The King's Singers

10 / 01 / 2012

2012 - European Tour to Start the Year

2012 begins with a series of concerts around Europe, visiting cities in the Czech Republic, The United Arab Emirates, Italy, Germany and France.

Tonight we perform our first concert of the year in the beautiful Church of St. Simon and St. Jude in Prague. We will be performing the programme “A Lover’s Journey” which includes the four-song set of the same name by Libby Larsen, as well as tracks from our latest album, High Flight.

Having performed for The Dubai Concert Committee in April 2011, we return there on Thursday for their gala concert of 2012, “Dinner with The King’s Singers”. Following a first half of madrigals by Weelkes, Bennet, Byrd and Tomkins, we will then perform a selection of close-harmony favourites.

On Sunday 15 January we have our first performance of the “Royal Rhymes and Rounds” programme that we will be touring throughout 2012 in celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. This is a programme of music influenced by Royal Courts throughout history. With music from King Henry VIII’s manuscript, madrigals from the time of Elizabeth I and part-songs from the age of Queen Victoria this really is a feast of music through the ages. The programme also includes a brand new piece by Paul Drayton, an amusing musical history that explores the sometimes precarious nature of the succession of England’s monarchs. We are delighted to be performing A Rough Guide to the Royal Succession and look forward to sharing it with audiences across the world during 2012. The concert takes place in the spectacular Saloncino del Teatro della Pergola in Florence.

Following a short visit to Udine for a performance of our much-loved programme “Friends” on Monday evening, we fly to Cologne for a concert at the Cologne Philharmonie. We are thrilled to be returning to our friends and fans in Cologne, and will perform “Tanzen und Springen”, a programme that explores choral compositions of many styles which are inspired by dance music.

Our final country to visit in January is France, where we perform six concerts, including at the Salle Gaveau in Paris and the Polydome in Clermont Ferrand.

We do hope that you are able to join us for one of our performances across Europe, further information about concert dates can be seen on our concerts page. We look forward to seeing you soon.

19 / 01 / 2012

Join us at a live recording

Tickets are now on sale for you to join us for a concert that is being recorded for a live album release on the Naxos label later this year. On Saturday 24 March 2012, we will be in Nashville, Tennessee, for a concert in the Cathedral of the Incarnation, and would be delighted if you are able to share the evening with us.

The programme, “Pater Noster”, is a meditative exploration of music inspired by or linked to The Lord’s Prayer. With works both ancient and modern, we will be performing pieces by Josquin, Palestrina and Byrd as well as Stravinsky, Bernstein, and Duruflé and many others.

Tickets for this Choral Refection are available online or by calling +1 800 838 3006

23 / 01 / 2012

Vocal Australia help promote King’s Singers tour

We are delighted that Vocal Australia, Australia’s Contemporary A Cappella Hub, have been promoting our upcoming tour to Australia and New Zealand to all of their fabulous members. At the heart of Australian a cappella music, Vocal Australia presents a variety of highly successful programs throughout Australia including their GET VOCAL Festivals, Showcases and Workshops. By providing events, education and resources for singers, Vocal Australia is on a "Multi-harmonic crusade" to grow and nurture the future of Aussie a cappella. As part of our visit to Australia, Vocal Australia ran competitions to win tickets to our concerts in Melbourne and Sydney, and we are very much looking forward to meeting the winners.

Tickets are selling fast for our concerts in Australia and New Zealand, so make sure you book up now before it is too late. Full details of all the concerts are available on our calendar, but as a quick run down of dates, we will be performing in the following places:

10 February – Adelaide Festival Centre with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

11 February – Adelaide Festival Centre with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

14 February – Melbourne Recital Centre

15 February – Melbourne Recital Centre

16 February – Sydney Opera House

19 February – Queensland Performing Arts Centre with the Queensland Pops Orchestra

22 February – The Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, Hamilton, New Zealand

25 February – Auckland Town Hall, Auckland, New Zealand

As our first visit to Australia in 27 years, we cannot wait to start the tour.

If you would like to know more information about Vocal Australia, please do follow one of the links below:

Website: http://www.vocalaustralia.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/VocalAustralia

Twitter: @VocalAustralia

03 / 02 / 2012

Sell-out at Salisbury Cathedral

We were delighted to see more than 1100 people at Salisbury Cathedral on Saturday 28th January, when we said farewell to Philip after 18 years with the group. It was a wonderful evening, and we were joined by the fabulous South Wilts A Cappella Choir, conducted by Libby Poppleton, who sang Duruflé's Requiem, as well as performing with us for Bob Chilcott's Even Such is Time. The programme for the evening also included a group of folk songs that had been arranged by both Philip himself, and also long time friend of the group, Gordon Langford, who was able to join us for the concert. As usual, at the end of the evening, we performed a selection of close harmony pieces, and these were all chosen by Philip, and included I'm a Train, Lullabye and It's a New World.

Philip had been a King's Singer for 18 years, and it was fitting that his final performance was in his home town of Salisbury , where he sang with the choir before leaving to join The King's Singers.

Below is a message from Philip to all King's Singer fans who have supported him over the years:

Dear friends,

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank fans and friends of the group worldwide for your tremendous support over the years and your many kind comments both after concerts and by email, not just about my singing, but also about my arrangements. It means an awful lot to have your work acknowledged and affirmed, but it means even more to know that occasionally your music can actually affect people's lives in a positive way. That's the biggest incentive there is to continue writing, which I of course intend to do! So many thanks, and see you/hear from you soon!

Philip