In October 1972, I arrived alone in London, via Kings Cross, with a suitcase and no hope or prospects for the future. My musical life to this point was the pop/rock world of the 60’s which was starting to fade, the hymns from my father’s church and dubious chanting at football matches. Four months later I was standing in the front row of the London Philharmonic Choir at the Royal Festival Hall singing Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust under the great conductor, Sir Georg Solti. Basically someone heard me sing, assured me I was a tenor and advised that I should audition for the London Philharmonic Choir under John Alldis. Despite the fact that my music reading was almost non-existent, he allowed me in (to this day, I do not include sight-reading as part of the audition for my choirs.). I floundered for a while but soon worked out the basics of the dots and lines. The concert with Solti on 27 February 1973 (I was 18) was the first time I ever heard a symphony orchestra.
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How Georg Solti made a choirmaster out of me
David Temple
