with our cousins in the Princeton University Combined Jazz Ensembles, and the Princeton University Orchestra (for Verdi's 'Requiem').
I hope to see you again (and again!) in the coming year - and in the meantime, I wish all of you a restful and happy summer.