The “Cherry Tree Massacre,” is not, surprisingly, a gruesome battle in history that happened to take place in a cherry grove.
It is actually one of the largest and longest-running a cappella shows on the East Coast, hosted by Georgetown University’s own Georgetown Chimes, the university’s oldest and only all-male a cappella group.
This year, the “Cherry Tree Massacre” will be celebrating its impressive 50-year anniversary.
“In the 1970s, no one had really been hosting a cappella shows,” Christian Kim (CAS ’25), a Georgetown Chime, said in an interview with The Hoya. To draw people in to experience a cappella for the first time, the Chimes asked themselves, “How will we get people to come to our show? How can we just make a really interesting name?”
In order to entice an audience, the Chimes took inspiration from Washington, D.C.’s quintessential spring foliage and the tale of how George Washington cut down a cherry tree. Thus, the Chimes birthed the perfectly shocking, yet seasonally appropriate, name.
The “Cherry Tree Massacre” is deeply rooted in tradition, which characterizes the historic group well. Through their long and storied tradition, the Chimes have made a profound impact on Georgetown’s campus culture, past and present.
A Tree Rooted in Tradition
The Chimes have a long and storied history, with humble beginnings as an all-male barbershop quartet that Frank Jones started in 1946. Named after the bells that ring in the south tower of Healy Hall during Chimes rehearsals, the Chimes, currently 275 members strong, have deep roots in Georgetown’s past.
Each new singer goes through the “Neophyte Process,” learning the group’s extensive repertoire, reaching out to graduates and discovering the history of the Chimes. During the process, Neophytes learn and perform over 100 songs for a more senior member. The process can take anywhere from eight months to three years, which has earned the Chimes the well-known reputation of having an intense and personal training process.
At the end of this initiation, new members receive a personalized, signature Chimes tie and an identifying number that runs sequentially from Chime No. 1, Frank Jones.
Chime Ben Fosnocht (CAS ’25) said he completed his “Neophyte Process” in a mere seven months.
“It was something I really wanted to do, and so I committed myself to it,” Fosnocht said in an interview with The Hoya. “It was a lot of work, but I am glad I did it. It took a lot of time and effort, but like I said, it was something I knew I wanted to do and something I wanted to be a part of as soon as I could.”
Like many groups on campus, the Chimes place a heavy emphasis on tradition as a means of uniting their current and past members, even starting each practice with the same song.
“We always sing a song called ‘We Meet’ at the beginning of practices to warm up,” Jack Curtin (CAS ’23) told The Hoya.
Building Community
Every year, the group elects a new leader with the title “Ephus” among its class of active Chimes. When someone receives their Chimes tie, they are officially a Chime for life; thus, the Chimes distinguish between the predominantly undergraduate “actives” who attend practice and all other Chimes.
“That process meant really making sure that I knew not only where I wanted the group to go my senior year but that I knew where all of my fellow Chimes wanted the group to go,” current Ephus Alex Flynn (CAS ’23) said in an interview with The Hoya. “So making sure I took input from all of my friends from all different levels of experience and seeing, you know, what they wanted to make this group.”
Henry Rosenblath (SFS ’24), a Chimes member still undergoing his “Neophyte Process,” said camaraderie within the group is incredibly important, pointing out the tremendous influence of graduate connections.
“We do have a different thing where we will call with alumni on the phone to discuss our ‘Neophyte Processes,’” Rosenblath said in an interview with The Hoya. “We will meet them when they come to the Chimes house when they come into town for ‘Cherry Tree.’ Every year, we will go up to New York City for what is called a ‘Hum’ and meet a lot of alumni who live in that area.”
The “Hum” is the annual trip the Chimes take up to New York City. During their “Hums,” the Chimes reunite with graduates and participate in bonding activities like caroling and sightseeing.
In the past, the “actives” included “Celestial Chimes,” Jesuits-in-residence who sang with the group. This star-studded selection of singers has included Fr. James Walsh, S.J., who remained an “active” for nearly three decades before he passed.
A Chime for Life
The Chimes have deep ties to Georgetown, contributing their musical expertise to the culture of the university even after graduation and finding a permanent family in their fellow Chimes. Many famous graduates, such as Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) (SFS ’09), were also Chimes.
Many former Chimes say the long-lasting community is the best part of the group.
“I was talking to an alum recently whose father passed away, sadly, a few years after graduation,” Rosenblath said. “He got messages of support from everyone, from people who had been his close friends in the Chimes.”
“It’s something that stays with you as a sort of support structure,” he said.
Kim said support from fellow Chimes in the face of tragedy is far-reaching. “I was called down because they needed parts to sing at one of these funerals of the group leader from 1958,” Kim said. “All the people who went to school with him or people who knew him, later on, would come to support him as well, and even 70 some-odd years after he had graduated from Georgetown, the majority of people at the funeral were Chimes if they were not family,” Kim said.
Despite their incredibly tight-knit community, the Chimes are not exclusive. Kim said the Chimes seek to foster a sense of community and merrymaking in the Georgetown community at large.
“Just because I find such camaraderie inside the Chimes, it does not mean that I don’t think I can find it elsewhere. If anything, it’s a cool space I like to bring my other friends into,” Kim said. “I’m like, ‘Hey, look at us sing this goofy song’ and I’m like, ‘Whoa, that is so cool!’ We have a house, we play Mario Kart and I bring my friends too. I feel like it is not only the group. It is kind of like a space I belong in that I feel I belong in. I am happy to share with everyone else.”
Making Music
Unlike other a cappella groups on campus, the Chimes are well-known for their barbershop quartet-like brand of a cappella, drawing from their repertoire of nearly 150 songs and over two dozen self-produced albums over the years.
“One thing that was really interesting to me was the kind of barbershop quartet style,” Flynn said. “I liked singing modern music in high school, and I don’t think I would have wanted to join a group if it was only modern music or only barbershop, but the Chimes do both.”
This mixture of old and new acts as another grounding point for the Chimes, allowing them to connect to the history of their group as well as a cappella music in general.
“I remember I stood in a quartet with a guy who had graduated in the ’60s, a guy who had graduated in the ’80s, a guy who had graduated in the early 2000s and myself, and for all of us to be able to just sing in a quartet for four hours and know all the same songs was something really special,” Flynn said.
The Road to the ‘Cherry Tree Massacre’
The Chimes put deep thought and care into everything that they do, all while honoring their decades-old traditions, especially the “Cherry Tree Massacre.” Active Chime Alex Flynn said the route to this year’s performance was not an easy one, in large part because of the recent operational issues in Gaston Hall.
“We are not able to hold the 50th ‘Cherry Tree’ in Gaston since the pipes under the stage burst, which is definitely a hardship, but we have been trying to get around it,” Flynn said. “Still, we have been preparing since right before winter break, meeting three times a week plus having hours of personal work to make sure that the music is super sharp.”
Each year, the group recruits a cappella groups from all across the East Coast to perform. This year, all six Georgetown a cappella groups, as well as students from both American University and Catholic University, will be sharing their talents on stage at “Cherry Tree.”
Since each “Cherry Tree” performance features different a cappella groups, every “Cherry Tree Massacre” experience differs from year to year.
Conor McCarty (SFS ’23), a member of the Georgetown Phantoms, will perform Feb. 17. As a senior in the Phantoms, McCarty has performed in “Cherry Tree” two times before, though this year he said his experience has differed.
“Because this is a later date than usual, we have more time to prepare, which is really exciting,” McCarty said in an interview with The Hoya. “This gives us the opportunity to sing more new music, and we will be performing two new songs.”
The “Cherry Tree Massacre” offers both a venue for each a cappella group to showcase its abilities, as well as the entire Georgetown community the opportunity to witness the immense talent that its fellow students possess.
“One of the reasons why Georgetown can sustain such a big a cappella scene is that there is just so much talent that can be spread across six different groups who all do slightly different styles of music,” Flynn said. “There is enough space for all of them to shine and make their voices heard.”
The 50th “Cherry Tree Massacre” will be held from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Feb. 10, 17 and 18. The first show will be held in the Leavey Ballroom on Feb. 10, while the other shows will be held in the Lohrfink Auditorium on Feb. 17 and 18. Tickets are available online and range from $10 to $15.
Audience members can expect to see the incredible camaraderie and welcoming atmosphere that the Chimes strive to create on Georgetown’s campus.
Curtin summed up the Chimes’ mission for The Hoya.
“At the end of the day I think it is to entertain the Georgetown community — to deliver a musical performance but also to have a good time on stage and engage with the audience,” Curtin said.
