Daniel Hyde
A chat with the new man at King’s ‘Stephen Cleobury is my old mentor from my days as an organ scholar from 2000 – my years as a student at King’s gave me so much of the training I rely on every day. I was thrown in at the deep end, doing a job that in cathedrals is done by professionals. And I love the building – the smell is always the same, as is the sound.
‘When I arrive as director of music in 2019, there are things that people may want to change, or indeed I may want to change: perhaps adjust the routine of the choir and develop certain aspects of the repertoire. To be honest, I don’t know until I get there. The main challenge with choirs like this is keeping what they already have – you have to fight to maintain what exists. I’m sure that will be the primary focus. The opportunity to come and do this job comes up once in a lifetime, really.
Directing my first Nine Lessons and Carols will probably be quite nervewracking – it’s the annual showpiece that we all work towards and you have a great deal of job satisfaction when it’s done. One of the beauties of it is that it’s structured in its format and language, so being able to be flexible with the music adds to the contrasts. I don’t see the need to change very much, but some people seem concerned with what I’m going to do with descants!’