World famous counter tenor almost gave it all up for pop

Iestyn Davies is a huge name in the world of opera, but his future could have taken him in a very different direction. He spoke to Alex Spencer ahead of becoming artist in residence at Saffron Hall

After starting out as a chorister at St John’s College when he was seven, world renowned countertenor Iestyn Davies is returning to the region as an artist in residence - but reveals he almost gave up the classical world to become a pop star.

Hard on the heels of an American tour and a leading role in the opera Marnie at the New York Met, Iestyn Davies is taking up residency at Saffron Hall this week for a series of recitals and concerts.

But after his choirboy days came to an end he came very close to launching boy band with Sony records.

He says: “After my voice slid downwards and I left St John’s it felt hard to lose my singing voice, but then I left an all boys school to go to another school where I discovered girls and all of a sudden I decided it wasn’t cool to have a high voice any more.”

For the next four years he played the piano and hot on with his studies and making friends but thought that the high profile singing career, which had been a part of his life since he became a chorister, was over.

“So I went completely the opposite way and formed a pop band with some friends,” he says.

“We copied Blur and Britpop and nearly got signed to Sony records after we answered an advert in Select magazine. The advert said said ‘are you between 16 and 21, male and in a band? Do you want to be famous?’. We ticked all those boxes and just sent off a tape.

“It was before The Voice and Britain’s Got Talent but it was a bit like that. We never played a live concert so if we had been signed we would have been the most manufactured Brit pop band ever. The climax of our dip into Britpop was an appearance in Country Life magazine and a photograph in Wells Cathedral it was very odd.

“We got down to the last four and got put onto development but it never went anywhere. Eventually the guy who was working with us became the manager of Steps, so I think he did OK.”

Meanwhile, at Wells Cathedral School, he had begun to experiment with his voice and started to gain confidence in his classical singing.

“I just got bored one day in a music lesson and started singing in my falsetto and somebody said “That sounds OK”, he explains.

“It was the first time someone had said I could sing again since my voice had broken. I felt I could express myself with all the residual musicality I had learnt as a boy but hadn’t been able to express since I’d had my instrument - my voice - taken away.”

That thought stayed in the back of his mind whilst he pursued a degree in archaeology at the University of Cambridge and began to sing in choirs again. After graduating he went to the Royal Academy of Music, but left early when he was offered a role in an opera in Europe.

Since then he has won two Gramophone Awards, a Grammy Award, a RPS Award for Young Singer of the Year, the Critics’ Circle Award and recently an Olivier Award Nomination. He was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List 2017 for services to music.

In his opening concert as artist in residence at Saffron Hall, Iestyn is joined by regular collaborators, soprano Carolyn Sampson and pianist Joseph Middleton for a joint song recital spanning four centuries and two countries, including works by Purcell, Quilter and Schumann (November 21, 2018).

He returns to the Hall for a festive performance of Handel’s Messiah with Saffron Hall’s resident orchestra Britten Sinfonia and a scintillating line-up of some of the UK’s finest singers, soprano Sophie Bevan, tenor Allan Clayton and baritone Roderick Williams (December, 22, 2018).

In his first concert of the spring season, Iestyn is joined by viol consort Fretwork in a concert that bridges together the 17th and 21st centuries with works by Purcell and Michael Nyman (March 24, 2019). His final performance explores the profound beauty of John Dowland’s A Delightful Thing, in an evening of music, poetry and drama (April, 6 2019).