A HUGE air of pride filled the eaves of King’s Ely’s Hayward Theatre when current members and former members of the King’s Barbers united on stage.
Almost 20 former members of the renowned all-boys a cappella group joined forces with current singers for the much-anticipated King’s Barbers 25th Anniversary Reunion Concert on Saturday, March 11th.
Hundreds of people, including many King’s Ely pupils, staff, families and Old Eleans, packed inside the school’s Hayward Theatre for the musical extravaganza, which saw the King’s Barbers, all of whom are former cathedral or college choir choristers, singing everything from timeless classics to contemporary a cappella songs.
Head of Voice at King’s Ely, Peter North, says he was overwhelmed by both the success of the concert and the support shown for the event. He commented: “To see 34 past and present members of the King’s Barbers aged 14 to 40 all on stage was an amazing sight, but to hear them was even more special. The training they all had as choristers really came through in the quality of the singing and their years of performing in the Barbers ensured that they really put on a show. When I started the group all those years ago my main aim was that we should have fun singing. The sheer enjoyment that both the singers and the audience had on the evening made me realise that it had all been worthwhile. They made me understand, even more than I had before, that singing remains at the heart of not necessarily what they do as adults, but who they are as people. To have enabled them to use their voices to give pleasure and to move others has been so rewarding.”
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