Several years ago when he was in a more junior capacity here, the present British ambassador to Japan, Sir Stephen Gomersall, founded the British Embassy Choir. The choir continued after he left. When he came again to Japan, Gomersall resumed his support of the choir. To have a British Embassy Choir fills a niche for several singers in Tokyo, both of the international and the local communities.
Kyl Timmer, a baritone from America, attended St. Alban's Church in Tokyo and was singing in its choir when he heard of the British Embassy Choir. He joined BEC three years ago.
"My mother was a singer," Timmer said. "My father couldn't sing a note, but he had a big voice. I got my singing from my mother, and my volume from my father. My brother and sister were very athletic, but I wasn't. I had no killer instinct."