It’s fair to say that The King’s Singers are at the top of their game. Not only do they have a discography of over 150 recordings and two Grammy awards to boot, but they also have two million items of sheet music currently in circulation through their publishing company, Hal Leonard. Even though the group will have been running for 45 years in 2013, they show no sign of slowing down. 2012 will see them perform to packed audiences in some of the world’s most famous halls, from Australia to the United Arab Emirates.
I speak to two of the group’s members after all six have appeared at the Oxford Union. Their 90-minute slot sees them give an insight into the lives of The King’s Singers, even integrating speeches on the position of classical music in today’s culture. It was obvious that their singing would be the high point of the evening; their sound is as immaculate in person as it is on their CDs. Demonstrating their reputation as an all-round ensemble by effortlessly flitting between various genres, the group proved that they mix impeccable blend and tone with entertainment (their classic arrangement of ‘I’m A Train’ receiving enthusiastic applause from the audience).
During the talk, the group mention that they have a repertoire of over 3000 pieces. “There’s always stuff that we’re introducing,” countertenor David Haley (the group’s longest-serving member) tells me. “Sometimes it’s introducing it for everybody, and sometimes it’s introducing it to some of the group. We did a concert last night in Christ Church, Spitalfields. The second half was by request: people bought a raffle ticket, and the money went to the King’s Singers Foundation. If their number was drawn, they were given the opportunity to pick what we would sing next from a list of about 40 songs. For me it was relatively easy, but for Christopher Bruerton (our newest member) there was an awful lot of stuff that he’d had to learn especially.” Christopher agrees, “I remember that each of the first 5 concerts after Easter was a different programme. There were 100 pieces in the space of a week. I did find that a bit overwhelming!”
I ask Christopher how he has managed to catch up on learning all of the pieces. “I feel that up until now every other waking hour on tour (if not at home) has been spent learning the music. I don’t feel that I can go for a nice stroll out around Prague, for example. It feels weird to go to a city and people often say, “Wow, you’ve been here and here!” but really I’ve just been to the concert hall, the train station and the hotel, but I haven’t actually been to Prague.”
We talk about the group’s newest album, Royal Rhymes & Rounds. “In a sense it’s a standard King’s Singers programme because it has Renaissance, Romantic, contemporary and light music – it has all the elements,” reasons David. He also mentions another recent album, High Flight (which includes pieces commissioned for the group’s 40th anniversary). “It’s got some beautiful music on it by three of the great choral composers of the twentieth century (Whitacre, Lauridsen and Chilcott).”
I bring up the group’s upcoming anniversary. “I know we’ve got some pretty exciting trips abroad to places that the group hasn’t been to either for a while or ever!” enthuses Christopher. “There’s a plan to go to South Africa and it’s looking likely that in May we’ll go to South America for the first time ever!” David is looking further ahead for the group, however: “I think that the idea is not to make too much of 45, but to make 50 really great.” Given their global popularity, I don’t think that this will be a problem.
