It was 40 years ago when Louis Fremaux, principal conductor of the , and Gordon Clinton, the much-respected baritone who was now principal of the Birmingham School of Music, put their heads together and came up with the idea of forming a CBSO Chorus.
Previously the CBSO had predominantly called upon the for partnership in major choral works, but now it was felt that there was a need for a chorus which would be under the CBSO鈥檚 full control, and which could be called upon for all those finales in which the chorus becomes an extra instrument.
As Beresford King-Smith tells us in Crescendo!, his history of the CBSO published to mark its 75th anniversary, admission standards were high: 鈥淭he new choir was to be young and fresh-sounding, so an upper age limit of 45 was set.鈥
Pragmatically, that age limit has nowadays been abandoned, so the is now an invigorating mixture of youthful enthusiasm and well-honed experience.
So the CBSO Chorus is 40 years old. Thirty years ago the young Simon Halsey took on the mantle of chorus director, and he was immediately plunged in at the deep end, as he remembers.
鈥淚 began with the CBSO Chorus on January 1, 1983. We recorded Britten鈥檚 War Requiem some five weeks later. It was a baptism by fire. I was just 24 years old and in retrospect was very inexperienced.
鈥淲hilst on a tour of the Highlands, I had answered an advert for the vacant post of Director of Music at the .
鈥淚 said, 鈥榊ou鈥檒l never consider me, I鈥檓 far too inexperienced, but I still think I鈥檇 do a good job!鈥
鈥淭he university decided to interview me, put me on the final shortlist and invited the 25-year-old Simon Rattle (recently appointed at the CBSO) to choose between the three candidates. I got the job!
鈥淎bout 18 months later, Beresford King-Smith invited me to do a CBSO Chorus rehearsal. One thing led to another and on November 5 1982, as I was sitting in my university office, Ed Smith (CBSO chief executive officer) called me and offered me the CBSO Chorus job.
鈥淥n November 5 鈥 that date again 鈥 1985, Simon Rattle took me aside and told me, with great candour, that I should concentrate on trying to become a good symphonic chorus master, that it was a fine calling in its own right and that I should not follow the orchestral conducting path 鈥 鈥榯he world has enough second rate orchestral conductors already!鈥
鈥淎nd on that day, taking his advice, began the partnership that has defined my subsequent working life. I just love training choirs for the orchestral repertoire and over the last 30 years, by trial and error, I鈥檝e learned the job.
鈥淏ut my way won鈥檛 do in the future, and so I鈥檝e founded a Master of Arts course in Choral Conducting at the to train the symphonic chorus masters of future generations. It鈥檚 the only course of its sort in the world.
鈥淚 was recently lucky enough to train the BBC Proms Youth Choir (including singers from the CBSO Youth Chorus) for Sakari Oramo鈥檚 first Prom as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. And I鈥檝e worked with him often in Berlin and Helsinki too.
鈥淗e鈥檚 wonderful 鈥 so laid back but in control, so good with each individual singer.
鈥淎ndris Nelsons 鈥 well, it鈥檚 a privilege! To see him draw the best out of the CBSO Chorus is a joy. He just gets better and better with them. All in all, I do not believe I could have worked anywhere and encountered such extraordinary colleagues. I鈥檓 blessed.鈥
The CBSO Chorus is much in demand elsewhere. How does Simon send them out into the world?
鈥淥ur first duty is to the CBSO,鈥 he declares. 鈥淚f there鈥檚 any time left over, or if other orchestras want the repertoire we are doing in Birmingham, then we鈥檒l tour.
鈥淲e have a strong relationship with the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester. And we鈥檝e been invited to sing throughout Europe with great orchestras that do not have their own chorus.鈥
The CBSO Chorus has also expanded into its various offshoots over the years.
鈥淲hen I began, we had the CBSO Chorus with 130 members 鈥 in the Town Hall. We had to grow to 160-plus once we got into Symphony Hall.
鈥淭hen we founded the two Youth Choruses as part of the expansion into youth and community work, over 20 years ago. Practically every British orchestra (and those in Australia) have directly followed our example.
鈥淭hen came Young Voices (in association with the City鈥檚 Music Service) and recently our choral department joined up with our education department to found community choirs (such as Handsworth) and schools鈥 projects, which have inspired similar ones at the Berlin Philharmonic and at the LSO.鈥
Simon鈥檚 work has taken him all over Europe and beyond, often flying between engagements on an impossibly tight schedule. I once bumped into him on a flight from Amsterdam, having just finished a choral rehearsal there, and hurtling to a CBSO Chorus rehearsal a couple of hours later. But now he鈥檚 drawing in his horns a little, and returning to his home base in Shakespeare鈥檚 Forest of Arden.
鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled to come home and see if doing less travelling I can really concentrate on the CBSO family, the university and to make sure that we continue to innovate and make a difference in the future.鈥
