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Asia tour, 24 June 2008
This is the final blog from our trip to Asia, as I'm sure you will excuse us from writing tomorrow night as we rest in the luxurious transit hotel in Taipei airport! A few of us have gone into UK time already, staying up until 4 or 5am and sleeping as late as possible in an effort to get into home time. It really helps that Wimbledon is on the TV. We have just watched Andy Murray, a Scot, going through to the next round. England looks lovely and green!
Seoul is the place where a few years ago the group sang 'Magic Castle' - a Korean folk/pop song - to 40,000 people in a football stadium, and we still enjoy wonderful support. The concert went well, with us giving a performance of Korean folksong 'Arrirang' as an encore. It may be coals to Newcastle, but it was greeted with cheers of approval! After the show we were taken out for a meal which featured beer, plenty of meat, kimchi, beer and sweet deserts. We followed this with a trip to a corner store for some beer and ice-cream in order to enjoy the tennis better. Even if we wanted to go straight to sleep tonight it would have been difficult as there was a political demonstration outside the hotel on the green across the road. Beef is their beef!
We can't wait to get back home to see our families, who have survived another 3 weeks without us. It has been a great trip for us, and we would like to thank everybody who came out to see us, for those who have emailed us, and especially for those who bought our new album Simple Gifts at the concerts. Have you got your copy yet?!
Asia tour, 23 June 2008
Three triumphant concerts in China's two major cities and it really felt this morning like we ought to be flying home, especially to get away from the sand (yes, sand) pollution afflicting the city while we were there (David informed us the poor visibility was due to airborne sand from the Gobi Desert, a blight which sometimes mars the otherwise clear tranquillity of Chichester, though in that case the Sahara Desert is to blame). Maybe this could have implications for some of the upcoming Olympic Games requiring good visibility, though it is hard to believe the Games are on their way in little more than a month - the centre of Beijing remains rather austere and devoid of the commercial propaganda which other cities have displayed as their Games approached.
We flew to Seoul, a city which I cannot remember visiting without worrying about the air quality, but which this time, ironically, as if to redress the balance of Beijing, greeted us with clear blue sky! Chris, Paul, Robin and Phil went straight to a room in the hotel for a TV interview, after which the same 4 repaired to an Outback Steak House and had an "absolutely average" (Paul's oft-used phrase) steak, which only Chris (as there was only one left) followed with a "Chocolate Thunder Down Under", with which charming phrase I will a) allow you to conjure up your own picture of what this might be, and b) bid you goodnight.
Asia tour, 22 June 2008
We spent a large part of today inside the concert hall, speaking to the press about what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. Two TV interviews had been set up, one for Phoenix TV, the other for CCTV - the national TV corporation. It has been a very hot day, so probably it was best to be in the cool of the concert hall anyway instead of looking around town. We asked the locals why it was so hazy today, and were told a build up of dust from the Gobi desert was hanging around. That may be part of it, but surely there are other slightly less romantic reasons for the 'pea-souper'. The heat is due to ebb away a little before the olympics begin here in august, and I bet everyone is hoping the accompanying bad air quality disappears with it.
Tomorrow we leave China for South Korea content in the knowledge that out concerts here have been a success. It's a lovely feeling to know that people want to come and hear us, and that the press wants to preview and review what we've been doing. Tonight's concert was pretty good. Well, alright, it was very good! We dedicated Blackbird to a couple celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. For a group that has also also been around for 40 years we know what a long time that is! Thank you China, we can't wait to come back.
Asia tour, 21 June 2008
We've had a full day today, starting bright and early for a flight to Beijing. When we arrived at the airport we discovered there had been some 'weather' and our scheduled departure had been cancelled. Our management team here swiftly had us transferred to an earlier flight than we had originally planned, but it turned out there were not enough seats for us all to get on. And now the trouble started as 3 of us had boarding passes and were about to board the plane. Chinese law states that groups cannot be split up, and so those chaps - and their luggage - had to be recalled. It was, to put it mildly, a bit of a palaver! Travelling throws up problems from time to time, and reminds us that anything can happen. But all's well that ends well, we made it together onto a plane flying north, and by lunchtime we were in our hotel in the Chinese capital, olympic Beijing.
Very close to The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square is the new National Centre for the Performing Arts, which Stephen described tonight as the most amazing facility he has ever been in. And he's been in a few! The Centre literature says: 'The main building of NCPA comprises an exterior enclosing structure, Opera House, Concert Hall, Theater, Experimental Theater and auxiliary facilities. The exterior is a super shell in the shape of a half ellipsoid with an east-west span of 212.20m and north-south span of 143.64m. It is 46.28m high and reaches a depth of 32.50m under the ground. The artificial lake surrounding the ellipsoid shell covers an area of 35,500 m2. Plants cover a total area of 39,000 m2.' Are you impressed yet?!
We turned up for a press conference, televised rehearsal and concert. The show was in front of an excitable audience - thats meant in a complimentary way - who lapped up our offerings of European madrigals and folksongs, Zulu songs, our Jungle Book arrangements and pop. They reserved foot-stamping until we had sung our Chinese-language encores! Now it's sleep time before another show in the same venue tomorrow.
Asia tour, 20 June 2008
One of the international tests of what makes a good hotel is in how it's in-house burger tastes. And the one here is delicious! Lovely toasted bun, crisp lettuce and onion, a well-cooked juicy patty with bacon and - the special twist - a fried egg on top! Asian food is delicious, but every now and again you have to give yourself a reason for going to the gym...
Tonight's concert was a success, and the audience was treated (if thats the right word) to two Chinese language encores specially arranged by Philip. Chris and Paul took the lion's share of the text, with the rest of us relieved to be the support. Afterwards our agent out here took us to dinner in a hotel he proudly declared to be 80 years old. I suppose statistically speaking that does put it in the older bracket of buildings: there have probably been a dozen finished since we arrived a few days ago.
So now we travel on to Beijing, excited to see the new concert hall, to catch a glimpse of the Olympic stadium, and to see if the fans we made on our last visit will come back and see us!
Asia tour, 19 June 2008
What - another day off?! We can't remember having so much free time since, well, since a couple of days ago. Our working lives so often consist of airport, airplane, car, hotel, and concert hall that it is really great to have been given the wonderful opportunity of looking around Shanghai. After a leisurely breakfast we took a cab to the old town, which is a tiny portion of this huge city. A tourist trap, yes, but still interesting. We especially enjoyed the 450-year-old Yuyuan Garden, which offered some respite from the fake rolex sellers prowling around the shopping streets. Robin was vulnerable with his swatch but Paul was ok as he waved his (real) rolex at them! Then we headed off to the river's edge and the Bund before returning to the hotel for a swim.
The tour steps up a gear from here. With a week to go before we arrive home we have our concert here, 2 shows in Beijing and one in Seoul. We are refreshed and ready to get on with it!
Asia tour, 18 June 2008
Hello! We are now safely installed in our Shanghai hotel, a lovely place where it is possible to watch the TV whilst lying in the bath, and where we all have rooms some 40 floors up from the ground floor. But there are plenty of buildings round us here that are much taller. Shanghai is big, with even more sky-scrapers than there were last time we were here. There are still some old bicycles kicking around, but it does seem as if every one of the 20 million inhabitants here has a car and that they're all playing a game which is probably called something like 'Try to clip your neighbour's wing mirror before he gets yours'.
We flew on a airline new to The King's Singers today - Dragonair - from Hong Kong to Shanghai. It was bumpy, but probably not the airline's fault! That bad weather we had yesterday in Honkers was hanging around making a nuisance of itself as we tried to eat our in-flight prawns and rice without spilling it everywhere.
Once on the ground we went to the Shanghai Concert Hall, a building that first opened in 1930 and which has recently been moved 60 feet down the road so that the original site could be re-developed. We gave a press conference - very important work as we try to develop our career in mainland China. The concert is sold-out, but it won't hurt for a quick KS press deluge over the next 3 days or so. This evening there has been eating, gym-ing and swimming, and we are looking forward to looking around the city tomorrow.
Asia tour, 17 June 2008, posted by Paul
Today has been one of those rare and pleasurable days on the road - a complete day off! Now, there are two ways of approaching this kind of day - first, you can sit in your room, sulk, miss your family and home and wish you were somewhere else. The second approach is the one that works for me at least: make the most of the place you find yourself in (in today's case, Hong Kong ). So here's how the day went: slept until 9 am, had breakfast with David and Stephen which today included fruit, sausage and eggs and beans on toast (yummy), then made my way with Robin and Chris to the gym for an hour's workout - cross-training and running, with magnificent views of the harbour and Hong Kong Island which kept disappearing and re-emerging through rain squalls. Next came lunch: a bowl of 'ramen' noodles with a 'side' of octopus balls (don't think about that too closely!), followed by a trip on the famous Star Ferry, again in the pouring rain to HK Island and back, clutching a nice cup of Starbucks mocha, and taking plenty of photos (I'll remember to 'post' some of them when we get home!)
So there we are, the life of the touring musician can have its compensations - I'm currently sitting in a bar with Robin, Chris and Phil, watching the European football championships, having a cool and relaxing drink, sheltering from the rain which is coming down in sheets, and having a laugh with my friends. Days like this are rare indeed for us, but when they come, we should accept them with good grace, and remember just how lucky we are to travel to some of the world's greatest cities.
Tomorrow's another day ......... Shanghai and a series of press conferences to be precise!
Paul. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
Asia tour, 16 June 2008
No performance today, just a bit of teaching. And we can say that a cappella singing in Hong Kong is safe and well! Six groups had been chosen for an evening workshop, so we had to work fast in our quest to improve their sound and performance. They all responded wonderfully, before a bit of Q and A on our lives, and a farewell piece from us that sounded very much like Jingle Bells. Alright, it WAS Jingle Bells! To the groups - Potenza, Joyous Girls, The Sregnis SIngers, Boys and Girls A Cappella, Mosaic and Hot Potters we say thank you.
Asia tour, 15 June 2008
Lovely though Taiwan is, we felt excited to be moving the tour forwards today. Hong Kong beckoned, even though it did so at a very early hour. The sure way of cracking jet-lag is to get up early and get on with it, and a couple of hours after leaving the hotel we were all sitting on an airplane eating breakfast, a meal the airline called 'lunch'.
Hong Kong is an exciting, noisy place, and for Englishmen there is a weird sense of familiarity despite the heat and humidity: this is a former British colony, one returned to the Chinese only 11 years ago. They drive on the left here, there are double-decker buses, and many street names call to mind the old country back home. And talking of home there was a lot of contact today as it was Father's Day. It is difficult being away from home sometimes, but we rallied round each other like a second family should.
We sang tonight in City Hall to an audience wild with excitement. It was a real thrill to walk out on to the stage and feed from the energy of the sell-out crowd. Chris whipped them into a frenzy with his Cantonese, after which it was all plain sailing. After an hour of post-concert CD signing we were driven back to our hotel, which sits practically next to the famous Star Ferry terminal, and went to a Chinese restaurant - which we guess are just called restaurants here!
The next fews days are more restful than the last six we have had, during which we have sung every evening. We'll let you know what we get up to right here of course. For now though, good night!
Asia tour, 14 June 2008
Another great day in Taipei. With the morning off, we could be found in the hotel gym, shopping in one of the many impressive malls near to our hotel, grabbing a quick Starbucks (yes, even in Taiwan!!!) or working in our rooms on admin or something more musical such as music-learning or arranging. Time off on tour is very precious and on a concert day it's always nice to combine off-stage work with relaxation before the evening show.
We left a little later today for the hall, as we've now performed this programme twice and it's starting to feel pretty familiar. Phil had gone early to work on some new Chinese arrangements (we won't spoil the surprise by telling you the titles!) so we worked on these in the rehearsal. Singing local songs is a very important part of our presentation whilst abroad, and it's great to have so many willing language coaches from our agency at hand to correct our (bad!) Chinese.
The concert was great - the National Concert Hall has such great accoustics that you feel as though the microphone system is in operation even when it's not - and the audience were as gracious as ever. Afterwards, to the lobby for a signing session and photos with our wonderful Taiwanese fans, and back to the hotel before an early start tomorrow morning. We have to be up for a 7.00am departure on our way to Hong Kong, which could be a real problem as many of us have been awake until way past midnight all week, suffering from jet-lag. Tomorrow's a busy day, but we'll let you know how it goes!
Asia tour, 13 June 2008
It's been a good day. With the National Concert Hall just down the road we were left to our own devices until 4 o'clock. With heavy rain falling a walk around town wasn't that appealing, so we looked instead to the charms of the hotel. Swimming in the outdoor pool would have been a great idea, but we were prevented from it by a photo-shoot going on with a bikini-clad model. Never mind, we didn't mind watching for a bit!
The National Concert Hall is 20 years old now, but the acoustisticians (not that easy a word to say!) did a wonderful job of making it an easy place to sing. We gave a different programme this evening from the ones we have so far presented, including the set of South African Zulu songs written for the group by Stanley Glasser and Lewis Nkosi. By including this we were unintentionally scoring a bullseye, because the Managing Director of our sponsor here, Chanel, is South African. After the sold-out show we were rushed up to the Chanel party which was very swish indeed. Speeches were made, toasts were proposed, and gifts were handed out. Yes. Gifts!
Asia tour, 12 June 2008
It's always nice to go to bed without setting an alarm clock; somehow it makes the quality of sleep much better. We were in that happy position last night as we gained our rooms at our Taipei base around midnight. Sleep is one thing, but so is the sumptuous breakfast here and we all made it down in time to have some juicy fruit (real fruit that is, not chewing-gum), green tea, and a better western breakfast than you'd ever find in the west. Thank goodness for the gym!
We are staying slap bang next to Taiwan's tallest building, which was until very recently also the world's tallest - Taipei 101. We were invited to lunch on the 85th floor (you've guessed it, there are 101 of them) by our agent here, and very nice it was too. It's a rather beautiful building we think. Click here to get it into perspective - it's the one on the left.
Today was designed to be our rest day in Taiwan, but we did have one engagement. The European Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan hosted the President of the Republic of China at a dinner, and we sang a set before the meal. Singing at these kinds of occasions takes skill, as not all hungry captains of industry are music lovers, and some are tempted to play around with their blackberries (not real fruit, but something you get free with every MBA) instead of watching what's happening up on the stage. That's unfair actually and we'd be doing tonight's diners an appalling disservice, because they loved it, and as a consequence so did we. We even got flowers which look very nice now stuffed into the ice buckets in our rooms! In our down time just now we've been out on the town, or reading, or catching up on emails, and pretty soon the Euro football championship comes on the TV. Thanks for your messages encouraging us to carry on with the blogs. We never knew you cared!
Asia tour, 11 June 2008
When you're crossing several time-zones, the second day is always worse than the first, or so the received wisdom has it. This certainly held true for us on this trip. Yesterday, when we perhaps should have felt exhausted, was fine. Today, after a night of snatched sleep amidst interruptions as our bodies decided we should still be awake, was much more difficult! We had the morning to rest before heading back up to Taichung on the ultra-efficient High Speed Train, arriving in time for a rehearsal at 5pm. We had sung in this hall a few years back, but it took a while for us to remember it and realise that we could do with some amplification to overcome a persistent aircon "hum" from the back rows. We also worked on a Chinese folksong to sing as an encore; everywhere we go we like to give the local audiences a taste of their own music after it's been given the KS treatment!
Before the concert we all had a major slump and virtually fell asleep in our rooms. It's a strange feeling, jet-lag on tour. You have to conserve all the energy you possess and release it on-stage during the two hours of performance so that the concert doesn't suffer. This works just fine, but means that for the rest of the day we're walking around like zombies.
The show was great – as usual a fantastic Taiwanese audience who were very gracious in their applause as well as attentive during the pieces themselves. The Chinese encore – "My Town" – went down a storm and we quickly left the venue in order to be sure of catching our train back to Taipei.
We've survived the dreaded "day 2," and judging by what we've experienced on this tour so far, the rest of the trip is going to be very memorable.
Asia tour, 10 June 2008
Got off to an extraordinary start: woke up feeling a bit jet-lagged, and not knowing where we were...... Coming out of the elevator on the way to breakfast, literally 'bumped into' Donny Osmond and his family. After rounds of 'what are you doing here?!' we had a quick chat and shared our thoughts on touring, and living out of a suitcase...... What a great guy, and what a small world!
Then we were 'whisked' off to a press conference in the sumptuous surroundings of the local 'Chanel' store, given rings and watches to wear, and then introduced to local journalists. Now we're on a Taiwan High-speed train on our way to Kaoshiung for our first concert. (Oh, not before giving the rings and watches back! - Nothing in life is free!!) - more later.
Just back at our hotel now, after what feels like a long day. The concert was lovely, such warm and friendly audiences here. We performed the 'Jungle Book' suite tonight, amongst several pieces that were new and/or unfamiliar; we had also decided to do this entire tour's music from memory - so no pressure there then! After the concert we went outside to meet and greet our fans - plenty of them, and my goodness its hot - around 30 Degrees C, and humidity at least 80%. We all agree that air-conditioning is a good thing, for once!! Good night......
Asia tour, 9 June 2008
This is a quite confusing blog to start because we're not sure if this is day 0, day 1, or day 2 of our trip east to Taiwan, China and South Korea. All we need to know I suppose is that we are a long way from home, and it took us a long time to get here! We are in Taipei, its late, but it feels like lunchtime. And its hot! Steve had the right idea wearing shorts. The rest of us are in our light jackets, looking a bit like ex-pat twits tugging at our collars to try and persuade a non-existent breath of fresh air to waft in.
We have lots of friends here, and it was a delight as usual to meet up with our management team here. On the way to the hotel we found out that they had just promoted Emanuel Ax, an extraordinary pianist with whom we toured a few years ago. He was still in Taipei, and celebrating his birthday, so we called him up and sang our greeting to him. He was thrilled, but must have wondered whether it really was The King's Singers. Well, we had been on an airplane all day...!
So, the tour is ahead of us, and I hope you will enjoy reading what we hope will be daily blogs over the next 18 days or so. We'll do our best anyway!
Posted by Robin Tyson, 7 June 2008
We have just sung in a suburb of Paris, St Cloud, and I am travelling home (I always like leaving Paris, but that’s another story). I say "I" because, unusually, I am on my own. Fear not dear reader, we haven’t had an argument! Stephen, Philip and David are flying to their regional UK airports, whilst Paul and Christopher have stayed on in Paris to talk about the group (yes, in French!) on the radio. I am stretched out in the Eurostar train with the music for our Asia trip in front of me. The train got going precisely on time and now that the high speed track has opened in England it promises to whisk me home to London in just 2 hours 15 minutes. It started me thinking how things have changed in the nearly 8 years since I was appointed to The King’s Singers.
I suppose there are new good things, new bad things, and also some things which haven’t changed at all. We haven’t had to worry about flight tickets for a while, as they are no longer needed (I did have a bit of a panic when trying to find the Eurostar tickets as it is so unusual these days!), but last week I was confronted by another first: I had my boarding pass sent to my cell/mobile phone (Helsinki to London) and all I had to do going through security and getting on the plane was to show the message. Brilliant or what?! Checking-in online is something that didn’t happen when I joined the group either, and come to think of it not all of us even had laptops. I won’t tell the story here, because I wouldn’t be able to tell it properly, but Stephen and David remember when ‘the group laptop’, which was the size of a small suitcase, travelled around with the group, closely connected to Simon Carrington.
Another major step forward has been the advent of Sat Navs. When necessary we drive ourselves around in Europe and the US which is now pretty relaxing. But before we had a kind-sounding lady telling us to ‘proceed to the highlighted route’ and ‘do a legal u-turn when possible’, there were some moments of being hopelessly lost. Fax copies of hotel instructions were often bewildering, and foreign-language help from the locals was of limited use. There was even one marvellous moment in the USA when I watched a piece of paper blow across a petrol station forecourt only to realise a few minutes later that it was our driving instructions!
There are other good things, like London’s Heathrow Express, Terminal 5, iPods, broadband instead of the creaking dial-up service, the euro, and the wonderful choral wikepedia online. But of course some travelling standards have declined, most owing to the 9/11 effect. The strip-off at security is tiresome to say the least, especially in the US, airplane food has got far worse (something noone could have thought possible), and luggage weight restrictions mean careful packing is required for a 3-week trip.
I have thought about what else is worse, and come to the conclusion that the good far outweighs the bad. That’s progress in the right direction I suppose. And what about the things which have stayed the same? That would be the support we get from followers of the group, and our constant striving to make every concert and recording we do as good as it can be.
Posted by Paul Phoenix, 4 June 2008
Many of you will remember our shows in Salt Lake City last December. (Or Salt Leg City as Edward, my 7 year old calls it!). We had a great time there working with one of the world's finest choirs, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Whilst there we met Donny Osmond and his family who came along to one of our shows, a real honour for us. Since that meeting, we had been lucky enough to be invited to one of their shows on the Osmonds 50th anniversary world tour, and last Tuesday, Robin, Chris and I, along with our families went to Cardiff, in South Wales (UK), to meet the Osmonds , and see them 'live in concert'.
What an experience! First of all,having caught up once again with Donny, we were taken to the 'green room', to meet the Osmond brothers, Jimmy, Merrill, Alan, and Joe, who were so welcoming and generous with their time, especially as it was only an hour before their concert. (I really learned a lesson from that one, as I usually prefer to hide in the dressing room and not talk to anyone before a show!). Then we gave an impromptu performance of 'Blackbird', with various contributions from the brothers (WOW!). I can tell you that I don't think I've ever been that nervous before, especially to such a small audience! You'll see from the photos that it was a really informal event. I feel so privileged that these world famous musicians took the time and trouble to meet with us, not just sharing their time with us but also with our families.
What a pleasure as well to watch and listen to the Osmond's show - a great spectacle, and a superb sound. We spent all of it on our feet, dancing, with fixed grins and feeling extremely lucky.
Huge thanks go to our friend Ron Gunnell, from Salt Lake, who made this possible. His continued generosity is wonderful - he truly deserves his title 'the seventh King's Singer'.
Posted by Stephen Connolly, Friday 30 May 2008
Just returned from a lovely post concert underground dinner hosted by the Helsinki Polytechnic men's choir - a real Finnish tradition of high quality male voice choir singing, and drinking, I hasten to add. I am not quite sure where my other colleagues went, to bed perhaps, but David and myself found ourselves serenaded till quite a late hour by the men (and their ladies who find all the singing just too tempting and seem to join in anyway). It was a surreal night and brought back many memories of Finland and the summer, where the country seems to stay up all night celebrating the end of the winter darkness and the arrival of the white nights. The celebrating seems to be as if the world might end tomorrow, leaving some of the country with large headaches by morning. The concert tonight was also marked with a beautiful cameo appearance by Finland's premiere vocal group Rajaton who sang a couple of pieces in the show, much to our delight, and also sang along side us in performance of You are the new day... they are a lovely group of people with a real talent for singing - if you don't know their work check them out. Tomorrow we go to Kiel in Germany for prepare for a show with Orchestra on Sunday. Kiel is a wonderful place and very famous for its fish - Sprotten to be precise. Little smoked sprats...yummy. Then its back to the UK on Monday to grab a few days before France at the end of the week.
Bis zum nächsten Mal!
Posted by Paul Phoenix, Thursday 15 May 2008
I'm a great fan of tours to the Far East which is why I'm looking forward to our trip in June. We're always extremely well looked after by our promoters, the audiences are large and extremely enthusiastic, and there's always a lot to see and do.
This coming tour will be no exception, I'm sure. We are represented in Asia by a company called MNA who always work very hard to make our visits as busy and enjoyable as possible. Check out our tour website - http://www.ks-2008asiantour.com.
Singing in China is an unreal experience, and our fans are amazing. This year we'll be singing in Hong Kong as well as mainland China, and we're really looking forward to spending a few days there - I might even do some shopping in Hong Kong.
For those of you that know me well, you'll know I'm excited about going running in some interesting places, whatever the weather (you can keep your hotel gym)!
Oh and let's not forget visiting our many friends in Taiwan as well. A land of warm welcomes, friendly faces, and of eager anticipation as we continue our 40th birthday celebrations.
I hope to see some of you soon.
Posted by Robin Tyson, Tuesday 13 May 2008
It is difficult to sum up the concerts we recently put on for our 40th anniversary at Cadogan Hall and King's College Cambridge. We sang well (we joked for months beforehand about these being BIG shows), but what made them really special was the audience, all of whom wanted to be part of the celebration. It was humbling to see most of the former singers in the audience, humbling to realize that there was demand for an extra show at Cadogan Hall, and humbling to sing in the splendour of King's College chapel. The reaction since has been wonderful: the original members have spoken about their pride in starting something special 40 years ago; fans who flew from as far away as New Zealand, Taiwan, Canada, the US and many European countries have sent emails expressing their delight in being able to meet each other and share stories; pleasing too is the way in which the UK press has wanted to write about, interview and broadcast the story of our 40th birthday. To those of you who were able to come, THANK YOU! You made it all worthwhile.
Posted by Christopher Gabbitas, Sunday 27 April 2008
Sitting here in my home on Sunday night before the biggest week of my KS career, I feel pretty humble. At 24 years old I was so fortunate to be picked as Gabriel's replacement and join perhaps the best-loved acappella ensemble in the world, but after a while it's easy to forget the history. Before a week like this, though, it all hits home again. On Tuesday we rehearse with Daryl Runswick's trio at the Royal College of Music in preparation for our two retro-shows at Cadogan Hall, our London home.
Daryl was literally there at the beginning - some of his arrangements appear on the debut album and he played and arranged for the group many times over the next forty years. To meet him will be a real treat, as arrangements such as "Lazy Bones/Up a Lazy River" and "I Got Rhythm" are some of my all-time favourites.
Then, on Wednesday, we have the first show in Cadogan Hall. I'm incredibly excited to be meeting so many of the original members for the first time, especially Simon Carrington, who sang my part in the first line-up and continued for the next 25 years. On Friday Simon and I are recording a radio broadcast together, and this will be a real treat.
Singing at King's College, Cambridge was always something I looked forward to when I was at university, but to do so now, with Stephen Cleobury and the Chapel Choir, will be something to remember. Then, after a to concert in Glasgow on Saturday with the Govan Songsters, we return to Cadogan for a repeat of Wednesday's sold-out show. There are still just a few tickets left for Sunday, so if you're thinking about coming - DO!!!
I'm sure it will all go by like a whirlwind, but for now I'm sitting quietly at home in London just wondering how it will all feel.... but thankful that I can be part of such a wonderful birthday!
Posted by David Hurley, Monday 21 April 2008
This has been a curious week for me. We moved house. Now that may not seem to be particularly extraordinary, but the odd thing about it was that I was not at home when the move took place. I left home on Sunday 13th April for the 25th anniversary celebrations of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain at Symphony Hall in Birmingham , where we premiered Eric Whitacre's new piece, The Stolen Child. After the concert we rushed back to London to spend a rather short night at Heathrow before flying to Amsterdam for five concerts with L'Arpeggiata in the Netherlands and Belgium. We are now eight days into the trip, and are in eastern Hungary. On Thursday I travel back to the UK, pick up my car, and drive to the new home. Now this may seem to be an ideal way to move house, and in many ways I have been spared many of the traumas that go with relocating. However since I have been away, my wife Sarah has coordinated the move, unpacked most of our belongings, stocked a new kitchen and started a new job. I would like to make it clear that it was her decision to move this week, and that I did organise the removal company. At the moment I do feel as though I am in limbo, for when I ring home I can only picture the new house as a series of empty rooms. I can't wait for Thursday, when I will head down the A3, rather than my old journey home along the M3, and head to the new place. Now all I need is a door key!Posted by Philip Lawson, Friday 18 April 2008
If you ever get a chance to hear L'Arpeggiata, with whom we are working at the moment, don't spurn it - they are some of the most accomplished musicians I've ever worked with in my seemingly endless career! We've just arrived in Antwerp for the last of a 4-concert tour of the Low Countries with them. Their trademark is improvising on Baroque ostinato pieces. Improvising is something The King's Singers have never done. Probably just as well I hear you say, and you'd be right. I could have done without the dancing, though. They have a ferociously athletic Italian dancer on their team, and in the encores she drags us to the stage one by one for a short burst of public humiliation. Trying to dance at the best of times is hard, but in shiny and slippery patent leather shoes.. casualty here I come.
Posted by Paul Phoenix, Thursday 17 April 2008
On our way to Antwerp today for a concert with the instrumental ensemble 'L'Arpeggiata' tomorrow evening. It's been a busy week, with 5 shows in as many days, starting last Sunday with our guest appearance with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, UK. We were lucky enough to spend a bit of time with Eric Whitacre (as well as singing in the world premiere of his piece 'The Stolen Child'). What a great guy; its so nice to meet incredibly talented people like Eric, who are so 'normal', easy-going and generous with their time. I hope our association with him will continue for a long time to come.
The rest of today will be spent travelling, followed by a meeting between the 6 of us when we arrive in Antwerp. Later I think I'll go for a run - I'll try to find a park to run around or a canal! Then on Sunday we're off to Hungary for 3 concerts. It'll be good to be back there, as we have many Hungarian fans who want to share in our anniversary celebrations.
I must admit though, I'm looking forward to a few days at home next week. I'm missing William, Edward and Helena, and there are times when a chat on the phone just isn't enough - what you really need is a hug!
Posted by Robin Tyson, Wednesday 16 April 2008
We had the pleasure of appearing with The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain last Sunday, where we brought to fruition the new piece Eric Whitacre has written for us, The Stolen Child. Whitacre is in incredible demand, and even a cursory glance at his music will tell you why. His music is original, well conceived, and enjoyable to listen to. The Stolen Child will, we are sure, go into the standard repertoire for chorus and ensemble. We can't wait to sing it again, and carry on working with Eric on new projects into the future. The fabulous National Youth Choirs of Great Britain conducted by Mike Brewer and an all-star line-up of guest conductors including Sir David Willcocks, John Rutter and Bob Chilcott are always a joy to hear. Check out Eric's blog and hear The Stolen Child.Posted by Stephen Connolly - Tuesday 8 April 2008
Post card from Italy
Wish you were here! ...lovely to be back on the road Performing again after a good Easter break from traveling and singing.. .and in BEAUTIFUL Italy!!. However, the trip did start with a 6 hour delay on the tarmac at London's Gatwick Airport, but Hey! what's Six hours when you have pasta, pizza and wonderful history at every corner. We are now Yodeling in Aosta in the Italian mountains having traveled up from Firenze and tomorrow to Torino to meet more friends along our Italian leg of our 40th anniversary celebrations.
Ciao!
Posted by Paul Phoenix - Monday 7 April 2008
Just arrived in Aosta (Italy) after a day of travel by train and bus from Firenze. The start of our work period after 3 weeks holiday was a bit of a shock to the system: we nearly missed our first show in Firenze last night after sitting in a 'snowbound' London Gatwick for over 6 hours, 4 of those hours on the plane, waiting to be de-iced. In fact we waited so long that the pilot just gave up, and declared us ready to leave, as by this time the snow had all melted!
Having finally arrived in Firenze we had a quick soundcheck, did the show, signed a few autographs and walked back to the hotel - all in all a 20 hour day. I know my friends tell me that I say it a lot, but never let anyone tell you that our job is glamourous. It might be the best job in the world, but its hard work! Got to go now, we have another show at 9 o'clock tonight, and we start rehearsing in 15 minutes.
This written standing at a bar, writing furiously on my Blackberry and sipping a cappuccino. Who says men can't 'multi-task' !!
Posted by Christopher Gabbitas - Thursday 13 March 2008
One of the most satisfying things about being in The King's Singers is that no two days are ever alike. This time last month we were in the US on tour, where we have to get used to days that can sometimes involve two or three flights, a rehearsal and performance, and many prayers that the winter weather won't delay us. At the moment I'm sitting in my hotel room in Stuttgart, Germany, having spent the last two days teaching young people from the Musik Hochschule some ways to improve their ensemble singing. The two countries couldn't be any more different, really - the US is huge and on our drive from Oklahoma City to Amarillo, for example, we spent literally hours travelling in a straight line through fields. Germany, on the other hand, is far more crowded and everything seems smaller, a bit like in the UK!
Sometimes it does take a while to adjust; after a month in America with no language barrier and 24 hour food, drink and entertainment, it's always a shock to fly into Munich airport and suddenly have to dredge through the memory banks to find our German phrases. Audiences are different, too, and of course we do all our announcements from stage in German which sometimes leads fans to think we are all fluent (it quickly becomes obvious that we aren't!). As I spend longer in the group, though, it becomes easier to switch between cultures. You even get to know certain cities and where the good places to eat are - although it's always impossible to find lunch on a Sunday afternoon in Europe! The rest of the time is taken up with learning repertoire, travelling to the next venue, and resting up. With the three anniversary shows on 30 April and 1 & 4 May in the UK, there is a lot of new music to learn that I've never sung before, and I'm enjoying re-visiting many of the old recordings on my iPod in order to get the feel of how the original group did things - and to brush up on the notes, of course.
The past few days have been particularly great. We spend a lot of time in Stuttgart as our German agency is based here, and every other year or so we host a two-day residency at the Musik Hochschule (Music Conservatoire) - one of the best in Germany. This time around we have taught seven groups comprising of singers, instrumentalists and music education students, and as usual the standard was high and the results incredible. Although performing onstage is my first love, there's something incredibly satisfying about teaching and seeing the results, and the way the students start to enjoy what they do more and more as the sessions go on. Last month we were fortunate to be guests of the Texas Music Educations, and two divisions of the American Choral Directors Association, and met many students and music teachers who we taught, performed to and chatted with, so it's been a great time for our education work and we've been able to give a lot of help and encouragement to the musicians and audiences of tomorrow.
The great thing is that, wherever we go, we find the same love of singing, and a real desire from other people to learn about what we do and how we do it, and that makes this job very special.
Posted by Robin Tyson – Sunday 17 February 2008
Mexico
The welcome we received in Mexico City was overwhelming, especially considering we hadn't been there for seven years. We had thought we would have to introduce ourselves a little, but we had to revise that impression as we walked on to the stage of the Palacio Bellas Artes: we received applause that would normally come at the end of a show, and knew we were amongst friends! We needed them to be our friends as we tackled a set of Spanish songs during the concert, but we needn't have worried, and the reception at the end of the show was a very special moment for all of us.
We gave a workshop/masterclass with a group we had met on our previous visit - Voz en Punto, who are well-known in their home city. The session was just what our presenters, the Anglo-Mexican Foundation, would have wished for, because we took as much away from hearing and watching them perform as we gave them. A real cross-cultural experience, which was watched by a full concert hall.
Our short visit was punctuated by great food, sunshine and interviews. We left happy and resolving that another seven years will not pass before we return to a quite intoxicating country!
Posted by Robin Tyson – 12 February 2008
Eric Whitacre
We visited San Antonio to sing for the Texas Music Educators Association this week, singing a great concert to 3000 enthusiastic teachers, and next day giving a presentation to them about our work, approach to singing and performing. Back at our hotel we met composer Eric Whitacre, who was also in town. Eric has written us and the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain a piece which will be premiered this April in Birmingham (England!), which he handed over to us. A self-confessed fan of The King's Singers, it looks like Eric has pulled off another winning piece! He is one of the most exciting and sought-after composers around, and we are looking forward to a fruitful relationship in the years to come.
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