By Helen Musa

Famed a cappella ensemble The King’s Singers will soon be in Canberra, appearing at Snow Concert Hall.

The six-strong ensemble of male voices has been universally praised for its flawless precision, British charm and vocal brilliance. While here, they will also offer a special workshop for local singers.

Appearing across Europe, the US and East Asia and recently adding China to their reach, The King’s Singers have performed at the Royal Albert Hall Proms, the Three Choirs Festival and the City of London Festival.

When I catch up with Patrick Dunachie, first countertenor of the singers, he’s speaking to me from midtown New York, having just arrived for the opening leg of their US tour.

It’s a peripatetic lifestyle. After New York they travel to Washington DC, South Carolina, Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin. Then there’s a quick week at home in the UK before heading off for four performances in South Korea and then straight on to Australia.

Spiritually, Dunachie says, the home of The King’s Singers is Cambridge, where the ensemble was founded in 1968. Practically speaking, though, they have no real home base. Each singer lives wherever he lives. The closest thing to a centre, he notes, is that one member lives near Heathrow Airport, probably appropriate.

Dunachie lives in Richmond, south-west London, and has been with the ensemble for 10 years. The current line-up consists of Dunachie and Edward Button as countertenors, tenor Julian Gregory, baritones Christopher Bruerton and Nick Ashby, and bass, Piers Connor Kennedy.

The prominence of the countertenor register in the group is fairly unusual, Dunachie believes.

“There aren’t many choirs that sing in this register,” he says. “It’s an important part of our sound and allows us to perform right at the top of the tenor range.”

Questions about his voice change are nothing new. At the traditional age when his voice was about to break, Dunachie and his singing teacher made a conscious decision to aim high.
“It was really about finding where my natural home was,” he says.

On leaving school, he won a scholarship to Cambridge University to study music and sing in the King’s College Choir under Stephen Cleobury.

He doesn’t get caught up in distinctions between male altos and countertenors, essentially a male voice singing in falsetto. Like many countertenors, his natural speaking voice is lower.

There is little time for side projects. The King’s Singers perform well over 120 concerts a year, alongside recordings, workshops, masterclasses and the day-to-day business of running the ensemble.

In Canberra, they’ll begin with What Kind of Things Do The King’s Singers Sing?, a 1970s signature song by Ron Goodwin that serves as a musical CV.
“It’s a slightly silly piece,” Dunachie admits, before they move into music reflecting who they are now.

There will be folk songs, including the traditional English Blow Away the Morning Dew, arranged by Gordon Langford; Renaissance music by William Byrd and Robert White; and the Zulu lullaby Lala Mtwana by Stanley Glasser.
“But really, our art is blending the six voices to make a special sound,” he says.

There’ll be a taste of Lennon and McCartney, Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys, Billy Joel and Randy Newman. Later, in Something Borrowed, the singers will select songs with strong local resonance.

After interval comes newer work, including recent commissions. A local flavour is important, something audiences can recognise and perhaps hum along to. In Australia, that will mean their version of I Still Call Australia Home.

New York is simpler to program.

“Think George Gershwin and Cole Porter,” Dunachie says. The American Songbook will feature heavily, and the final part of the concert is often left open.

“We’ll make a bespoke selection of three or four songs to finish,” he says. “It’s always good fun to mix it up with something fresh or seasonal.”

Possible fresh inclusions include songs by Jacob Collier, Laura Mvula and Ed Sheeran, and maybe even Disney numbers.

But there’s more. In Sing with the King’s Singers, a special treat for Canberrans, the ensemble will lead a workshop day on March 8, teaching their craft to amateur singers. The day culminates in a showcase concert on the Snow stage, where participants perform for friends and family.

Places are strictly limited to 150 singers, all required to attend the Saturday concert.

The King’s Singers, Snow Concert Hall, March 7. Workshop, March 8. Details at snowconcerthall.com