The King’s Singers are consistently welcomed on the world’s great stages today and have been throughout their history. They are ambassadors for musical excellence around the globe and have an ongoing commitment to new music that has resulted in an extraordinary wealth of original works as well as leading to some fantastic collaborations.

 

The King’s Singers were founded on May 1st, 1968, when choral scholars who had recently graduated from King’s College, Cambridge, gave a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre in London. Formed in Cambridge, the group had been singing together for some years in a range of lineups under a different name, but this London debut was the catalyst for a five-decade-long career. Their vocal make-up was, by chance, two countertenors, a tenor, two baritones and a bass, and the group has never wavered from this formation since.

 

As former members of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, traditional choral repertoire pulsed through the veins of the founding King’s Singers, though what distinguished The King's Singers in the early years was their musical versatility. They were a weekly fixture on prime-time television, celebrating popular music never usually touched by choral ensembles, and their unique British charm, combined with their precise musical craft, captured audiences’ hearts the world over. The group has regularly performed at venues from London’s Royal Albert Hall to Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall to the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

 

The King's Singers have accumulated many glowing reviews from the world’s great musical publications, two Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and place in Gramophone magazine’s inaugural Hall of Fame, among numerous other awards.

 

In their early years, the group’s sound was informed by the work of arrangers like Gordon Langford, Daryl Runswick and Goff Richards, many of whom had worked extensively with brass bands. Writing for voices with this specific experience helped to develop the blended “close-harmony” sound that has become a hallmark for so many King’s Singers performances and recordings since. In more recent times, individual King's Singers such as Philip Lawson and Bob Chilcott have written music prolifically from within the group. This music sits alongside a panoply of commissioned works by many superb composers of the 20th and 21st centuries – including Sir John Tavener, György Ligeti, Toru Takemitsu, John Rutter, Luciano Berio, Nico Muhly and Eric Whitacre. The group’s mission has always been to expand their repertoire with the aim of sharing their new music with ensembles and choirs of all kinds around the world. Much of their commissioned repertoire and arrangements are available in print through the publisher Hal Leonard. Over two million items from their King’s Singers collection have been shared with their customers worldwide.

 

This ongoing commitment to spreading great music incorporates a lot of teaching, both on tour and at home. In 2019, the group will lead workshops & masterclasses across the world as they travel. Weeklong residential courses now also take an important place in their annual calendar, when the six King's Singers work with groups and individuals on the techniques of ensemble singing that have governed how they make music to this day. Their next Summer School will take place in the beautiful Cambridge University, the home of The King’s Singers, in July 2019.

 

With 2018 marking the 50th birthday of the group, The King’s Singers have been celebrating their Gold anniversary, which acknowledges their amazing musical heritage, as well as the bright future of vocal music in all its forms as they move into 2019. The world may have changed a lot in the 50 years since the original King’s Singers came together, but today’s group still aims to radiate the joy that singing brings them every day. The King’s Singers are as determined as ever to inspire audiences with virtuosity and their vision for an exciting musical future.

 

 

Programme
Music: Ron Goodwin
“What kind of things do The King’s Singers sing?”

 

Getting Going (1968-72)
Arr.: Gordon Langford
Traditional: “Blow away the morning dew”

 

Arr.: Gordon Langford
Traditional: “The oak and the ash”

 

Music: Marion Sunshine, Moises Simons, Wolfe Gilbert
Arr.: Gordon Langford
“The peanut vendor”

 

Going Pro (1972-83)
Music: Albert Hammond
Arr.: Peter Knight
“I’m a train”

 

Music: Michael Flanders, Donald Swann
Arr.: Gordon Langford
“The slow train”

 

Music: Gioacchino Rossini
Arr.: Daryl Runswick
“Overture to The Barber of Seville”

 

Into America (1983-1990)
Music: Billy Joel
Arr.: Bob Chilcott
“And so it goes”

 

Music: Lennon and McCartney
Arr.: Paul Hart
“Honey Pie”

 

Randy Newman
Arr.: Bob Chilcott
“Texas girl at the funeral of her father”

 

Something Different (1990-2000)
Music: George Gershwin
Arr.: Bob Chilcott
“Oh! I can’t sit down”

 

Music: The Beach Boys
Arr.: Bob Chilcott
“Kokomo”

 

Music: Jacky Cheung
Arr.: Patrick Dunachie
“She came to my concert”

 

“The ender”
Music: Lennon and McCartney
Arr.: Daryl Runswick
“Ob-la-di, ob-la-da”

 

A New Day (2000-2018)
Music: John David
Arr.: Peter Knight
“You are the new day”

 

Music: Harold Arlen
Arr.: Alexander L’Estrange
“I’ve got the world on a string”

 

Music: Bob Chilcott
“We are”

 

The show goes on (2019-)
Music: Teresa Teng
Arr.: Philip Lawson
“The moon represents my heart”

 

Music: Quirino Mendoza y Cortés
Arr.: Jorge Cózatl
“Cielito lindo”

 

Music: Billie Eilish
Arr.: The King’s Singers
“Ocean eyes”

 

Music: Randy Newman
Arr.: Philip Lawson
“When she loved me”

 

Music: Terry Gilkyson
Arr.: Jamey Ray
“The Bare Necessities”

The above information, including performance times, lineups, programmes and ticket prices, are all subject to change without prior notice and for reference only.