Growing up, there was music around all the time. I can remember Beethoven’s and Brahms’ Symphonies being played on Sundays whilst the roast dinner was being got ready. My Dad has always been passionate about choral singing from a high-end amateur point of view. When I was around five years old, he took me to the local church choir for the first time, and from then on [I was involved in] choral singing.

We moved around a lot because my Dad was in the army, so wherever we went we sang in the local church choir. Dad and my three older brothers formed a close harmony group. I’ll be honest, despite my love for them all, I’ve never been a fan of barbershop music, but they were entertaining!

Matthew Beale. Photo © Keith Saunders

My oldest brother [actor Simon Russell Beale] is unbelievably well versed in music. He’s a very good pianist and was a chorister himself. He went to Guildhall [School of Music & Drama] to study singing, then swapped to acting, but he loves music.

I studied Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, but I was also a choral scholar and, to be...