Schenectady, NY- The international a cappella group, The Swingle Singers arrives on the mainstage at Proctors on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 8pm. Formed in the1960s and based in London, UK, this group consists of eight young singers who continue a fine singing tradition that was started over forty years ago. The Swingle Singers: Sopranos: Julie Kench, Meinir Thomas, Altos: Johanna Marshall, Kineret Maor, Tenors: Thomas Bullard (Musical Director), Richard Eleson and Basses: Tobias Hug, Jeremy Sadler provide an exciting mix of music from the group which has toured the world with their
'a capella' shows including classical, opera, jazz and film.
Since the release of their ground-breaking debut album “Jazz Sébastien Bach” in 1963, this eight-voice a cappella group has performed in every continent and on the world's most famous stages, sustaining over four decades a level of international popularity beyond the dreams of its founder, American born Ward Swingle. The current line-up of young, gorgeous and talented singers is, of course, several incarnations of "Swingles" older than the original team. Ward Swingle affectionately refers to them as his "grandchildren” although their program will usually include some tribute to the original French group with traditional swung Bach. Audiences will also be treated to more modern compositions and arrangements, enhanced by dazzling choreography and lighting. The beauty is that whatever the repertoire, the sound remains unmistakably the Swingle Singers.
Ward Swingle now lives in semi-retirement near Paris, France. When he founded the Swingle Singers, in Paris in 1963, the whole thing began as an exercise by eight free-lance singers. The group was bored by the simple fare available in the studios, for this was an era dominated by pop and early rock. One day, he got out Bach's "Well Tempered Clavichord" and they tried them out, to find that singing them came naturally. In 1963, they released their first recording on Phillips. By word of mouth, DJ after DJ began playing it. After climbing the charts, it hit the top ten and stayed in the top 100 for more than a year and a half. That one and their following two albums won Grammies for Best Performance By A Chorus, and Bach's Greatest Hits also won a Grammy for Best New Artist.
Moving from the recording studio to live performance wasn't that great a stretch, as the group didn't overdub. Ward, who did the arrangements, stayed close to Bach's written score, just adding drums and bass to accentuate the rhythm. Thus he developed a style, which used the voice as an instrument in a fusion of jazz, and classical styles. As their music became internationally acclaimed composers began to invite the Swingle Singers to perform their works, which specially fit the group.
When the French group disbanded in 1973, Ward went to England where he had an idea to form Swingles II with an expanded repertoire, which would be more adequately supported by the large choral traditions of English music. He continued actively with the group until 1985 when he returned to the United States and spent ten years lecturing, doing seminars and guest conducting. The Swingle Singers have continued, with Ward as musical advisor, to this day.
What defines this unique group is not the personnel, nor even the choice of music, but the intimate, close microphone, quasi-instrumental sound with which they stunned the world all those years ago. Eight Paris-based jazz session singers sang through some Bach keyboard music one day and discovered a natural swing to the music. Without changing a note of the original score, they used jazz scat and phrasing, added a rhythm section and persuaded Philips record company to record it for them as Christmas presents for family and friends. Little did they know the level of fame to which this record would elevate them.
Nowadays, the Swingle singers offer a huge variety of shows, from the traditional 'Bach to Beatles' in concert halls and churches to jazz nights at Ronnie Scotts and Wavendon Stables, from orchestral concerts at the Lincoln Center, New York, to contemporary opera at Teatro alla Scala in Milan and the Chatelet Theatre in Paris and, of course, their famous Christmas extravaganza culminating every December at Orchard Hall in Tokyo. The group regularly presents workshops and other educational events to adults and children, amateurs and professionals alike.
Now there is a whole new group of singers who will no doubt build on the foundation created by all the prior Swingles.
"The present octet doo-be-doo with authentic cool. The girls, shimmying in cocktail dresses, flit along the bubbling top lines; the boys, nodding like jazzmen, pump out the walking basses." -EVENING STANDART, LONDON
Tickets for The Swingle Singers on the mainstage at Proctors on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 8pm are $25, $30, and $35 with $20 Cloud Club balcony seating. Also available are 17 and under prices, excluding Cloud Club. Tickets for are available at the Proctors Box Office, (518) 346-6204, and online at proctors.org. This performance is made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state Agency.
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