Amore
Amore are a new classical group that everyone seems to be getting excited about and they release their debut album at the end of the month.
I caught up with David to discuss the album, just how they got signed and what is coming up for them for the rest of 2012.
- You are about to release your debut album Stand Together so what can we expect from the new record?
Well with the album we have taken into account that this year is the Jubilee as well as the Olympics so we have included some really patriotic tunes on there including Jerusalem and Abide With Me.
We have also got some real classic and popular numbers as well, one of the good things about the group is we have soprano, mezzo, tenor and baritone and so we can take things from the operatic score and not have to change anything.
And then we also have arrangements on Nella Fantasia that have been written especially for us which has a different twist on it to the classic.
- You have touched on my next question really you are singing these well known songs but they are arranged completely differently so how great is it to put your stamp on these tracks?
It’s very easy because there has not been anyone like us before and so that means that we can quite happily do our bits - we have just been rehearsing for the serenades that we are doing at the moment and we are doing some really good versions of things that have been written for us.
Having the higher parts and having all of us singing together means that we can really take the music to another level I think.
- And you landed your record deal through a chance meeting in Starbucks so can you tell me a little bit about that?
A friend of ours James Longford, he is a coach at the Royal College of Music, and he was having coffee and he overheard them having a meeting and saying that they were looking to form a group.
He passed the message on to the collage and the college sorted everything out and now here we are how ever many months it is later and we have recorded the album and it’s all happening. So it’s a very exciting time for us and we are very happy.
- The album is produced by Simon Franglen so how did that collaboration come about?
Simon was told about us and I think he was very interested in working with us and we were very interested in working with him, he has gone a lot of great stuff. We met him and did a demo thing in a studio with him in December and we all got on really well and music making was so easy.
One of the best things about us as a group is that we all know each other so well so it’s very easy for us to say ‘Dave you are singing out of tune’, we are very honest with each other and that made the whole process happen very quickly.
- He has worked with the likes of Celine Dion and Whitney Houston so what was it like working with him and what did his experience bring to the record?
Working with Simon was amazing because he has worked with some incredible people but the fantastic things about him is you wouldn’t know it from speaking to him.
He has a great work ethic but he doesn’t brag he just gets the job done and he wants the best thing for the music, that sis something that we have all taken into account and that is how we have recorded.
- So how did you find stepping into the studio to record your debut album?
I think we all loved it; Monica loved it especially because there was the piano on which Bryan Adams wrote Everything I Do was in the studio.
So it was incredible and as a group, as I said before, the strength is that we know each other so when times are hard or we feel that something’s not right we come together and make the best of the situation, which is great.
- And where did your love of music begin and why did you decide to take a more classical path?
All of us sang in choirs from an early age, Victoria sang in a world famous girls choir called Cantamus who won the choral Olympics a few years back and they were directed by a woman called Pamela Cook who is just phenomenal.
Peter and I both sang as choristers and Monica also sang in a choir and she is fantastic pianist as well so we are very lucky to have her in the group. We all started very young and music really changed out lives and I think that is what we are very passionate about on this journey; we want music to change other people’s lives as well.
If we hadn’t done music and been in the choirs and stuff then I don’t think that we would be doing what we are doing now.
The discipline and the determination that it takes to sing in choirs and the team work that you have to have is enormous and I think that it’s a valuable lesson for everyone; in any musical discipline you have to practice and you have to put the hard work in to gain the results and that is what is overlooked sometimes.
- You all attended the Royal College of Music so how has your time there prepared you for the work that you are doing now?
The great thing about all of us being at the college is that the college is very pro us going out and working on different projects and we have all worked on things in Europe and sung in some great venues.
The quality and the polish and the coaching that we get from the college has really allowed us to go and express ourselves as artists on our own and in a group as artists together.
- Who did you all come together to form the group?
I lived with Peter ten years ago as we were choral scholars down in Truro Cathedral so we knew each other from there and we went to the college together.
So we all knew each other from college and when we look at each other we can’t think of anyone who we would rather work with because we are like a family group really.
- And you have been singing at a string of shows with the Serenade Britain campaign so can you tell me what you have been doing with that?
People have been writing in and asking us to serenade events so we sung for a couple who were celebrating their seven year anniversary and she has just got the job that she had always wanted so he asked us to go and serenade her at the National Gallery.
We have a few events coming up including a book launch and the Miss Great Britain Awards, which Peter is very excited about (laughs).
We are also going to a zoo down in Plymouth as we have been asked to serenade a zookeeper who has been close to death and we also went to Nottingham to sing for Cantamus, the choir that Victoria sang in. So it’s been really fun.
- How have the shows been going? Have you been playing parts of the album in these shows and if so how are the tracks being received ahead of the album release?
Everyone seems to be making a lot of noise about us which is great, Classic FM has been playing some of our tracks and we have been doing some blog sessions for Mahogany Blog and they are due online very soon.
But everyone seems to be very happy and excited about the record and that’s great and it’s nice to know that people think we are doing a good thing and enjoy the sounds that we are making.
- Finally what's next for you?
After the release of the album we will be singing on the flotilla on the Thames for the Jubilee and we are singing the national anthem opposite the Queen with the Royal College of Music’s chamber choir.
Then we are on Songs of Praise for the Jubilee special and the Olympic special. We will also be on This Morning on the 28th May for the launch of the album.
Towards the end of the year we will be are doing the Festival of Remembrance and that is amazing to be involved in that. We will be singing out title track We Will Stand Together and that will be in front of the Queen and on BBC One.
To be involved in such an important part of people lives all the record deals in the world don’t meaning anything when you see that these people have given their lives for us and that is what we should really be grateful for. So to be a part of that really is wonderful.
Amore - Stand Together is released 28th May
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw