U.S. Coast Guard Academy Glee Club

05/25/2026

Some years ago, the USCGA Glee Club began performing a setting of John McCrae’s well-known WWI memorial poem, In Flanders Fields. We perform it as part of our standard set of concert music, and in other memorial settings as well. We have performed it in the Royal Military Chapel in London, the Flanders Fields Memorial across from Buckingham Palace, St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, the Britannia Royal Naval Academy Chapel, the US Naval Academy Chapel, the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC, and at numerous other locations over the years.

Our setting of this text, which is written from the perspective of those who have given their lives in service to their nation, ends with an open chord, as though calling for a response from the living.

This past academic year, we added a new work based on the poem by Moina Michael, the American professor who popularized the idea of wearing a red poppy on Remembrance Day (Veterans Day in the US). Her poem is a response to McCrae’s poem from the perspective of the living. And now we perform these two works one after the other — one generation responding to another, promising to catch their torch, and keep their faith in honoring the dead.

This past spring, we were set to perform these works, among others, in the Flanders region of Belgium, including at the Last Post Ceremony at Menin Bridge, the Flanders Fields American Cemetery, St. Martin’s Cathedral in Ypres, and St. Baaf’s in Ghent. Unfortunately, our tour to Belgium was canceled due to the lapse in appropriations. But we recorded these works at our final concert this year, and present it to you on this Memorial Day.

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the faith with all who died.

US Coast Guard Academy Cadet Glee ClubDr. Daniel McDavitt, directorApril 28, 2026Leamy AuditoriumIN FLANDERS FIELDSText by John McCraeMusic by Daniel McDavit...

04/28/2026

Come join us on the livestream for our last concert of the season, CGA Celebrate! Begins at 7pm ET, and will last about an hour.

CGA Celebrate!

02/07/2026

The ground is frozen in New London right now. The air feels frozen. The snow is even frozen and won't melt. It feels a bit like...eternal winter!

What a perfect time to come enjoy this year's cadet musical: FROZEN THE MUSICAL.

Come join us at Leamy Auditorium on Saturday, February 28 at 7:30pm and Sunday, March 1 at 2:00pm.

Entrance is free (thanks to the generosity of the Class of '61), but reservations are required.

Click here to reserve your tickets today:

Ticket Reservation Form

12/10/2025

Whether in person or live-streamed (link below), come ring in the season our annual Lessons and Carols, performing in the Cadet Memorial Chapel at 7pm ET.

The service will feature readings from cadets and performances by the Cadet Glee Club and Brass Quintet.

Livestream link:

A hallmark of the Academy's holiday season, the Lessons and Carols service is a time-honored tradition that brings together cadets, faculty, staff, and the l...

04/02/2025

Thanks to those who joined the livestream! Looks like it lost connection halfway through, but we recorded it separately and will post once it’s edited.

04/01/2025

We will be live streaming tonight’s concert on this page (if technology cooperates). Begins at 7:30ET.

03/15/2025

We are back on American soil!

I’ll post a few more videos over the next few days as I go through what we recorded.

This piece, called “In Flanders Fields” is the well-known WWI poem that is etched in the memorial we surrounded in a photo I posted following our performance at the Royal Military Chapel last Monday. The poppies many wear on their lapels on Veterans Day (or in Britain, Remembrance Day) derives from this poem:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

03/14/2025

An array of photos from the past week!

03/13/2025

Touring the Brittania Royal Naval College in Dartmouth this afternoon, ahead of a concert in town this evening. Started with lunch in their wardroom, which was given an approving review from our cadets.

03/12/2025

One piece from our time singing in Killerton Chapel earlier today, during which the sun shown through the newly-refurbished rose window casting a wonderful array of colors right onto the sopranos and basses.

This piece is a favorite of the choir’s. It’s a Renaissance piece about a sailor returning from sea as a symbol for passing on at an old age. Here’s the text so you can read along while enjoying this fabulous acoustic:

Never weather-beaten sail
more willing bent to shore.
Never tired pilgrim's limbs
affected slumber more,
Than my wearied sprite now longs
to fly out of my troubled breast:
O come quickly, sweetest Lord,
and take my soul to rest.

Ever blooming are the joys
of Heaven's high Paradise.
Cold age deafs not there our ears
nor vapour dims our eyes:
Glory there the sun outshines
whose beams the blessed only see:
O come quickly, glorious Lord,
and raise my sprite to thee!