Taipei audiences will have the opportunity to sit back and enjoy the musical charms of the UK's leading choral act, the King's Singers next week, when the National Concert Hall (
Be it music from the time of Henry VIII, choral tunes dating from the French Renaissance, operatic arias, contemporary folk songs or re-working of modern rock anthems and pop tunes, the a cappella choral group tackles each with a musical dexterity and comedic style that once seen is impossible to forget.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MANAGEMENT OF NEW ARTS
Formed in 1965 at King's College, Cambridge, by six choral scholars, the group's original lineup spent its early days juggling their studies with performances in the college's chapel and at balls and festivals throughout the Cambridge area.
Under the guise of the Schola Cantorum Pro Musica Profana in Cantabridgiense, the group released its debut album that same year. The album might not have been a hit, but a copy did find its way into the hands of celebrated British conductor, Sir Neville Marriner who liked what he heard and arranged several concerts for the group outside of the university town.
In May 1968 the group, which had gone by many monikers since 1965, settled on the name King's Singers just prior to its London debut performance. The group's popularity spiraled out of all proportions in the following years and by the mid-1970s it had become a British institution and was a regular fixture on UK radio and television shows.
The ensemble has gained worldwide acclaim over the past three decades and has performed at many contrasting venues that have included everything from European cathedrals to New York's Shea Stadium and at private functions for the British monarchy at Windsor Castle.
Along the way, the group has found time to collaborate with famous musicians and orchestras such as Kiri Te Kanawa, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Pops, with which it collaborated on an album featuring Beatles tunes that were specially rearranged by the Fab Four's original producer, George Martin.
Since it was founded, the group has seen 19 members come and go but has always remained a sextet. And while today's King's Singers are all far too young to remember the group's earliest line-up they are all equally well-versed in both song and humorous banter -- the main constituent of a King's singer over the years.
Along with the music the King's Singers adds large doses of humor to its shows, albeit of the predominantly off-center British variety, interspersed with plenty of sublime comedic banter and many of the tunes themselves are reworked to include comic moments.
While the upcoming concerts are not the group's first in Taiwan it is the first time the current line-up of counter tenor David Hurley, tenor Paul Phoenix, Robin Tyson, baritone Philip Lawson, bass Steven Connolly and the group's newest and youngest member Christopher Gabbitas will have performed here together.
The group's upcoming Taipei performances will offer audiences the chance to hear two very contrasting sets. The King's Singers will open its concert series with a set entitled The Voice of the Classics, at which it will treat audiences to classical choral songs by composers including 15th Century Spanish composer Mateo Flecha and Italian choral composer Goffredo Petrassi along with a selection of some more contemporary songs including jazz, folk and pop.
The group's second show, which takes place next Thursday, is entitled The Voice of Romance, and will feature a selection of folk songs from the British Isles as well as Renaissance music from France and an assortment of contemporary numbers by popular Hungarian composer, Gyorgy Ligeti.
For your information :
What: The King's Singer Live in Taipei
Where: The National Concert Hall (台北國家音樂廳).
When: 7:45pm on Wednesday, Sept. 29 and Thursday, Sept. 30.
Tickets: Tickets cost from NT$500 to NT$2,000 and are available from ERA Ticketing outlets nationwide or direct from the ticketing office at the CKS Cultural Center.
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