Tuesday 4 March 2025
We’re thrilled to be joined by Jonathan Howard (formerly of The King’s Singers) as a soloist for Out of the Deep and as a tutor for our James Bowman Young Artist Programme. We picked his brain on the things he’s most looking forward to about the project…
What will you enjoy singing most in the OOTD programme?
The Out of the Deep programme is awesome, and really moving. I think I’m most looking forward to Zelenka’s De profundis. It’s a piece I didn’t know, but it sits at the emotional heart of the show, capturing the awesome ability to hold on to hope even in the despair of captivity. I’m also excited that it’s a piece we’ll all sing together: many of the singers of this programme are long-standing friends of mine, and I love that we’ll be sharing the stage again.
Will you be looking forward to the London performance or the Oxford performance more?
Both performances are in super-significant places to me: I live in London (and love it), and went to university in Oxford (and love it). I’m swayed to saying Oxford by the fact that I’ve had fewer professional opportunities to perform there than in London, and because my friendship particularly with Jonny (Darbourne) particularly blossomed within the walls of Magdalen College. As a gay man, to be performing a programme that remembers Oscar Wilde in the college where he was an undergraduate is also deeply moving.
You’re going to be working with our JBYAs over the next few weeks ahead of the OOTD performance, what will you be working on with them?
Consort singing is an enormous joy, but it’s also really challenging: how do we balance enjoying our own voices and musicality with wanting what’s best for the collective? I’m particularly inspired to help the JBYAs to discover this balance in the way that suits their particular line-up the best – as well as teaching them about how they can serve their music and its power by connecting even more intentionally with their audiences, with each other, and with themselves.
“Consort singing is an enormous joy, but it’s also really challenging: how do we balance enjoying our own voices and musicality with wanting what’s best for the collective?”
What will you enjoy most about working with these emerging artists?
To be able to make and serve music for a living really is the greatest gift. I’m hoping I can give them even greater confidence to be their own brand of brilliant, authentic musicians: it’s what our industry needs more than anything.
How can pieces of art and stories from different eras reveal something about our modern society?
What I find most salient is to observe what was most popular each different era: what captured the attention and hearts of the people at the time. Why does some art or music feel so apposite at certain moments in history? As someone who’s obsessed with connecting with others, we can learn a lot about humanity by seeing what art took hold at different times. For instance, I’m fascinated by the development of popular/populist music: when did the mainstream shift away from classical towards other idioms like jazz, folk and modern pop happen? And why? And how can we start to direct people back to classical music by learning from these shifts?
“What I find most salient is to observe each different era: what captured the attention and hearts of the people at the time. Why does some art or music feel so apposite at certain moments in history?”
Oscar Wilde was a fashionable man. How important is a performer’s attire for both them and an audience?
I think what we wear as performers is extremely important. The audience listens with its eyes as much it listens with its ears. I know there’s a common belief is that we want to make sure nothing gets in the way of the music, so we try to make our clothing as un-busy as possible. But I think we can use our clothing to serve the music actively. If it’s a programme about springtime and rebirth, full of joy and possibility, does all black make sense? To me, it doesn’t. I adore clothing: I love how it can say so much about us to the people we meet the second we meet them, and how it gives us a daily channel for our own creativity.
Do you have a favourite baroque moment from your time in the KS or before?
Some of my favourite musical moments in The King’s Singers have been born of Carlo Gesualdo’s crazy harmonic writing. I adore his pioneering creativity, and the way he constantly uses unexpected cadences to express emotion. I truly hope that his work continues to feature in my future.
Join us for Out of the Deep on Monday 24th March at 7.30pm in Oxford and on Tuesday 25th March at 7.30pm in London.