February 26, 2019

London, England

Well, after nearly a month in the US, I am back in England heading home.  And what an adventure it has been!

This is the longest trip the group has done it its living memory, so, for this first long tour of my time as a King’s Singer, it has certainly been a baptism of fire.  I have enjoyed my time beyond measure, and learned more than I ever imagined I could.  

Here are some highlights:

  1. leading my first masterclass at the University of Delaware; a moment that I was rather anxious about but also excited for - needless to say, I loved it;
  2. the overwhelming sense of both relief and achievement when we arrived in NYC on Sunday night after our last concert for some much-needed down time and an end of tour group dinner; and
  3. leading a workshop supported by donations made to The King’s Singers Global Foundation with a high school choir from Texas in Shreveport, and meeting them after they watched our concert. 

And, as I eluded to in January, I think numbers often speak better than words, so here is the last month in statistics:

Plane journeys: 18

Flights disrupted: 4 (two due to snow; one due to a fire at Dallas; and one because of an aeronautical mechanical failure, scary eh!)

US states visited: 13 (CA, OR, WA, KS, IA, IL, OH, MI, LA, AZ, NJ, DE and NY)

Canadian provinces visited: 2 (AB and BC) 

Pieces of music sung: 244

Number of times someone told me they like my accent: uncountable

Concerts: 13

Sanding ovations: 13

Days in sub-minus-30 celsius:

Languages sung: 11 (English, Latin, Estonian, French, South African, Spanish, Catalan, German, Japanese, Italian and Finnish)

Generous donations to The King’s Singers Global Foundation: 5 (thank you to you all)

Masterclasses given: 4

Lectures delivered: 1

Rounds of bowling: 3

Rounds of bowling in which I came last: 3

Grammy Ceremonies attended: 1

Number of times I was told told I look like Harry Potter: 5

Number of times asked to pose for a selfie with someone’s Harry Potter glasses: (thankfully only) 1

Cruelly early wake up calls: 8 (including 03.15 in WA, and 04.30 in BC)

I hope you enjoyed reading these statistics.  It was great fun working them all out, and it has helped me avoid falling asleep en route home to the Midlands; Johnny advised me to stay awake at all costs until bedtime in England so to reduce the effects of jet lag.  I don’t think I’ll need much rocking to sleep this evening; I have never been more tired in my life.  Now for some time off and more music learning ready for our recording sessions and tours in the coming month! I hope to meet lots more of you at our concerts in the UK, Hungary, France, Italy and Germany before our Easter break.