Harvard Glee Club Arrives in India On Concert Tour Through Far East; College Dean's Office Sings Off Key

The Harvard University Glee Club, 61 members strong, stormed into India yesterday in its whirlwind concert tour of the Far East. The choral group sings tonight and tomorrow at the New Empire Theater in Calcutta, and then moves on to Madras, Delhi, and Bombay before flying to Greece on Aug. 13. The tour winds up on Aug. 17.

The trip, which is being financed entirely by private means, began on June 16, and includes 36 formal concerts in eight countries. The group, composed of 47 Harvard undergraduates and 11 graduate students is being led by Professor Elliot Forbes, Glee Club conductor.

The Club began its three-week tour in Japan, singing sacred music in Latin, Brahms Liebeslieder in German, chansons in French, Bartok folk songs in Slovak, and even three folk songs in Japanese. The programs ranged from the 15th century to Copland, but the Japanese audience of 2300 persons seemed to like best the Club's spirited rendering of the Harvard fight song, "Yo Ho, The Good Ship Harvard." The visitors spent their nighs in Japan as guests at the homes of university students.

Thus far, the people-to-people, international goodwill aspect of the tour has been fulfilled almost beyond expectations. In Japan, where choral singing has been taken up with almost religious fervor, four groups from Japanese universities joined the Americans in a booming, 400-voice rendition of "Auld Lang Syne."

From Japan, the Glee Club moved on to Korea, Formosa, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Thailand. In Hong Kong, the group surprised their audience by singing the famous Chinese folk song "Galloping Up The Hilltop" in Mandarin. The program consisted mainly of church music.

In the Philippines the singers left a gala reception in Manila to give unscheduled concerts in the countryside. The sang in a small church in the town of Plaza, and again from the porch of a schoolhouse in a nearby village.

In Greece, the Glee Club will: sing in the ancient Herodium Atticus Theater, at the foot of the Acropolis.

The tour is the choral group's first to the Far East.

On their tour, the singers were unable to escape the world-wide authority of the Dean's Office. Three members of the group were placed on probation by the Administrative Board after its departure date, and College authorities Immediately reached the Club and prohibited the trio from performing any longer.

Reportedly, Edwin O. Reischauer, U.S. Ambassador to Japan and former professor of Far Eastern languages, wired President Nathan M. Pusey after the incident, "The tenors sounded like hell, after you bounced three of them."