'It is incredible to think that these mature vocalists are mere students' The Times
Altos
Felix Blake - ManagerFelix hails from the sunny climes of Warrington in the northwest of England, although his time in Cambridge has eroded any sign of this in his accent! Having completed a master’s degree in music at Selwyn College, Felix splits his time between singing alto in King’s College Chapel and researching at the intersection of popular music and anthropology. The King’s Men, therefore, suits his tastes nicely by offering something of a musical bridge between the classical and the popular. Felix is now in his second year in the choir, but had his choral birth down the road with the Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he was a bass choral scholar alongside pursuing a music undergraduate degree. Felix discovered his alto voice when he stubbed his toe coming out of the shower. The resounding yelp was more harmonious than any of his previous bass tones, and he has been nurturing his countertenor voice ever since. In what little free time he has away from the Choir, Felix keeps himself busy by watching true crime documentaries and informing everyone in earshot that he, in fact, has perfect pitch.
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Jacob PartingtonArriving as the second member of his family to join King’s College Choir, Jacob came determined to challenge all pre-conceived ideas about his character. Almost immediately, he announced that his superb sense of style was a result of experiencing a short spell as a L'Oréal hair model, in an effort to demonstrate how truly cool and alternative he was. Having sung at Gloucester Cathedral as a chorister, Jacob is no alien to the English choral tradition and has found, despite his voice breaking, that he can now sing higher than ever before. He spent his early school years struggling with an under-developed tenor voice, only to discover, by accident, that he could also sing countertenor. The 'Eureka moment', of course, came when reciting 'The hills are alive' on a mountain somewhere in Northern Spain. Jacob is often found in Chapel, keen and ready to annoy whomever stands next to him. He hopes to leave Cambridge as a well-rounded musician with his masculinity intact.
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Alex AustinHaving emerged from the hallowed halls of Westminster School - as he will tell you at the first opportunity - Alex is now in his first year pursuing a music undergraduate degree, with a choral scholarship as a countertenor. Aspiring to become a Baroque ensemble director, Alex is growing his hair out to look just enough like Simon Rattle to be considered a serious conductor.
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Tenors
Matt Supramaniam - Musical DirectorAfter a string of high-profile performances in his native Singapore, rumour has it that Matt was uncomfortable with the celebrity lifestyle and fled to 'the other place' for a fresh start as a chorister there away from media coverage. Since leaving school, Matt spent time foraging in jungles, had a buzz cut, started wearing khaki clothing, lost a third of his body weight, reached fighting fitness, “sustained an injury”, scaled down his fitness regime, and regained his former waistline. Having completed his undergraduate degree in History, Matt's attempts to cling onto the vestiges of student life range from wearing a variety of dubious colour combinations to altering his hair in ways no one thought possible or desirable. (He is also allegedly pursuing a master's in Film Studies.) Despite being able to partially clear a room of 4 and a half armed men with "a bent spoon", Matt now spends most of his time frightening locals with drawings of Homer Simpson and falling over on astroturf.
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Tad DaviesTad’s musical journey began at 5 years old when he had his first piano lesson, a memory which he still remembers 18years later. With two parents from a choral background (one of whom sang in King’s himself), it was not long until Tad found himself in a choristership at Norwich Cathedral at the age of 7 alongside which he began his flute lessons. Here, he went from strength-to-strength and was even involved in the recording of a rock opera (something which has thankfully never surfaced). Suitably equipped for a life of choral singing and having enjoyed Norwich so much, Tad spent his gap year in the exotic city of Norwich as a choral scholar at the Cathedral and a Music Gap Student at Norwich High School for Girls. This was then swiftly followed by a choral scholarship at Durham Cathedral alongside his degree where he also played flute in the University Orchestra. When Tad is not singing chorally or talking about Norwich, he can be found in front of a computer recording and producing music or making strange sounds with synthesisers–his big break could be just around the corner. Tad hopes that his time at King’s will prepare him for professional music and looks forward to creating high quality music both in the choir and The King’s Men.
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Matthew ChanMatthew could perhaps be classified as locao produce, having spent his whole life (so far) in Cambridge. He recently graduated with an Economics degree from Jesus College, where he was also a Choral Scholar.
Matthew has been singing ever since he could talk, much to his family's and friends' annoyance. He occasionally also makes a racket around the house on piano and cello, but he enjoys singing because it usually requires the least practice and can be done in the shower. Despite starting his choral scholarship as a baritone, during his second year, the lack of tenors at Jesus necessitated a permanent upwards shift. Since then, because tenors are in short supply, he has been in high demand (that's the degree talking). He is very much looking forward to joining the King's Men this year to sing some schmoozy music! In his free time, he can be found staying up late watching Grey's Anatomy or NBA basketball (which may explain the sounds coming from Chapel on Sunday mornings...) |
Harry GantHarry is a tenor in his first year, studying for a degree in music. He began singing as chorister in Oxford (a town which he’s unfortunate enough to call his home), at Magdalen College. After leaving the choir, Harry spent 5 years playing percussion in various orchestras, and cracking his way through hymns at his local parish church, before deciding to apply for a choral scholarship at King’s. Alongside his love of choral music, Harry is well-versed in close harmony singing, having founded an almost-award-winning barbershop quartet at school. Outside of music, Harry is a keen footballer, having been converted to a goalkeeper at a young age due to his inability to get to grips with the handball rule.
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Baritones
Tom PickardTom, who comes from the Isle of Man, is no stranger to King’s, having been here as a chorister from the age of 8. In the intervening years Tom took up a music scholarship at Eton, which he tried hard to justify, scraping away on his fiddle in the 2nd violins. Tom enjoys a bit of footy, both playing and watching, and is known for his love of the biblical figures Steven Gerrard and Jürgen Klopp. Tom is in his second year, studying German and Italian (from scratch), and hopes to one day go into teaching.
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Jack HarrisHailing from Edinburgh (the ‘real’ North, as he is wont to remind his colleagues), Jack began his musical career as a Suzuki violinist at the tender age of five. Those formative years scraping away renditions of ‘Croc-Rock’ and Twinkle Twinkle evidently paid dividends (alongside testing his poor mother’s patience) as, at fifteen, he heard the crushing words: “Perhaps you should try the viola”. With his orchestral dreams dashed to pieces, Jack turned his focus to singing and, following stints with the choir of Morningside Parish Church and the National Youth Choir of Scotland, found his way to King’s to study Music with a Choral Scholarship. Jack hopes that his time at King’s will prepare him well for further vocal study at conservatoire – that is, of course, if he can learn to sing below a G before then. When not singing, Jack enjoys demonstrating his versatility (or lack thereof) on the football pitch, regaling his fellow choral scholars with tales of his latest cooking exploits, and avoiding the dreaded “… but you don’t sound Scottish…” at all costs.
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Basses
Henry Brearley - TreasurerHenry is enjoying his third year in the King's Choir as a Bass Lay Clerk. Ever the example to younger members of the Choir, he takes a role as senior cartographer compiling the upcoming "Moral Map: A Guide to Anglican Church Music and Her Hostelries" building on his previous successes, such as "How Not to Conduct Oneself Before, During or After Evensong" - a set text on many undergraduate Choral Scholar reading lists. Having held organ scholarships to almost every Cambridge college, Henry only found himself in his present position after mistakenly believing he had been offered a post-graduate organ scholarship to King's. Realising he'd been duped, Henry settled back into the Decani stalls where he often delights in applying his oversized instrument to delicate verse anthems and canticles at sight.
Leaving no strand of academic pursuit free of his mediocrity, Henry can occasionally be found applying his hard-earned Theoretical Physics degree to rigorous part-time study of the piano at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and even-more-rigorously-part-time study of the organ at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. A study of the Laws of England and Wales has ensued, conjuring rose-tinted images of a career at the Bar (note, please, the use of the majuscule). When in more agreeable country, Henry enjoys hill-walking, mountaineering, drawing hillwalkers' and mountaineers' hills and mountains, and listening to BBC Radio 4. |
Paul Greally - Musical DirectorCuriously, despite his early musical training in drumming and jazz piano, Paul eventually decided that only by learning the organ would he finally become cool. Soon after, he spent seven happy years as the organ scholar at Pinner Parish Church, where the clergy generously tolerated his musical antics (he once concluded a Sunday service with a boisterous rendition of the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack). He is now a third-year music student and the organ scholar at King's, where such a blasé approach to the liturgy would not go down quite as well. He aspires to become the first organist in the choir's 500-year history to obtain a social life, and to help reach such lofty heights he joined the King's Men in his second year. Sadly, due to his perfect pitch, he is yet to be viewed as little more than a glorified tuning fork. In his spare time, he enjoys markedly non-strenuous cycling, writing wacky new arrangements for the ensemble, and reminding people that he is six foot four.
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Max TodesWhen Max is asked why he is singing at Kings college Cambridge, he often struggles to give a response. He might answer that it is to aid his pursuit of a career in conducting, for which he hopes to apply to conservatoire in the coming year, but that wouldn’t make a lot of sense. He might also reply, that given he did his undergraduate degree and choral scholarship at St Johns, college Cambridge, this seemed an obvious next step in his vocal journey. Sadly, neither of these answers make particular sense, and so Max greatly looks forward to finding exactly why this has happened, and in the meantime will delight in turning the conversation to his recent exploits in fencing, wine that he simply can’t afford, and some very obscure French philosophy, in the hope of boring people enough that they can’t remember their original question
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Mike TuftAfter doing his time as a chorister at the other place down the road, Mike is one of the new bass lay clerks this year. During his time studying Biomedical science at Anglia Ruskin, Mike worked as a microbiology analyst for SGS, but finding this wasn't for him (for the moment at least), he has swapped the lab coat for sunglasses, working as a lifeguard at the Jesus Green Lido during the day alongside singing at King's. As a diehard fan of his local team Arsenal, he is constantly checking his fantasy team, and in his free time is found on the hockey or football pitch or memorising Central Cee lyrics.
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