What's in a name? Apparently quite a lot, according to David van Asch, spokesman for the British vocal quartet The Scholars of London.
He makes the point that being a talented vocal group isn't always enough to get noticed, especially when you're first starting out. A catchy name that people can relate to helps enormously.Speaking by phone from his home in Spain, van Asch, who is also one of the founding members of The Scholars of London, says this is something he discovered early on. "We needed a name that everyone can relate to, and in England you get work as former choristers at King's College, which we all were.
"All of the original members -- we were a quintet when we started -- had musical scholarships to King's College. And so the name came quite naturally. We called ourselves at first The King's Scholars and then just The Scholars. But someone pointed out that we needed something more to our name than just scholars, so we ended up becoming The Scholars of London.
"The same is true for The King's Singers. Everyone relates to their name as well."
Comparisons to The King's Singers are inevitable. Both groups have been around for about 30 years now, and both started out performing early music exclusively. But there the similarities end.
"The difference between us and The King's Singers is that they make money and we don't," van Asch joked. "In truth, the real difference between us lies mainly in the music. The King's Singers started out doing early music, but now they sing everything.
"And even though we also have a large and varied repertoire now, we are more serious with our music -- we are more like a string quartet in that regard."
And local audiences will get a chance to savor a small portion of that repertoire when The Scholars of London visit BYU on Tuesday, Feb. 1. The program will be made up of Spanish and Italian motets and madrigals, along with a few 19th and 20th century pieces. And the program will end with a group of folk-song arrangements.
"This is one of four tours to the States we're making this season," van Asch explained. "We've been to Utah about three or four times now, and before coming to Provo, we'll also be giving a concert in St. George."
The Scholars of London was one of the first groups to champion a cappella performances. And for most people at that time, these performances were eye-openers. "When we debuted in Vienna, in the Brahmssaal in 1973, people just didn't know what to expect. They didn't know the music, and they certainly didn't expect just to have five male singers on the stage."
These days, The Scholars are a quartet made up of three men and a woman. "We decided a long time ago that we wanted a sound that included a female soprano," van Asch said.
In 1987, van Asch decided to expand and diversify a little further, so he founded The Scholars Baroque Ensemble. "I was very interested in what Joshua Rifkin was doing at the time, of having one musician to a part. So I got together with some of the best musicians in London and started the group.
"The four of us also sing in the ensemble. We have a larger vocal group, and we're accompanied by period instruments. And we perform without a director. We've recorded a lot of works up to now, including Monteverdi, the Bach motets and even 'Messiah.' In fact, we've got 12 CDs out on the Naxos label. We would still like to record Handel's 'Chandos Anthems.' But that will have to wait, since we've just released three CDs."
The Scholars are a well-traveled and well-seasoned ensemble. Van Asch is proud that members of The Scholars stay with the group for a long time. There is one other original member besides van Asch, Robin Doveton, and the other two, Kym Amps and Angus Davidson, have been with The Scholars for 16 and 13 years, respectively. That translates to a lot of concerts together, as van Asch readily points out.
"We don't need to rehearse much now," he said. "In the early years, we were constantly rehearsing, but we have so much experience among us, and we gel as a group. We still have to work hard, of course, but our experience counts for a lot."
The Scholars of London concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall in the Harris Fine Arts Center.
Tickets are $12, or $10 with a student ID, and can be purchased by calling 801-378-HFAC (4322) or in person at the Harris Fine Arts Center box office.