The King's Singers    
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The King’s Singers have represented the gold
standard in a cappella singing on the world’s
greatest stages for over fifty years. They are
renowned for their unrivalled technique,
versatility and skill in performance, and for
their consummate musicianship, drawing both
on the group’s rich heritage and its pioneering
spirit to create an extraordinary wealth of
original works and unique collaborations.
What has always distinguished the group is their
comfort in an unprecedented range of styles and
genres, pushing the boundaries of their repertoire,
while at the same time honouring their origins
in the British choral tradition. They are known
and loved around the world, and appear regularly
in major cities, festivals and venues across
Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia,
including Carnegie Hall, Elbphilharmonie
Hamburg, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Mozarteum
Salzburg, Tonhalle Zurich, Concertgebouw
Amsterdam, Edinburgh International Festival,
Helsinki Music Centre, Sydney Opera House,
Tokyo Opera City and the National Centre
for the Performing Arts, Beijing. They also
work with orchestras, recently including the
NDR Radiophilharmonie and the Royal
Scottish National Orchestra, with whom they
performed a specially commissioned work by
Sir James MacMillan.
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The King’s Singers’ extensive discography
has led to numerous awards including two
Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and a
place in Gramophone magazine’s inaugural
Hall of Fame. As part of their 50th anniversary
celebrations in 2018, the group undertook a
series of major tours worldwide, supporting
the release of a special anniversary album
GOLD (also nominated for a Grammy
Award), which featured important works in
the group’s history and new commissions by
Bob Chilcott, John Rutter and Nico Muhly.
This commitment to creating a new
repertoire has always been central to the
group, with over 200 commissioned works
by many leading composers of the 20th and
21st Centuries, including John Tavener, Judith
Bingham, Eric Whitacre, György Ligeti,
Luciano Berio, Krzysztof Penderecki and
Toru Takemitsu. These join a unique body of
close-harmony and a cappella arrangements,
including those by individual King’s Singers
past and present. Many of their early
collaborators’ own experience with brass
bands helped to inform the distinct ‘King’s
Singers sound’ and a large number of their
commissioned works and arrangements are
available in their own signature series with
Hal Leonard, selling over two million copies
worldwide. A key to the group’s success has
been their ability to evolve and innovate
over many years – and through 28 individual
members – while always retaining this special
sound and musical integrity.
They also lead educational workshops
and residential courses across the world,
working with groups and individuals on
their techniques and approaches to ensemble
singing. In 2018 they founded The King’s
Singers Global Foundation to provide a
platform for the creation of new music across
multiple disciplines, coach a new generation of
performers and provide musical opportunities
to people of all backgrounds.
The King’s Singers were formed in 1968,
when six recent choral scholars from King’s
College, Cambridge gave a concert at
London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. By chance, the group was made up of two countertenors, a tenor, two baritones and a bass, and the group has maintained this formation ever since that debut.
Patrick Dunachie countertenor
Edward Button countertenor
Julian Gregory tenor
Christopher Bruerton baritone
Nick Ashby baritone
Jonathan Howard bass
