REVIEW: Karl Loxley gets deserved standing ovation in Eastbourne

Karl Loxley deservedly received a standing ovation at The Royal Hippodrome Theatre, Eastbourne, on Friday at the end of his Songs From The Stage and Screen show which underlined why he is a Classical No 1 selling artist. His rich, powerful tenor voice, which gives him an amazing range and enables him to hold high notes soooo long, had us spellbound.

Karl shot to fame on the hit TV show 'The Voice' in 2015, singing the opera aria 'Nessun Dorma' to over nine million viewers. So it was no surprise that he included this as one of his classical choices at The Hippodrome among songs from shows including The Greatest Showman, The Phantom of the Opera, and Les Miserables.

He gave an electrifying rendition of 'Never Enough', a song that had enabled him to accumulate over 11 million views on YouTube. This catapulted Karl to fame with the classical crossover music scene.

The Coventry singer was accompanied on the piano by his musical director Tim Abel, who also enthralled the Hippodrome audience with a superb solo performance at the start of each half before introducing Karl.

The warmth the two performers generated soon spread to everyone, including those of us who had queued outside because the theatre doors did not open until 26 minutes before the show was due to start while sound checks were still being made.

Karl’s musical journey goes back to when he was seventeen and first began singing. He recalled: “I had the opportunity to play Jean Valjean in my school production of Les Misérables and I could just about stay in tune. I had to choose between driving lessons and singing lessons, so I went for the driving lessons….just kidding! The moment I sang ‘Bring Him Home’ I knew that singing was going to be my path for life.”

The young Loxley continued his training and received a full scholarship to the prestigious Guildford School of Acting where he studied Musical Theatre.

“Whilst I was there my teachers had me sing a variety of songs from musicals, pop, opera, and even rock music! I really enjoyed singing the legit, classical crossover kind of songs so I stuck with that.”

His career really took off when, out of 48,000 singers auditioning for The Voice, he reached Sir Tom Jones's final eight and was rated by his mentor as having one of the best theatrical voices he'd ever heard!

Karl told me: “Not winning the show was a big disappointment, but it was great to receive praise and encouragement from Sir Tom. I'm now performing in concerts around the world.”

The charismatic 33-year-old has certainly come a long way since appearing in working men's clubs and busking! His album 'Solo Amore' reached the No. 1 spot on the iTunes Classical Music Chart and an impressive No. 3 on the Official UK Classical Album Chart.

Karl revealed: “I'm currently in the planning stages for my new album, which will be recorded with The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. It will feature a variety of songs from classical crossover, musical theatre and movies and I’m currently working on an original song for the album.”