I've been into music all of my life. My first experience of singing Christmas carols was as a chorister in Hereford Cathedral as a boy. Since I was seven I've sung Christmas morning, so having to go to work on Christmas Day has been a part of my life for years. That can be quite grim, but I've got used to it and I appreciate that it has to be done. Opening Christmas presents always comes later in the day for me.
Now I'm a music student at Kings' College Cambridge, but I sing in the choir in my spare time. About half the choir are studying other subjects, ranging from physics to history and theology. I'm one of four counter tenors in the choir. It's quite an unusual voice type – it kind of sounds like a woman or a boy singing, because it's a really high register.
It's a bit of a weird time when the university term finishes for Christmas. All my student friends leave and go home for the holidays. Then we're left in limbo with just the choral scholars in Cambridge. We have to stay around for the few weeks until Christmas, but have quite a nice time. It's an intensive time and the Christmas singing becomes the main part of what you're doing each day.
There's lots of different parts to it: we have rehearsals with Stephen Cleobury, the choir's director of music, for the musical side of it, leading up to the television recording of Nine Lessons and Carols. But we also record our Easter concert at the same time, which can seem a bit strange.
As well as the traditional carols, every year we perform a new composition. That's one of the great things about Christmas – the juxtaposition between the ancient carols that everyone knows, and the new, exciting repertoire.
Singing on TV is nerve-wracking. It is quite scary knowing how many people will watch it and how iconic the programme is. But there's not really time to get particularly nervous or big-headed about it. It's a very comradely atmosphere and we don't let it become a big deal in our lives. We try not to talk about it or think about the pressure: we just get on with the job. It only dawns on you after Christmas quite how big a deal it was.
I want to carry on singing in my career. My plan at the moment is to go into choral singing, but I'm also thinking about the possibility of opera singing as well. That's what I've got to decide next year: whether to do more solo or choral stuff.
It's an unusual way to spend Christmas. On the day, our families come in the morning and, afterwards, we're free to go and head home for the rest of the holidays. For almost the whole world, Christmas is a time where families and friends get together and move towards each other. Whereas, for us, everyone disperses on Christmas Day and it's a departure.
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