\u201cI remember someone coming up after the concert and wanting my autograph. But then they were starting to say all sorts of stuff to me about Burnside [High School in Christchurch], and I thought, how do they know about that? <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just wild to me that someone would talk to me about stuff that was so personal to me that I\u2019d never shared with them. And that\u2019s when it started to sort of sink in. Okay, this is a big deal. You\u2019ve got to remind yourself of where you\u2019ve come from to keep yourself grounded because it can be a pretty wild job at times.\u201d<\/p>\n
From Christchurch to the world, it\u2019s been 13 years of globetrotting for Bruerton, who is based in Oxford, Britain, as the Singers spend about seven months on the road at a time. <\/p>\n
Big choral music names such as Eric Whitacre and Bob Chilcott are now friends and colleagues (\u201cI remember asking Eric\u2019s permission to have his piece This Marriage sung at my wedding\u201d), and he\u2019s recorded chart-topping albums and performed across six continents with the talented team.<\/p>\n
Patrick Dunachie, Edward Button, Julian Gregory, Christopher Bruerton, Nick Ashby and Piers Connor Kennedy make up the King’s Singers current line-up.<\/p>\n
His humble nature and his committed work ethic speak to his Canterbury upbringing, of which Bruerton is eternally grateful for. <\/p>\n
Through countless Evensongs and Choral Eucharists, he followed the footsteps of his big brother at the prestigious Canterbury Choral School and proceeded to take every choral singing opportunity he could.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was about 5, I\u2019d go to Sunday school with my mum and dad, and my brother would sing in the choir at church. I wanted to do what my big brother did,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn opportunity came up at Christmas in 1994 to attend the Nine Lessons and Carols service, and I sat there mesmerised when hearing these beautiful voices, and I remember whispering to mum and dad, \u2018I want to do that\u2019. So I badgered them all summer and they eventually gave way and approached the choir and said I would like to audition. The rest, as they say, is history. I just absolutely loved singing basically every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
That passion for the craft turned into studying and eventually teaching at Burnside High School, with its specialist music programme setting the tone for what was to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really clear that I wanted music to be front and centre of everything I did. And I felt that at that time, Burnside stood alone. I had the most wonderful five years as a student and then I just had to come back and help out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then came a choice: stay in New Zealand to teach or take a risk and head overseas to follow his singing dreams. <\/p>\n
Bruerton was in a long-distance relationship with his girlfriend (now wife) Liz, who was in Britain. He ended up buying a one-way ticket.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always thought, I don\u2019t want to be a teacher that has a slight chip on their shoulder because they never quite did the thing that they were telling all their kids to do \u2013 to follow their heart. I thought, look, I love teaching, but if I don\u2019t go now, I\u2019ll always wonder what if? If it doesn\u2019t quite work out, then I\u2019ll happily continue my teaching career, but I knew I would\u2019ve at least had a crack at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The renowned British-based a cappella choral ensemble have performed at venues around thw world.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d soon be swapping Christchurch for Christ Church, Oxford, where, after a few years, an out-of-the-blue email to audition for the King\u2019s Singers arrived.<\/p>\n
He became the first non-British member to join during the group\u2019s more than 50-year history.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they offered me the job, I don\u2019t think I quite realised just how much my life would change from being that little teacher in New Zealand. It\u2019s been quite the journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
That journey, while full of life-changing experiences, is still no easy task. Life on the road comes with \u201ca lot of suitcase packing and unpacking and washing and living out of hotels\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a reality to it. It\u2019s hard to be away from those you love, and you feel like you\u2019re permanently dealing with jet lag sometimes. But what you try to do is find the joys in all the places that you go to. That might be through food, through the different cultural aspects of a place, the architecture, and all of those sorts of things,\u201d Bruerton says.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething I have to remind myself of is that we get clapped for our day job, and there are far more deserving people I feel that should be applauded for the work that they do every day. We are very lucky to do what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bruerton describes his fellow singers as his wh\u0101nau, with plenty of wonderful memories made together. While careful not to throw any of them under the bus, he says there have been plenty of laughs and moments of note.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very inquisitive singers as well. We love getting out and about and seeing where we are. We like putting on our jogging shoes and going for a run around Central Park or wherever we find ourselves. There are lots of places to explore, and there are lots of wonderful experiences that come with the job, and we get treated beautifully wherever we go.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s looking forward to coming home to Canterbury on this latest (and last) tour. It reminds him of the performance spaces that were lost during the 2011 February earthquakes, in particular Christchurch Cathedral, where he performed many times.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a real hub and lifeblood for the centre of town, and it\u2019s such a shame that it\u2019s no longer. It\u2019s very sad to think of the place that gave me my big start, really. I wouldn\u2019t be here without the 15 years I had there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chris Bruerton is grateful for his journey and the role his hometown of Christchurch played in it.<\/p>\n
Fond memories also emerge of singing in the nearby Catholic Basilica, another casualty of the quakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat had a stunning set of acoustics. I remember each year we would do a joint service with the Catholic Cathedral Choir. And we would always look forward to it and we were very jealous of the space that they got to sing in every day. It was a very special place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bruerton is especially excited to perform in the revamped Town Hall on his final Kiwi tour with the singers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just so wicked to know that it\u2019s been restored to its former glory, and it hasn\u2019t lost any of the charm and the acoustic quality. I\u2019m super excited to perform there.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for what\u2019s after his final hurrah, nothing is set in stone. But he hopes to return to teaching and helping many talented Kiwis chase their dreams on the world stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be coming back to New Zealand to visit my brother, his wife and my two beautiful nephews, as well as seeing all my other family and friends. If there\u2019s a chance to work with some of the people in the choral community in New Zealand, I\u2019d love that, but also in England, you know, I have a lovely home in Oxford and there\u2019s a lot of choral opportunities in Oxford,\u201d Bruerton says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a funny way, I always thought my dream job was to sing and travel the world. I didn\u2019t know what that would look like, but I knew it would be something like that. I\u2019ve ticked off my dream job and now it\u2019s time to help others achieve theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n
And if he were to sum up his King\u2019s Singers career in one word?<\/p>\n
\u201cGratitude. I\u2019m that little Kiwi kid from Christchurch who\u2019s been able to live his dream. And I\u2019m just truly grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The King\u2019s Singers will perform their show Close Harmony at the Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts, March 10, 2026, at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul. Tickets are available at festival.nz<\/a>. They will also perform at the Christchurch Town Hall on March 11, 2026, with tickets available at Eventfinda<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI remember someone coming up after the concert and wanting my autograph. But then they were starting to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[74,95,129448,129449,129450,430,50245,3276,4487,2199,24004,104225,299,156,5904,71,38626,28450,5431,5420,16718,1345,6281,27981,194,12514,4960,5430,3025,111,139,69,90,13235,17944,2081,418,43655,42591,544,1361,223,1533,102,17450,1530,4741],"class_list":["post-213807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-after","tag-and","tag-baritone","tag-bruerton","tag-cappella","tag-celebrities","tag-choral","tag-chris","tag-christchurch","tag-city","tag-coming","tag-discovers","tag-dream","tag-entertainment","tag-final","tag-from","tag-grateful","tag-groups","tag-hageman","tag-hes","tag-him","tag-home","tag-homecoming","tag-kings","tag-kiwi","tag-leave","tag-live","tag-mitchell","tag-most","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-prestigious","tag-quitting","tag-raised","tag-shows","tag-singers","tag-singing","tag-some","tag-that","tag-the","tag-will","tag-with","tag-worlds","tag-years","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}