HGC, RCS Will Tour Asia in '67 On First Co-ed Trip Outside U.S.

The Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society will tour Asia during the summer of 1967, Elliot Forbes '40, Fanny Peabody Professor of Music and choral director of both groups, announced yesterday.

The trip will mark the first time that girls have participated in an American college singing tour of Asia. "This will be another first for Harvard," said Peter M. Black '66, president of the Harvard Glee Club.

Professor Forbes received final approval for the trip from President Pusey Monday morning and from President Bunting yesterday afternoon, Black said. The group tentatively plans to sing in Japan, Hong Kong, the Phillipines, Thailand, India, Turkey, and Scotland.

Of the 75 singers to make the trip, 37 will be from the Radcliffe Choral Society. Trials will be held next year for all positions.

The nine week trip, which may cost as much as $126,000, will be financed from the contributions of present and past Glee Club members and other interested parties, Black said. Although the U.S. Government and the University both give moral support to the program, neither contributes financially.

Local organizations will sponsor the group in the cities where concerts are to be held. Black termed the response of Asian sponsors as "nothing short of fantastic."

"The trip is an idealistic one." Black said, "we want to communicate with these people by attempting to learn several local songs in the native language of each place we sing."

Professor Forbes stated that the interest of the Harvard and Radcliffe choral groups in singing with choruses from different parts of the world has been "greatly stimulated" by their participation in the International Concert Festival at Lincoln Center during September.