Chantez gayement

During my education I also studied choral conducting. We sang a lot for each other, sort of as a “guinea pig choir.” I soon realized that singing was a central part of my life. I then studied singing in Paris… and later in Basel!

TC: Could you have imagined a career as an opera singer with a preference for early music, or would you rather have become an opera director? You are known for your enthusiasm for scenic work.

JCG: As I said, I discovered singing through polyphony. An opera career has never appealed to me, an incredibly hard job and in my opinion also thankless… I admire some singers very much, but I have no desire to take up this profession! I like to mix singing with contextual thinking, to enrich, to think about how to present music, how to make it accessible to the audience. That doesn’t make me a director, but I love the variety of tasks in my practice.

TC: Your pleasure in staged performances certainly also has to do with an interest in crossing borders, not just from the musical to the visual arts, but also from the past to the present. Can you tell us something about that bridge-building from early to contemporary music?

JCG: Here one would have to define what “early music” really means. I actually call any repertoire that I do not create myself “early music”. As a performer, I work very frequently with composers and have had the pleasure of premiering countless works over the past twenty years. But when I work with an existing repertoire, I try to ask myself the same questions over and over again. Whether it’s Josquin or Stockhausen, I try to understand the music with a new, contemporary perspective, asking myself about the practices and contexts. The combination of Renaissance repertoire and 20th century music therefore seems quite natural to me.

TC: In the early music scene, it is noticeable that baroque music has enjoyed great popularity for several decades. In comparison, the rich treasure of Renaissance works leads almost a shadowy existence. How do you explain this difference, this imbalance?

JCG: You just have to dig a little deeper to discover the Renaissance repertoire! And that musical treasure is accessible to anyone who is not afraid of the research effort. The baroque repertoire has become popular especially on the opera stage. Baroque opera may not be a mainstream event, but it has undoubtedly led to the presence of 17th century repertoire in the media. Renaissance repertoire is often more intimate, which makes it more difficult to reach a very large audience. But maybe things are changing!

TC: On the occasion of our October concert, which is preceded by a choir seminar, we are particularly interested in your credo as a choir director, all the more so since amateur singers are also to learn and sing at this concert. As a choir director, can you tell us about your experience of amateur choir singing?

JCG: The important thing is to rehearse the works – whether vocal, instrumental, or both – in a way that makes making music fun again! This is the credo and the idea that guides me and that also corresponds to the musical practice of the Renaissance! Professional musicians aside, I am always delighted and amazed to see the joy people have in singing. Sing! The world can only get better as a result!

In fact, the change of language was associated with one of the most far-reaching and radical changes in music brought about by the Reformation. In Basel, for example, the starting point is considered to be the congregational singing of the Psalms, which was first practiced in worship on Easter Sunday 1526. This not only changed the role of the clergy, who lost their exclusive position (and with them the organists, who literally became unemployed). The service now centered on the sermon, which was framed by songs and psalms sung by the congregation – a ‘participatory model’ we would call it today.
For this purpose, a new repertoire was needed, which was partly newly created, partly adapted to the new purpose by rewording and reinterpreting well-known songs. In Basel, the first settings came from Strasbourg, and later were those of the so-called Geneva Psalter, which was sung for centuries and across all continents.
The ReRenaissance concert on October 31, 2021 offers visitors the unique opportunity to sing along with the Psalms in a ‘re-enactment’, as it were. (But don’t worry, there will be a rehearsal beforehand …)