One of the strangest things I had to get used to as a classical singer joining the KS, was using microphones. My second-fourth concerts back in 2004 were in Milwaukee, with the Symphony Orchestra, and my colleagues rapidly trained me in microphone technique, how to use monitors and the differing techniques required in order to produce the best solo and group sound whilst amplified.Not using amplification is something of which the KS are justifiably proud; there are many groups that use microphones all the time, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that, but one of our hallmarks has been that we produce a sound that doesn't require amplification - the benefit being that we can be infinitely flexible within the bounds of the human voice, and create a palate of colours that maintains interest for the duration of a 2-hour concert. The one proviso to this has always been that if with orchestra, outside, or in a particularly huge venue (think the 23,000 capacity Conference Center in Salt Lake City) we do need a little extra help - provided as naturally as possible!However..... the Great American Songbook programme changed this, to an extent. We discussed for hours whether we should depart from our usual rule of acoustic performance wherever possible, and in the end agreed that as long as we did it for the right reasons, we should use microphones for some GAS performances. What were the "right reasons?" Well, stagecraft, lighting, and adding value to a performance are good reasons; doing it as a gimmick or simply to make life easier are not good reasons!The results have been good, from our perspective. Using more of the stage, setting up lighting shows and forming up in different arrangements on-stage (clusters, inverted formations with no sight-lines, and singers entering the stage one by one or remaining off-stage for certain passages) have certainly added something to a performance that could have felt a bit flat with 2 hours of the same style of music sung acoustically in the same stage position!Likewise, the orchestral concerts have been boosted by the new microphone techniques we've learned through this process. Until now, we've managed only one-off shows, but starting this week we've begun a collaboration with the NDR Sinfonieorchester in northern Germany. Two concerts in Hannover are followed next month by a tour around northern Germany, Holland and Austria. If you want to see the KS in a different format, come and try it! We're certainly never going to give up our chamber music, acoustic performances - these will always be dearest to our hearts - but this new adventure adds a valuable facet to our repertoire and activities.
One of the strangest things I had to get used to as a classical singer joining the KS, was using microphones. My second-fourth concerts back in 2004 were in Milwaukee, with the Symphony Orchestra, and my colleagues rapidly trained me in microphone technique, how to use monitors and the differing techniques required in order to produce the best solo and group sound whilst amplified.Not using amplification is something of which the KS are justifiably proud; there are many groups that use microphones all the time, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that, but one of our hallmarks has been that we produce a sound that doesn't require amplification - the benefit being that we can be infinitely flexible within the bounds of the human voice, and create a palate of colours that maintains interest for the duration of a 2-hour concert. The one proviso to this has always been that if with orchestra, outside, or in a particularly huge venue (think the 23,000 capacity Conference Center in Salt Lake City) we do need a little extra help - provided as naturally as possible!However..... the Great American Songbook programme changed this, to an extent. We discussed for hours whether we should depart from our usual rule of acoustic performance wherever possible, and in the end agreed that as long as we did it for the right reasons, we should use microphones for some GAS performances. What were the "right reasons?" Well, stagecraft, lighting, and adding value to a performance are good reasons; doing it as a gimmick or simply to make life easier are not good reasons!The results have been good, from our perspective. Using more of the stage, setting up lighting shows and forming up in different arrangements on-stage (clusters, inverted formations with no sight-lines, and singers entering the stage one by one or remaining off-stage for certain passages) have certainly added something to a performance that could have felt a bit flat with 2 hours of the same style of music sung acoustically in the same stage position!Likewise, the orchestral concerts have been boosted by the new microphone techniques we've learned through this process. Until now, we've managed only one-off shows, but starting this week we've begun a collaboration with the NDR Sinfonieorchester in northern Germany. Two concerts in Hannover are followed next month by a tour around northern Germany, Holland and Austria. If you want to see the KS in a different format, come and try it! We're certainly never going to give up our chamber music, acoustic performances - these will always be dearest to our hearts - but this new adventure adds a valuable facet to our repertoire and activities.
One of the strangest things I had to get used to as a classical singer joining the KS, was using microphones. My second-fourth concerts back in 2004 were in Milwaukee, with the Symphony Orchestra, and my colleagues rapidly trained me in microphone technique, how to use monitors and the differing techniques required in order to produce the best solo and group sound whilst amplified.Not using amplification is something of which the KS are justifiably proud; there are many groups that use microphones all the time, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that, but one of our hallmarks has been that we produce a sound that doesn't require amplification - the benefit being that we can be infinitely flexible within the bounds of the human voice, and create a palate of colours that maintains interest for the duration of a 2-hour concert. The one proviso to this has always been that if with orchestra, outside, or in a particularly huge venue (think the 23,000 capacity Conference Center in Salt Lake City) we do need a little extra help - provided as naturally as possible!However..... the Great American Songbook programme changed this, to an extent. We discussed for hours whether we should depart from our usual rule of acoustic performance wherever possible, and in the end agreed that as long as we did it for the right reasons, we should use microphones for some GAS performances. What were the "right reasons?" Well, stagecraft, lighting, and adding value to a performance are good reasons; doing it as a gimmick or simply to make life easier are not good reasons!The results have been good, from our perspective. Using more of the stage, setting up lighting shows and forming up in different arrangements on-stage (clusters, inverted formations with no sight-lines, and singers entering the stage one by one or remaining off-stage for certain passages) have certainly added something to a performance that could have felt a bit flat with 2 hours of the same style of music sung acoustically in the same stage position!Likewise, the orchestral concerts have been boosted by the new microphone techniques we've learned through this process. Until now, we've managed only one-off shows, but starting this week we've begun a collaboration with the NDR Sinfonieorchester in northern Germany. Two concerts in Hannover are followed next month by a tour around northern Germany, Holland and Austria. If you want to see the KS in a different format, come and try it! We're certainly never going to give up our chamber music, acoustic performances - these will always be dearest to our hearts - but this new adventure adds a valuable facet to our repertoire and activities.
One of the strangest things I had to get used to as a classical singer joining the KS, was using microphones. My second-fourth concerts back in 2004 were in Milwaukee, with the Symphony Orchestra, and my colleagues rapidly trained me in microphone technique, how to use monitors and the differing techniques required in order to produce the best solo and group sound whilst amplified.Not using amplification is something of which the KS are justifiably proud; there are many groups that use microphones all the time, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that, but one of our hallmarks has been that we produce a sound that doesn't require amplification - the benefit being that we can be infinitely flexible within the bounds of the human voice, and create a palate of colours that maintains interest for the duration of a 2-hour concert. The one proviso to this has always been that if with orchestra, outside, or in a particularly huge venue (think the 23,000 capacity Conference Center in Salt Lake City) we do need a little extra help - provided as naturally as possible!However..... the Great American Songbook programme changed this, to an extent. We discussed for hours whether we should depart from our usual rule of acoustic performance wherever possible, and in the end agreed that as long as we did it for the right reasons, we should use microphones for some GAS performances. What were the "right reasons?" Well, stagecraft, lighting, and adding value to a performance are good reasons; doing it as a gimmick or simply to make life easier are not good reasons!The results have been good, from our perspective. Using more of the stage, setting up lighting shows and forming up in different arrangements on-stage (clusters, inverted formations with no sight-lines, and singers entering the stage one by one or remaining off-stage for certain passages) have certainly added something to a performance that could have felt a bit flat with 2 hours of the same style of music sung acoustically in the same stage position!Likewise, the orchestral concerts have been boosted by the new microphone techniques we've learned through this process. Until now, we've managed only one-off shows, but starting this week we've begun a collaboration with the NDR Sinfonieorchester in northern Germany. Two concerts in Hannover are followed next month by a tour around northern Germany, Holland and Austria. If you want to see the KS in a different format, come and try it! We're certainly never going to give up our chamber music, acoustic performances - these will always be dearest to our hearts - but this new adventure adds a valuable facet to our repertoire and activities.
One of the strangest things I had to get used to as a classical singer joining the KS, was using microphones. My second-fourth concerts back in 2004 were in Milwaukee, with the Symphony Orchestra, and my colleagues rapidly trained me in microphone technique, how to use monitors and the differing techniques required in order to produce the best solo and group sound whilst amplified.Not using amplification is something of which the KS are justifiably proud; there are many groups that use microphones all the time, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that, but one of our hallmarks has been that we produce a sound that doesn't require amplification - the benefit being that we can be infinitely flexible within the bounds of the human voice, and create a palate of colours that maintains interest for the duration of a 2-hour concert. The one proviso to this has always been that if with orchestra, outside, or in a particularly huge venue (think the 23,000 capacity Conference Center in Salt Lake City) we do need a little extra help - provided as naturally as possible!However..... the Great American Songbook programme changed this, to an extent. We discussed for hours whether we should depart from our usual rule of acoustic performance wherever possible, and in the end agreed that as long as we did it for the right reasons, we should use microphones for some GAS performances. What were the "right reasons?" Well, stagecraft, lighting, and adding value to a performance are good reasons; doing it as a gimmick or simply to make life easier are not good reasons!The results have been good, from our perspective. Using more of the stage, setting up lighting shows and forming up in different arrangements on-stage (clusters, inverted formations with no sight-lines, and singers entering the stage one by one or remaining off-stage for certain passages) have certainly added something to a performance that could have felt a bit flat with 2 hours of the same style of music sung acoustically in the same stage position!Likewise, the orchestral concerts have been boosted by the new microphone techniques we've learned through this process. Until now, we've managed only one-off shows, but starting this week we've begun a collaboration with the NDR Sinfonieorchester in northern Germany. Two concerts in Hannover are followed next month by a tour around northern Germany, Holland and Austria. If you want to see the KS in a different format, come and try it! We're certainly never going to give up our chamber music, acoustic performances - these will always be dearest to our hearts - but this new adventure adds a valuable facet to our repertoire and activities.
One of the strangest things I had to get used to as a classical singer joining the KS, was using microphones. My second-fourth concerts back in 2004 were in Milwaukee, with the Symphony Orchestra, and my colleagues rapidly trained me in microphone technique, how to use monitors and the differing techniques required in order to produce the best solo and group sound whilst amplified.Not using amplification is something of which the KS are justifiably proud; there are many groups that use microphones all the time, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that, but one of our hallmarks has been that we produce a sound that doesn't require amplification - the benefit being that we can be infinitely flexible within the bounds of the human voice, and create a palate of colours that maintains interest for the duration of a 2-hour concert. The one proviso to this has always been that if with orchestra, outside, or in a particularly huge venue (think the 23,000 capacity Conference Center in Salt Lake City) we do need a little extra help - provided as naturally as possible!However..... the Great American Songbook programme changed this, to an extent. We discussed for hours whether we should depart from our usual rule of acoustic performance wherever possible, and in the end agreed that as long as we did it for the right reasons, we should use microphones for some GAS performances. What were the "right reasons?" Well, stagecraft, lighting, and adding value to a performance are good reasons; doing it as a gimmick or simply to make life easier are not good reasons!The results have been good, from our perspective. Using more of the stage, setting up lighting shows and forming up in different arrangements on-stage (clusters, inverted formations with no sight-lines, and singers entering the stage one by one or remaining off-stage for certain passages) have certainly added something to a performance that could have felt a bit flat with 2 hours of the same style of music sung acoustically in the same stage position!Likewise, the orchestral concerts have been boosted by the new microphone techniques we've learned through this process. Until now, we've managed only one-off shows, but starting this week we've begun a collaboration with the NDR Sinfonieorchester in northern Germany. Two concerts in Hannover are followed next month by a tour around northern Germany, Holland and Austria. If you want to see the KS in a different format, come and try it! We're certainly never going to give up our chamber music, acoustic performances - these will always be dearest to our hearts - but this new adventure adds a valuable facet to our repertoire and activities.
One of the strangest things I had to get used to as a classical singer joining the KS, was using microphones. My second-fourth concerts back in 2004 were in Milwaukee, with the Symphony Orchestra, and my colleagues rapidly trained me in microphone technique, how to use monitors and the differing techniques required in order to produce the best solo and group sound whilst amplified.Not using amplification is something of which the KS are justifiably proud; there are many groups that use microphones all the time, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that, but one of our hallmarks has been that we produce a sound that doesn't require amplification - the benefit being that we can be infinitely flexible within the bounds of the human voice, and create a palate of colours that maintains interest for the duration of a 2-hour concert. The one proviso to this has always been that if with orchestra, outside, or in a particularly huge venue (think the 23,000 capacity Conference Center in Salt Lake City) we do need a little extra help - provided as naturally as possible!However..... the Great American Songbook programme changed this, to an extent. We discussed for hours whether we should depart from our usual rule of acoustic performance wherever possible, and in the end agreed that as long as we did it for the right reasons, we should use microphones for some GAS performances. What were the "right reasons?" Well, stagecraft, lighting, and adding value to a performance are good reasons; doing it as a gimmick or simply to make life easier are not good reasons!The results have been good, from our perspective. Using more of the stage, setting up lighting shows and forming up in different arrangements on-stage (clusters, inverted formations with no sight-lines, and singers entering the stage one by one or remaining off-stage for certain passages) have certainly added something to a performance that could have felt a bit flat with 2 hours of the same style of music sung acoustically in the same stage position!Likewise, the orchestral concerts have been boosted by the new microphone techniques we've learned through this process. Until now, we've managed only one-off shows, but starting this week we've begun a collaboration with the NDR Sinfonieorchester in northern Germany. Two concerts in Hannover are followed next month by a tour around northern Germany, Holland and Austria. If you want to see the KS in a different format, come and try it! We're certainly never going to give up our chamber music, acoustic performances - these will always be dearest to our hearts - but this new adventure adds a valuable facet to our repertoire and activities.
