News of The King's Singers
King's Singers News
Read our latest news, hear about recent events, CD releases and topical posts from the guys on tour and in the studio.Would you like to become a Friend of The King’s Singers and receive information straight to your mailbox? Sign up here for FREE or check out VIP membership.
Temporary holder for the Flash object
Latest News
- Welcome Back To The King's Singers - Sep 2010
- Preparing To Become A King's Singer - Aug 2010
- Review From The Observer, Three Choirs Festival - Aug 2010
- King's Singers Open Lakes District Summer Music In Style - Aug 2010
- Performance Tonight In The Lahti Organ Festival - Aug 2010
- Pachelbel Vespers On The Early Music Show - Jul 2010
- Back On Tour In Austria And Germany - Jul 2010
- Oxford Times: Bass Jonathan Howard Talks About His Recruitment To The King's Singers - Jul 2010
- The Summer'Singers Meet The King's Singers - Jul 2010
- Asia Tour Coming To A Close - Jul 2010
- Happy 4th Of July To Our American Friends - Jul 2010
- Article In Time Out Kuala Lumpur - Jun 2010
- A Note From Jonathan Howard: What It's Like Becoming A King's Singer - Jun 2010
- Radio Taiwan International - 'The King's Singers Perform In Taipei' - Jun 2010
- King's Singers To Perform Tonight In Taipei - Jun 2010
15 / 07 / 2010 - Oxford Times: Bass Jonathan Howard talks about his recruitment to The King's Singers
A few weeks ago, Jonathan Howard spoke with the Oxford Times about his appointment to The King's Singers. Jonathan (Johnny) will become the new bass in the group when Stephen Connolly retires in September.
You can view the article on the Oxford Times website here.
Bass Jonathan Howard talks about his recruitment to The King's Singers
14th July 2010
By Giles Woodforde
Was it my imagination, or was there just the faintest raising of eyebrows from the surrounding crowd as Jonathan Howard and I met in the gleaming, marbled foyer of London’s Langham Hotel? We were certainly more casually dressed than the mobile-hugging business executives present. But the world of smart clothes (at least in the evenings) and good hotels will soon become commonplace to Jonathan (always called Johnny), for he is about to join the King’s Singers, since 1968 one of the world’s most successful choral ensembles.
To secure such a plum job at the age of 23, you might well imagine that Johnny’s life has been devoted to singing ever since he could put one word and musical note in front of another. But the reality is a little different.
“I started formal singing lessons when I was 15, and really enjoyed it — it sounds awful, but loads of my really cool friends, and lots of attractive girls at school had the same teacher, so I wanted to have lessons with her too. That was really the main impetus for starting.”
Johnny cheerfully and frankly admits to applying for a choral scholarship and membership of New College Choir “because I was told it would make it easier to get in”. Determined to have a life outside music at Oxford, he won medals for “Intercollegiate Trampolining”, and was chosen to appear on the BBC3 series Clever v Stupid.
“The producers sent an email round to all the Oxford and Cambridge JCR presidents asking if they knew anyone with a really strange brain who would probably enjoy being on TV. We had an initial meeting in London, and they asked: ‘What marks your intelligence out?’ I replied that I love to learn lists — I rattled my way through the Kings of England, and the States of America. They also gave us logic and intuitive problems, and I managed them. Then there was a weird team-building day, when they saw how you worked as a unit. I felt a bit of a farce, everyone else was seriously clever. I felt like saying: ‘I’m just a boy with a 2:1 classics degree’.”
Johnny further admits to one or two brushes with ‘authority’ at Oxford for an apparent lack of commitment to singing, but it almost seems as if his destiny was being mapped out. He was a founding member of the Oxford Clerks, who are very much modelled on the King’s Singers in their a capella singing style, and broad range of repertoire. So surely this was very good training?
“Absolutely. I think it introduced me to the concept of ensemble singing. Even with New College Choir at a size of 30, there’s no way you’re going to get an absolute blend. When there are just six of you, it’s so much more important that you pay attention to everyone else, and to the sound that you’re making. That really helped me during the audition process for the King’s Singers.”
It would be a considerable understatement to say that vacancies in the King’s Singers line-up are rare: the group has had only 20 members in its 42-year existence, an extraordinary record. Surely, I suggested to Johnny, there must have been thousands of applicants when it was announced that bass Stephen Connolly was stepping down after 23 years?
“You can’t really apply for the job. They send emails out to a number of important music directors around the country, asking them to recommend anyone they think might be suitable.
“I was the very first candidate on the very first day. It was terrifying, but also hugely fun. I didn’t in a million years imagine I would get past the first round, but I thought: ‘How can you squander a once in a lifetime opportunity to sing with these guys?’ Five of us made it through to the final round, when we were given eight pieces to learn, five with music, and three off by heart — one was sent only two days beforehand to see if we could learn things quickly.”
Johnny thinks he won through because his voice is young enough to mould into the unique King’s Singers sound. His enthusiasm for his new job is plainly immense, even though there was one misgiving to start with: “I was scared initially because musicians can be really weird. It’s a dream job, but, I wondered, are they all going to be loopy? And they’re not, which is great.”
