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Individual biographies
Angus Smith (tenor)
 I was always into music - the usual school choirs, school orchestras, and so on - and was a very keen trumpeter, though I never saw myself going down that route full time. I managed to wangle a choral scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge, where I read history. In fact it was a good thing that I got a choral award, as my A level results were so bad that no other university would have accepted me. Still, I really enjoyed the work (honest!), specialising in American history and ending up with a respectable degree.
After that, a post-graduate certificate in education, which confirmed to me that I did not want to be a teacher, and then post-graduate vocal studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Since then I have been singing full time and enjoying it for almost all the time. I have been lucky enough to work with some excellent groups (Monteverdi Choir, Taverner Consort, Tallis Scholars, Gabrieli Consort) and some top-rate conductors, and have also done my fair share of solo work around the world. Singers are a moaning bunch - have you noticed how they complain when they have too much work, as well as when they have too little? - but we have a pretty amazing time when you think about it. How many other people get paid to travel to some extraordinary places and then do something which they would probably be doing as a hobby if they weren't do it professionally?
I do a fair amount of the day to day administration for the group but crucially Don handles all matters connected with the accounts, a task for which I have neither taste nor aptitude. While there is inevitably a certain amount of drudgery, I do enjoy researching new programmes - there can be a frisson of excitement when you hit on an idea that you know is going to work and then assembling the music to match. Perhaps our 'Food' project is a good example of this as a small idea branched out in so many fascinating musical, historical and culinary directions!
With access to modern technology I can do the majority of this work from home, at least when I am not being pulled in different directions (figuratively and literally) by my two daughters, Hannah and Megan. My wife Jenny works in the music business as an event organiser and therefore has a good understanding of the life I lead. Nevertheless, it is sometimes hard to persuade her that if we are going to California, the Greek Islands or the Andes, that it really is for work rather than pleasure! |
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