The last time we spoke, in 2023, The King’s Singers were making headlines worldwide after a performance scheduled to take place at the Pensacola Christian College in Florida was abruptly called off two hours before the show.

Pensacola Christian College then released a statement saying that it had pulled the plug on the performance “upon learning that one of the artists openly maintained a lifestyle that contradicts Scripture”.

It was, as Patrick Dunachie, one of the group’s two countertenors, now reflects, “a galvanising moment” – one that drew an outpouring of international support and sharpened a sense of mission that had already been forming within the group.

“The support of so much of the public worldwide gave us confidence in a philosophy which had already taken shape,” Dunachie says. “We believe that music is an important tool for creating empathy, cohesion and harmony in societies which are increasingly fractured and disconnected.”

The King’s Singers (Patrick Dunachie, left). Portrait supplied

That belief continues to underpin the ensemble’s work as they prepare to return to Australia in coming weeks, with concerts at St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, on 4 March and at the Concourse Concert...