A feast of singing, beautifully contoured and buffed to a satin finish.

—Dallas Morning News

Program

Myths, featuring the premiere of a piece by Bay Area composer Gabriela Lena Frank, as well as works by Bennet, Schültz, Weelkes, Monteverdi and Saint-Saëns

ENCORE:
RANDY NEWMAN: Short People

About This Performance

Vivacious and versatile, the King’s Singers possess an “impeccably manicured vocal blend, enchanting the ear from first to last note.” (Gramophone) The Singers circle the globe annually, performing music from the Renaissance to Romantic and from Classical to commissioned premieres. With a dozen commissions since 2000, the King’s Singers’ latest works come from Michael Nyman as well as American Eric Whitacre.

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artist biography

Described as possessing an “impeccably manicured vocal blend, enchanting the ear from first to last note” (Gramophone Magazine), The King’s Singers maintain the highest calibre of a cappella performance, and continue to be one of the most sought-after and critically acclaimed vocal ensembles in the world. Recognition of that fact was underlined by a prestigious Grammy award in the 2009 ceremony.

Their concert diary includes in excess of 120 performances annually, delighting their widespread and enthusiastic fan-base. Recent highlights include performances in London’s Royal Albert Hall, Windsor Castle, The Sage Gateshead, King’s College Chapel, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Salzburg Mozarteum and Paris Salle Gaveau. In the US, concerts include Cincinnati, Lincoln Center (New York), Dallas, Salt Lake City (with the Utah Symphony), Princeton University, and New York City’s Carnegie Hall.

Since its inception at King’s College, Cambridge in 1968 the group has performed to sell-out audiences as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and sung to audiences in Lebanon, Tel Aviv, the Azores and Bermuda. They undertake regular visits to the Far East, singing in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. In recent seasons they have been in mainland China, at Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts and at the Shanghai Concert Hall.

Always interested in different styles and genres of music, The King’s Singers foster collaborations that are often recorded by radio and TV, or for CD and DVD. They have worked with the international music ensemble Sarband, viol consort Concordia, the WDR Big Band, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and the early music improvisation band L’Arpeggiata. Soloists with whom they have worked include pianist Emanuel Ax, jazz legend George Shearing, soprano Dame Kiri te Kanawa, mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, accompanist Roger Vignoles and the percussionist Evelyn Glennie.

The King’s Singers recordings have garnered both awards and significant critical acclaim, including a Grammy award in 2009 for Simple Gifts. In 2001, Circle of Life received a Grammy Award nomination. Chanson d'Amour reached the top ten on the Billboard crossover charts. Other recordings in the canon range from Annie Laurie – Folk Songs of the British Isles to Good Vibrations. From Byrd to the Beatles, a recent documentary of the group available on DVD, provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes look in the recording studio, as the six King’s Singers tackle the technical feat of singing Thomas Tallis’s 40-part motet Spem in Alium. Now recording for Signum Classics, the group has covered music from the renaissance in The Golden Age; Siglo de Oro (“unmissable”, Classic FM Magazine), to Landscape & Time, a contemporary album (“impeccable singing” Gramophone Magazine) and Simple Gifts, a studio album of folk, spiritual and pop, which was released in the group’s 40th anniversary season, went to No. 1 in the iTunes crossover charts and won a Grammy in 2009. Their most recent recordings are Romance du Soir, containing music by Saint-Saëns, Elgar, Schubert and others, and a live performance CD and DVD from the Royal Albert Hall at the BBC Proms.

Expanding the scope of their repertoire The King’s Singers have commissioned over 200 works from a host of prominent contemporary composers including György Ligeti, Richard Rodney Bennett, Luciano Berio, Peter Maxwell Davies, Steve Martland, Gian Carlo Menotti, Krysztof Penderecki, Ned Rorem, John Rutter, Eric Whitacre, Toru Takemitsu and John Tavener. This branch of their work is constantly expanding.

The charm and wit of The King’s Singers is ever-present on the concert platform and in recordings, but is also passed down through workshops and masterclasses. The group is “Prince Consort Ensemble in Residence” at The Royal College of Music in London, and holds a bi-annual summer course for ensembles at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany. Unique musical arrangements often used by choirs and ensembles are available through the group’s publisher, Hal Leonard Corporation. On DVD The King’s Singers: A Workshop, an educational programme produced in the USA by the Hal Leonard Corporation, features excerpts from these masterclasses and concerts.