For 35 years, Sidwell Friends School has joined other local private schools in a joint chorus concert at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington. But at the start of the 2025–26 school year, that tradition shifted when the Cathedral began charging schools to use the venue.
Sidwell — along with Bullis School, Georgetown Day School, Holton-Arms School, Landon School, Maret School, National Cathedral School, Potomac School and St. Albans School — decided to seek out a different location with a more ideal arrangement. However, the prestige and tradition of the National Cathedral led the schools to continue performing there. In order to do this, the schools paid a collective $18,000 fee for one night at the cathedral.
Not only did this policy change affect the high school chorus, but it also affected the middle and lower schools.
The local middle school programs performed at Georgetown Day School earlier this year rather than at the National Cathedral, while the lower schools also performed at another location.
Students have also shown frustration and confusion about this change.
“Although I am grateful that in the end we can still perform in the Cathedral, I’m upset to hear that we are being charged money since the arts program already has a small budget,” sophomore Naomi Gedan said.
She added that this was particularly worrisome because the chorus program has “already had to do a lot of fundraisers to be able to exist.”
Additionally, senior Lucy Verma reflected on the change as a chorus performer since her freshman year. “It’s really unfortunate that there’s now a fee because the whole purpose of the concert is to bring people together and promote inclusion.”
She further shared that requiring students to pay $50 goes against the chorus’ emphasis on community. Verma was also disappointed since they were not able to fund other activities. The chorus concert took place on April 15, with more than 400 students from these nine schools coming together.
The preparation for the performance lasted for months. Directors worked to ensure that students perfected the exact same phrasing, dynamics and timing for the day of the concert. The weekend before the show, the schools met up to rehearse songs like “Yonder Come Day” and “A Simple Song of Peace” at Sidwell.
For seniors, this will be their last time singing in the National Cathedral with their school.
