EDMOND—The King’s Singers performed at Armstrong Auditorium on February 24 to a near capacity crowd despite uncomfortably cold weather and residual snow from the day before. The Grammy Award-winning a capella group presented a vocal program that ranged from European choral works and contemporary vocal music to American hits.
The first half of the group’s performance included English Renaissance-era madrigals by Thomas Morley and Thomas Weelkes, French vocal works by Claude Debussy and Charles-Camille Saint-Saens, and lighthearted songs from Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense sung in Italian and set to music by contemporary composer Goffredo Petrassi.
The second half featured songs from two of the group’s recent albums: Great American Songbook and Postcards. The former featured jazz and Broadway pieces from the early 20th century by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, Harold Arlen, George and Ira Gershwin, and Cole Porter. The Postcards segment included five folk songs from around the world, including a Scottish folk song and an American southern spiritual.
The group ended its performance with two encores: “I’m a Train” and “Danny Boy,” both of which are King’s Singers classics.
After the concert, the singers appeared in the grand lobby chatting with guests and signing autographs.
At an estimated 800 concertgoers, the crowd was a large one, especially considering the cold conditions. The morning of the concert saw compacted ice lingering on roads from the previous day’s three inches of snow as temperatures remained sub-zero Fahrenheit. Armstrong International Cultural Foundation marketing director Shane Granger took phone calls from patrons, reassuring them that the parking lot and auditorium would be clear of ice. Meanwhile, facilities manager Roger Brandon and his crew shoveled away the remaining snow and blocked off the East entrance to the Auditorium because of ice.
At the same time, the midday sun melted the ice, clearing Edmond roads. The unpleasant weather proved insufficient to deter concertgoers from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Washington and even Turkey from attending the concert.
One patron, who traveled 90 miles to see the concert, said she has attended every concert at Armstrong Auditorium since its opening.
“This place is a real jewel,” she said, “It’s something special.”
A long-time season ticket holder said that with the auditorium’s acoustics, the singers’ voices blended together so perfectly that she could not differentiate who was singing which part.
The King’s Singers is a vocal sextet comprised of two countertenors (David Hurley and Timothy Wayne-Wright), a tenor (Julian Gregory), two baritones (Christopher Bruerton and Christopher Gabbitas) and a bass (Jonathan Howard). The group’s membership changes periodically: Hurley just celebrated his 25th anniversary performing with the group, while Gregory (age 24) joined September 2014.
The King’s Singers started in 1965 with six choral scholars from King’s College, Cambridge. The group gained worldwide recognition in the 1970s and now has made over 150 recordings and won two Grammy awards. The first was for “Best Crossover Classical Album” in 2009 and the second for “Best Choral Performance” in 2012 along with composer Eric Whitacre.
The King’s Singers performed twice at the Armstrong International Cultural Foundation concert series at the John Amos Field House. Tuesday night’s show was the sextet’s first appearance at Armstrong Auditorium.
From the stage, Gabbitas said the auditorium was “marvelous” and “a splendid hall.” Gregory said he loved the auditorium’s acoustics and that as a singer it did half the work for him. Hurley also had kind words for the group’s Edmond stop in a video the group posted on its website and social media on March 1.
The concert series continued with the Venice Baroque Orchestra and Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital on March 3. Also appearing at Armstrong this season are the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and Jeremy Denk March 18 and StepCrew April 23.
Details and tickets are available at ArmstrongAuditorium.org.