The King's Singers

01 / 08 / 2010

David

I can’t believe it is already August. We have one more week before our summer break. We fly to Finland today for a concert in Lahti tomorrow night as part of the Lahti Organ Festival. We have been to this festival many times (it does not limit itself just to organ concerts), and it is always lovely to visit Finland in the summer, with its long days and short nights. On Tuesday we head to Warsaw for a performance in the Concert Hall of Polish Radio. On Wednesday we are back in London for a recording session before a couple of days off. Next Saturday we return to another regular venue, Tewkesbury Abbey, for a concert in the Three Choirs Festival.

I arrived home rather late last night having driven from Budleigh Salterton, where we closed the town’s summer festival. This is a lovely seaside town in the West Country, which is one of the UK’s most popular holiday destinations. Yesterday, being Saturday, was a rather busy day on the roads as many travel to take their summer breaks. I sat in a lot of traffic queues as I drove from Kendal, in the English Lake District, where we sang on Friday night. The Lake District is one of the UK’s other favourite holiday spots, and the trip there on Friday morning was also rather busy. I have decided that I am going to try to avoid driving anywhere during my summer break! But for now I have to pack my luggage and drive up to Heathrow for this evening’s flight.

03 / 08 / 2010

Tim

Hello from sunny Warsaw!! We've just arrived here from Helsinki, where we stayed last night after our concert, and after an afternoon nap, I'm just doing a last bit of cramming for tonight's concert of new repertoire in the Polish Radio Concert Studio. The group has never sung here before but apparently the acoustic is absolutely fantastic (well, according to the promoter!!).

Tomorrow we return home but not before a quick detour to a recording session in St. Silas The Martyr Church in London, in which we will sing Eric Whitacre's The Stolen Child. This piece was a joint commission by the National Youth Choisr of Great Britain and The King's Singers to celebrate their 25th and 40th anniversaries, respectively. Let's hope the flight is not delayed!!

04 / 08 / 2010

Paul

I must be going for the record of the most blogs written in the back of a bus .... Here we are, this morning, on our way to Warsaw airport, after a very hectic few days travelling: nearly 1000 miles driving around the UK, a concert in Finland and last night's show here in Warsaw. I particularly enjoyed yesterday's concert - a challenging programme at the end of a busy work period. Often that set of circumstances produces something special, and last night, we performed with tremendous energy and precision (not that we don't do that all the time!). This was helped by our truly wonderful Polish fans who were really 'up' for our performance. They are always so demonstrative and friendly, and I can't wait to come back next year! Back to London now to record 'The Stolen Child' with Eric Whitacre......

08 / 08 / 2010

Stephen

After a lovely concert in the Three Choirs Festival yesterday, we have now headed our separate ways for a well earned summer break. Many thanks to all who came to support us yesterday - your presence was much appreciated. Till soon, Stephen

09 / 08 / 2010

Chris

On Saturday we sang our final concert of the 2009-2010 season in Tewkesbury Abbey, one of the oldest standing churches in the UK. It's a place where we have many happy memories - I think we've performed there at least once a year on average since I joined the group. We also record regularly in Toddington, a nearby village, and enjoy a curry or two in Tewkesbury whenever we're there. I lived in the Cotswolds for a short time a few years back and loved driving around the whole area, from Oxford to Gloucester, so it's a pleasure to return. The concert was a great way to end the term - oversold, with people sitting all over the place just to be squeezed in! We got a good reaction, especially to John McCabe's wonderful piece, "This Day Day Dawes" which he re-worked for The King's Singers a few years back. We are so lucky to work with such incredible composers; this week we appeared on a CD of Eric Whitacre's music, conducted by the composer himself, so it's been a great week for our contemporary repertoire.

Talking with a friend recently reminded me that most people don't get to take six weeks' holiday in the summer, and he asked why we do so - in total we take 12 weeks a year away from touring, recording etc. Well, although it probably seems a lot of time off, we miss out on most weekends in term-time, we are away from our wives and children, and we just get plain exhausted! The travelling does put a strain on our bodies and our first priority is to ensure that we book the right number of concerts so that we can perform every single one on the top of our game. So, the holiday time is a welcome patch when we can go off into our own worlds, relax, re-charge and re-connect with the people who are most important to us. Then, when we come back in September, we're raring to go with new programmes, new ideas, fresh energy and a whole bunch of new close harmony songs to delight audiences. The old chapter ends, and another begins.

As for me, I'm off to the good old US of A on Thursday with my girls, to visit family and have fun. Bella's starting to love swimming (she swam underwater through a hoop recently, all on her own) so we're planning to spend lots of time at the pool with her. We're not looking forward to the flights, though, now she can crawl, so advance apologies to anyone who ends up on the same plane as us. Alternatively, if any kind KS fan out there wants to lend us a private jet for the summer, the office can give you our details and we'd gratefully accept. Even better if it has a hot-tub and playpen.

To all our friends out there, thank you for your support and friendship over the past season, and we look forward very much to seeing you again next time around. We couldn't do it without every single one of you!

Have a great summer.

26 / 08 / 2010

Paul

This is a view I shall remember during those long dark winter's evenings! We are enjoying a relaxing family holiday in southern Spain, with hot, hot weather, cool seas and great company ....

Hope all our KS friends are enjoying the summer break, and looking forward to seeing you all in the new season.

Paul.