The QPAC Concert Hall had a full house buzzing with anticipation as Daniel Hyde, Director of Music for King’s College at Cambridge University, his academic gown flowing, swooped onto the stage as the choir’s men and boys – some as young as eight – filed in.

Fixing his piercing eyes upon them like a demon headmaster, they launched into 90 minutes of sublime song.

Daniel Hyde leads The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. Photo © Daniel Grant

The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge is an institution, world-famous for its long-running annual broadcast of A Festival of Nine Lessons (95 years). It will also be celebrating the 70th anniversary of its televised Carols from King’s. this year, too. The choir was founded in 1441 by King Henry VI for daily evensong services in their magnificent chapel, which continue to be attended, hundreds of years later, by tourists, college students, monarchs, politicians and, on occasion, by myself.

This ninth tour of the King’s College choir for Musica Viva Australia brings that magic Downunder, with two programs presented in six cities. Brisbane experienced the traditional first program, with Gregorian and modern choral compositions and concluding...