The King’s Singers Announce Summer School Program at Princeton University, June 23-29, 2024

GRAMMY Award-winning a capella ensemble The King’s Singers announced the return of their Summer School program, June 23-29, 2024 at Princeton University, after a five-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The program offers coaching for individual and group singers from The King’s Singers and other special guests. This is only the second time The King’s Singers have hosted their Summer School in the United States.  

During their week at Princeton, participating ensembles and individuals will be assigned a King’s Singers mentor, who will oversee their progress during the course. Each day begins with a communal warm-up and continues with a King’s Singers coaching session. Sessions will be interspersed with special events led by guests throughout the week. Previous King’s Singers Summer School guests have included Eric Whitacre, John Rutter, Wallis Giunta, Bob Chilcott, and Declan Costello.  

“We get to experience the spine-tingling feeling of making sound together in our daily work as King’s Singers, and our Summer School is designed to share some of that magic with people from all over the world,” Countertenor?Patrick Dunachie said. “During these weeks - alongside the fun and games - we share our knowledge and experience as ensemble singers with people who love to sing, helping them to develop their skills in this craft. We get to see new friendships being forged, new ensembles created, and moments of individual development and transformation for the participants.” 

All Summer School ensembles will have the opportunity to sing the service of Compline in the Princeton University Chapel. This special performance space is a favorite of The King’s Singers, and offers a unique experience for Summer School participants.  

The week concludes with a celebratory concert at the Richardson Auditorium, showcasing the ensembles’ new skills. A summer party with a lighthearted cabaret competition will follow.   

Auditions are now open for individual and group singers. Individual singers will be placed in a mixed-voice ensemble upon arrival at the Summer School. For more information, visit www.princetongleeclub.com/the-kings-singers-summer-school  

ABOUT THE KING’S SINGERS 

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, musicianship and versatility, which draws on both the group’s rich heritage and its drive to bring an extraordinary range of new and unique works, collaborations and recordings to life. 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. ?  

Growing the global canon of choral music has always been one of the group's key aims, and they have now commissioned more than 200 works by many of the most prominent composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. These composers include John Tavener, Joe Hisaishi, Judith Bingham, Eric Whitacre, György Ligeti, Luciano Berio, Krzysztof Penderecki and Toru Takemitsu. All of this new music joins their unique body of close-harmony and a cappella arrangements, including those by individual King’s Singers past and present. Many of their early arrangements helped to develop the distinct ‘King’s Singers sound’ and a large number of them, as well as their more-recent commissioned works and arrangements, are now available to buy as sheet music in their own signature series with Hal Leonard. Over two million copies of these works have now been sold worldwide.? ?  

Alongside their demanding performing and recording schedule, the group also leads educational workshops and residential courses across the world, working with both ensembles and individuals on their approaches to group singing. To mark their 50th anniversary in 2018, they founded The King’s Singers Global Foundation in the USA to provide a platform to support the creation of new music across multiple disciplines, to coach a new generation of performers, and to provide musical opportunities to people of all backgrounds.? ?  

The King’s Singers were officially 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 stuck to this singular formation ever since that debut.?  

Patrick Dunachie, countertenor???  

Edward Button, countertenor???  

Julian Gregory, tenor??  

Christopher Bruerton, baritone???  

Nick Ashby, baritone???  

Jonathan Howard, bass???  

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