"Chorister is a fun profession, especially in the Great Broadcasting Choir!

By Ben Heijnen

How wonderful to welcome you as our first guest conductor as of September 2018!

It feels very good! I'm really excited to have a closer collaboration with GOK, for three to four productions per season. Instruction, a cappella concerts, and one symphonic choral production per season.

You've been involved with the Great Broadcasting Choir for a long time....

I started here in 2000 as assistant conductor, and then got to know the choir and also many people from the inside. I then had an inside look and was able to learn a lot from Martin Wright and Simon Halsey. But very much then I also learned about the versatility of the ensemble and gained an appreciation for GOK as an instrument, for what the choir does, for how it does it.

After that, of course, my career accelerated and I was mainly active abroad, but I haven't completely lost sight of the choir. Partly because I now live closer again, in Arnhem namely, it is easier to be at GOK regularly.

In recent years, it was also not possible to do productions with the GOK because the schedules did not converge and the chief conductorships with the Choir of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation (2005-2016), the Swedish Radio Choir (2007-2018) and the Netherlands Chamber Choir (since September 2015), took up a very large part of my schedule. However, if the schedules of the Groot Omroepkoor and me allow, I am happy to do more than three or four productions.

How did you experience your last production with GOK?

I loved the Adams production(El Nino, December 2016, ed.)! It was great fun to work with the choir, the motivation was great, they worked in a nice positive and pretty fast way. That production was also really reason for me to want to work more ánd more closely with GOK. After that, discussions actually started.

What are your goals as the first guest conductor of the Great Broadcasting Choir?

I cannot be chief conductor of the GOK because, on the contrary, I want to do more guest conducting with different companies. Nevertheless, I think it is certainly possible to work very specifically on a number of things, to which I attach great importance: Choral sound, intonation, and diversity of sound and expression. The principles of "making music together" and "improving the collective" are very important goals for the choir, to make us function even better as a totality and to be able to put down a broad repertoire. So I really want to do different kinds of repertoire with GOK.

I also like the occasional collaboration with the Nederlands Kamerkoor, and the difference in size and repertoire with the Nederlands Kamerkoor is interesting to me anyway.

 

"The Groot Omroepkoor is the vocal ensemble for the larger repertoire, it is absolutely unique in that."

 

How do you see the role of GOK within Dutch musical culture?

The Groot Omroepkoor is the vocal ensemble for the larger repertoire, in which it is absolutely unique. The GOK also has a very clear profile, both in modern and symphonic repertoire.

Do you find it difficult to relinquish your choir to another conductor after rehearsal?

Actually not unless you find that someone has no feeling for the musical work being performed, that they have no clue what a choir is doing or are only concerned with the orchestra. Then it is difficult, though. It can sometimes be difficult if the piece moves in a direction you don't agree with, but in the end you have to know your place!

What qualities should a choral conductor possess?

A choral conductor must have good ears and knowledge of the profession of conducting and of the instrument choir. In any case, he must have a good feeling for singing and preferably be able to sing well himself. My great example Eric Ericson could not sing well himself, but he did have a very good feeling for (choral) singing.

Furthermore, as a choral conductor you have to understand what a singer needs at that moment, how to deal with voices, especially in a larger choir. Sometimes you have to slow down or slow down the rehearsal, to give the voices a rest or to crank them up when you feel the right energy is lacking. I think that "Fingerspitzengefühl" is very important.

The versatility and versatility you need as a conductor attracts me very much, as well as group processes and group psychology. As a conductor you have a leadership position where there has to be room for dialogue, but at the same time it has to be clear which direction it is going. As a private person, of course it is more on the basis of equality, but cordiality and openness I also show as a conductor, the joy and passion for what I do.

 

As a conductor, however, you do not have a truly amicable relationship with your choir. The amicality that certainly exists is based on mutual respect. With this manners, with this contact, you ultimately achieve results! I like to create an open atmosphere in rehearsals so that there is room for a joke in addition to good concentration. A choir should not just "do what the conductor says," it should feel free to add things itself from personality. To that end, that open atmosphere is necessary. The working relationship differs from country to country; there are cultural differences. In the Netherlands the structure is somewhat flatter, in Sweden it is also more based on equality, but in Germany it is more top-down.

 

"I think that 'Fingerspitzengefühl' is very important."

 

What makes someone a good chorister?

Listening ability and willingness to work together. He must also have a voice that is flexible enough. Obviously you need solo voices and timbres within a choir, but even those larger voices must have the flexibility and willingness to produce a blend sound together.

Is chorister a tough profession?

Above all, I think it's a fun profession, especially in the Great Broadcast Choir! Precisely because you are not as individually engaged as when you are a soloist. I was trained as a singer myself and early in my career combined conducting with both solo and choral work. The security that GOK offers as a job is a great privilege for its members.

Noise pollution seems to be a growing problem. How do you view it?

I think it's important to see sound stress in choirs directly in conjunction with vocal stress. There is a tendency, especially in larger choirs, to sing quite loudly. One suffers from that oneself. You no longer hear yourself or others well, nor do you have proper control over regulating your own voice. Then there is the danger of doing strange things.

So it is necessary to sing not only with the voice, but especially with the ears! Listening to each other and mixing is ultimately of the utmost importance for the overall result. In my opinion, if you compare a vocal group of 20 large, quasi-soloistic singing voices with a vocal group of 20 smaller, but well-cooperating voices, in the end the focus and bearing of that cooperating group is much greater and the final sounding result much better. So despite the fact that the sum of the individual decibels is greater with the first group.

Seeking cooperation and bonding, and possibly reducing individual tone within voice groups, allows a group to function better as a choir. It is important to work on piano culture in addition to a healthy forte. Sound pollution also has to do with how you make music, with what kind of choral sound you want to create.

In works for chorus and orchestra, it's all about what the text wants. In fact, the orchestra should always follow the chorus, the text, and should also never play louder than the chorus sings. Partly for text intelligibility and balance. The orchestra should be in the service of choir and text. Unfortunately, especially with oratorios, this is often not the case.

You have a very busy life. How do you deal with that?

I do like some hustle and bustle, it motivates me, it also makes me in top condition and to deliver good work. I sometimes find it difficult to spend time preparing at home in the presence of my family. I then feel more than outside the home that they are footing the bill.

I am an absolute family person and am fundamentally always home for the holidays (unless the Berliner Philharmoniker are calling...). We live in Arnhem, and now that I am working mostly in the Netherlands again, I can also get more active exposure to the growing up of my four children. But you can't escape having to travel a lot as a conductor!

And what do you like to do when you're home?

I like to visit museums with my wife or do city tours. I really like sailing, also have a boating license, and I love to cook. For example, I can make a fantastic risotto: mushroom risotto. The secret to my risotto recipe? Above all, taking the time to stir well!!! So unfortunately I'm not going to cook for the whole GOK, then I'll be stirring for a very long time!

> Read more in: Peter Dijkstra first guest conductor Groot Omroepkoor