Meet Simon Berg And The Big Idea

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Welcome to the Choir Director Podcast, the essential resource for choir directors, conductors, and vocal leaders who want to build stronger choirs, run better rehearsals, and create outstanding musical experiences. I'm Russell Scott. Before we dive into today's show, can I just say a huge thank you once again for all of you who tune in week after week? Your support means so much to me, and it's amazing the response we're receiving and the amount of messages that we're receiving. Thank you so much for listening and supporting the show. And if you're joining for the first time, well, welcome. This show is all about giving you practical tools, inspiring ideas, and expert insights to help you lead your choir with confidence and creativity. And if you want to stay connected and get exclusive tips, resources, and updates delivered straight to your inbox, make sure you sign up for our newsletter. You'll find the link in the show notes. And there's also a link there. Should you wish to get in touch with us, ask a question, make a suggestion, give us some feedback, we'd love to hear from you. Of course, we would really appreciate the review and the likes and the subscribes, because it means that we can get to more great choir directors just like you. Well, on today's show, I'm joined by choral musician and choir leader Simon Berg, who builds ensemble sound through active listening, unified vowels, and a text-led approach to singing. Simon's work is rooted in the idea that blend, tuning, and musical expression are inseparable, and that most technical challenges can be solved quickly when singers are guided to listen, adjust and self-correct in a supportive environment. And in this conversation, we're going to talk about what to prioritize when tuning won't settle, how to diagnose whether an issue is technical or ensemble-based, and how to use diction and rhythm not as separate exercises, but as core musical tools. Whether you're working on complex polyphony or simple unison singing, the strategies Simon shares are designed to be used immediately. So, without further ado, let's welcome our very special guest, all the way from Berlin. My very good friend, Simon Berg. Welcome, Simon. Hey, nice to see you. Nice to talk to you as well. And uh, you know, you're one of these people that I have watched in action, and uh you have so many different talents. Uh just not just conducting, but as a musician as well. Tell us a little bit about your background and how music came to you.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Okay, so um, yeah, I'm um professional singer, so that's what I did in my studies in Munich before I came to Berlin. And um before that I was um always playing the organ in the little town where I lived beneath Munich. So my mother was the first person in my life she brought me the music, you know, to me. So she said, I have the piano at home, and we have no organist in the church, so maybe we can build something together. And my son is uh very um talented in on the piano, so maybe he can play the organ. So this is my first, you know, every uh Sunday I played at the Mass, I played the organ, and it was really fun for me, so I got a little money for my um, you know, for my uh pocket money when I was 12 years old. So um this was my first thing, and then I started singing in choirs uh with um uh school and when I was later in my university with the university choirs, so and um this was my first, you know, I I thought for me, okay, music is something that has to be part of my life, a big part of my life. Um, and then I went to Berlin after my studies from singing in in Munich and uh had nothing to do in Berlin. So what I what did I do? I first hung around a little bit, working some other stuff, and then there was the big uh musical in Berlin, the hunchback of Notre Dame, and they were looking for a conductor, and I thought never did that before, couldn't be so difficult. I don't know. Let's try, and I went there and um yeah, I got the job immediately, and this was for me the um you know turning something something in my heart said to me, Okay, that's yours, you know. Uh for sure I'm doing a lot other stuff. I'm I'm doing pianist uh concerts with uh groups, uh three tenors or the comedian harmonists where I'm playing the piano and um I'm arranging things, uh I'm doing uh less I'm giving lessons and singing. I sing concerts for sure at the opera, sometimes at the choir at the opera, but uh my heart beats for this conduction, conductor stuff, you know? And now I'm a leader of two uh choirs in Berlin. Uh that's why we know each other very well for years now, and so that's me.

Leading A Choir Beyond One Genre

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Um yeah. So how did you get in how did you get involved with um St. Comrade Gospel Choir? And how did that how was that different from your normal kind of music that you were conducting?

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Yes, yes, yes. Um yeah, the first you know, uh the first part of conduct the first uh conducting period in my life was conducting the uh hunchback of Notre Dame, the musical. So this is not uh something you um learn by uh doing one, two, three, four. You have to feel the music, you have to feel the interpretation, you have to be on time because it's really, you know, it's with click sometimes, sometimes not. You have to see how are the dances working. So you have to to do a lot of um emotional and uh um um act, you have to be active all the time, you can't do it like this, you know. It's just really you have to be all all the time on stage and with the and with the music, and that's what I um there's no genre in this, you know. Um what I there's no no genre in music that I would say that's mine because I come from the classical section first, but at the end it's for me it's not it's not um necessary to say I need a choir that sings classical or sings a cappella or sings something, I need a choir that is sings from from the bottom of their emotional heart, yeah. And that's what San Conrad does for me. And um because they sing everything by heart, they don't need sheet music when they sing. For sure, for learning they need the sheet music, but um, when they are on stage, they sing all everything by heart. And um, we think I try to to give a huge spectrum of um genres, different genres, from maybe pop classical up to jazz and modern things, uh, musical. So um, yeah, that's why Sankrana for me is a good choir. Yeah, and uh they they like me because I'm maybe different to other conductors. They say, okay, this is my that's what I can do, and this is what I don't like. So for me, everything is okay, yeah. So and I try to give them the opportunity to involve uh themselves into the into the yeah, into the concerts, what we're what sh what shall we sing? What do we want to sing in the concerts? And so it's a progress all the time. And um, yeah, that's why Saint Conrad for me is a good choir, for me and as a conductor.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Yeah, and because yeah, because you you you can be versatile, you can you can create you can create anything you you want, really. And that that is a wonderful thing to have singers that are able to adapt to any kind of music. But are do they are are they pro they obviously they're called a gospel choir, so presumably they they started from from gospel and have developed since then?

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Absolutely, yeah. It's just the name that is a gospel, it's it's uncalled a gospel. They don't do gospel in uh in a gospel way, I don't think. Because in Germany it's a little bit um it's difficult to say, okay, they are the first gospel choir in Berlin. Yeah, they were founded in 1999 as the first gospel choir in Berlin, but they've never been a gospel choir because they sing everything, you know. Um yeah, but maybe in another interpretation of what is gospel, because God's spell, you know, or good spell, what does it mean by um the the word gospel where comes it from? Yeah, so gospel is maybe not that what we expect in Germany when we hear gospel, all this up tempo and yeah, uh worship one hour and repeating, repeating, repeating, that is not their music. They sing everything, but with a good with a good spell in the in the emotional way of interpretation.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

So what is so what is how is gospel music uh seen in in Berlin, for example? How is it how is it different in Germany to other countries? Other and not necessarily not necessarily church music because obviously gospel came from from church music originally, and it's and it's developing all the time into more popular music. Um how how is it seen in Germany? What is the gospel culture in Germany?

SPEAKER_01 9:55

I think there is not a culture. Um it's um I think there it's a little bit black and white in Germany, um, because a lot of people I know they say, okay, the Germans can't do gospel, they can't do it, they have not the feeling, you know. You have to go to um Brooklyn, yeah, to the black people, they can do the gospel. Look at uh Blues Brothers, this is gospel, yeah. So this is what some Germans say. Others say, no, it's not the same thing because um gospel is um because the Germans are very um, you know, they they they are very uh uh from their from the from their from the centuries beyond, you know. The Germans are very uh there are so many churches in Germany, yeah, more than in other in other countries, and they have so much music in church. Yeah, all the famous musicians, all the famous composers come from Germany, Bach and Haydn, and all these they the what they wrote music for the for the for the churches. So this is in a way gospel. So but you know, there is no no right there's no way in Germany that I would say there's no um yeah, no gospel um tradition in Germany, it's it doesn't exist. Yeah, every everybody does what he thinks that is gospel, and some say yeah, they yeah, that's okay, do that, and some say no, that's not gospel. Yeah, that's just pop or jazz with maybe uh uh sacred lyrics, VAB. Yeah, so um for me it's really the thing that I say to my uh people when I sing with them, and I say to the audience when I do concerts look, you it's it doesn't matter what you believe, if you believe in God or in Buddha or in something else, I don't care. But it's um the thing is that music gives us the opportunity to feel as a community, yeah, and we are not um we are not angry on each other or we are not enemies, but we are not and we are not alone, yeah. We are we we do something together that brings us more that each of us can do it by by itself. So and this is for me gospel, yeah, gospel in the in the music, uh the musical way, and um yeah, I think so. It's always difficult because when I say to the when the people come to our concert and say, Okay, Sanconia, gospel chorus singing, and they don't don't hear the gospel what they expect, they are angry at the end. And I say, Okay, sorry for that. Why why have um why have the choir not changed its name then? Yeah, that's um a big discussion in in the in the choir, and maybe we will change it. But I say, okay, I don't care about the name. It's um if there are people where the uh in the audience that uh when they say okay, this is not gospel, I don't care about that. Yeah, I explained them what it's what it means and what what what for me gospel means and why it's in the name, it's because there was no gospel choir in Berlin, so it was a little bit of this unique uh you know thing in 1999. So it was better to to name your your choir Saint Conrad Gospel Choir than just Saint Conrad choir. So because everybody said, Wow, there's a gospel choir in Berlin.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

But it was about being good, you know, well-spirited rather than being specific to the genre of gospel music. Yes. So you're you're you move moving away from from that so much from your choir, talking in in your career, you've you've obviously worked in so many different types of music because obviously you have the classical background, you've done musical theatre, you've done jazz, you've done pop, and I've seen you, um, I've seen you work with singers, and it's it's a wonderful thing because you you bring them onto your side so quickly. Uh you have you know, you have this energy about you, you're kind of relaxed, you're also quite very serious, and yet and yet you've you instantly when you watch when when I've watched you, it feels like you're one of them.

Conduct Like A Singer

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Yes. That's what that's yeah, that's what you that's exactly what I would say, because I'm a singer too, you know. I'm not a conductor who's standing in front of something who and he has no idea what they're doing. So I know what they're doing, I know what it feels like to be a singer in the choir because I was in so many choirs in my life. I was in children choirs when I was 10 years old, and then was in the two in the school. We had very good choirs in school, and we won several times the German uh choir uh competition with our school choir. Yeah, so I was very uh um when I was 15 or 16, I had really this uh a good high level of choir singing already. I had this experience of being into it, yeah. And then later um I had all these in the in the university, but later here at the in Berlin with the radio choir, Berlin. I sang a lot with the radio choir, uh lots of huge productions. And I um what I always felt when I sang in the choir, why does it sometimes feel light and easy to sing? For example, um Mrs. Olemnus by Beethoven, and sometimes not. And it's because of the conductor for sure. Yeah, because when the conductor is uh with you, when he supports you with the uh you know how he is, he he he he invites you to sing uh with him and he has uh you know a vision of music, then it's um easy to sing for a singer. But when the conductor is uh some kind of dictator, there are a few of them in the famous league, then it's always difficult to sing because it's it's it's no fun. Because I think I I'm a big fan of this uh name of this uh gamification thing, you know. When it's not fun, your body says, Okay, leave me alone, I don't care about your shit. Uh I I I want to be uh able to move, I want to be able to invent things to be uh maybe to be um a little bit chaotic in a positive way, yeah, and not too uh professional in uh in uh in a way like a computer maybe does it, you know. This human humanizing thing um has to be a big part uh of um of your of yourself and of the community you're into it when you're singing the choir. And when you have a conductor who can support this, then it's easy for you to sing. But when you have somebody who has no idea about that's things, then it's difficult.

Never Rehearse Always Perform

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Yeah, I I I can absolutely relate to that because I I I've come from from a similar background. You know, I've I was a trained singer, and then I then I went in into conducting. Um so understanding the voice and understanding what things feel like and how to interpret things when you're watching conductors, which I think is one of the most important things you could ever do is to watch conductors. Um you you you get a feel for for how you want people to feel in your own in your own choir or when you're when you're conducting your own orchestra, whoever that might be, whether you're even in conducting a a small a small school class, it's always the same. You know how it feels and how you want it to feel. So how do you how do you approach rehearsals?

SPEAKER_01 18:17

For me, uh there are no rehearsals. That's the first thing, because that's what I always say to my people. If you want to rehearse, you rehearse rehearsing. But what I always try to say at the beginning of each I don't know how to call it, concert. Yeah, we have concerts each week at the same time, and it's uh it's what there was a very famous uh, I think it was a trumpet player of the um Chicago Boston Symphony Orchestra, he always said um never rehearse, always perform, or never never practice, always perform. That's what I really think is the most important thing about thing about music. Because when I start rehearsing, even when it's for a piece of music, nobody knows the piece of music, nobody knows it, even me, maybe, and we don't know how it sounds at the end, we don't know that. So now I start first rhythm, maybe then uh the the notes, yeah, and then together, first slowly, then faster. These are all things that are really important for sure. Other, yeah, there are no other ways to um to bring music to life at one point. You have to do these steps for sure. But the important thing for me is to bring the people immediately in this mood of being, oh, there is something interesting, something that brings me to life, that brings my emotional inners, you know, to the to the people. Yeah, that's that's for me what music means uh bringing emotion from here to the ear of the audience, yeah, not just sound. Yeah, that's what uh I think it was um uh uh Buzoni said, uh, music is vibrating air, you know. Yeah, yeah, sure, but vibrating air with emotion, and that's what I do in every every rehearsal. Even when I start with the warm-ups, I said, Okay, my warm-ups are not bringing something. It's for sure, it's like sport, you know, you have to warm up to bring your muscles, they have to need more energy in the in your throat, your your your voice is coming up, and your your body is getting warm and warmer. This is the one thing, and the other thing is think about what am I doing now? Am I singing la la la la la la la la la for sure, maybe, yeah, but or or do a thing, ah, that's oh, it's the sound. La la la la la la la la la. Wow, yeah. Immediately try to improve your emotional um feeling of being into something new. Yeah, there are no repetitions. That's what I say to my choirs all the time. No repetitions in music, nothing you can do again and again and again, till the point you can sing it on stage. Uh it's every every time new, and that's what makes music alive. Yeah, music is just alive when it feels for the audience wow, that feels new, that feels interesting, that feels not um rehearsed.

Warm Ups That Wake People Up

SPEAKER_02 21:51

Yeah. So it's being more aware, isn't it? It's being in touch with how you're not just what you're you're hearing, but what you're feeling for the music that you're singing. No matter whether it's a warm-up exercise or it's a brand new piece of music, it's all about how do you feel, what does it feel like to make that sound? How do you energize people when they've come, you know, come into choir from a hard day's work, they're feeling tired and exhausted. What are your what are your core sort of go-to uh practices that you do to to help people get energized?

SPEAKER_01 22:24

Yes. I try to to bring I I try I what what I said before, I like this um the principle of uh gamification. So maybe I have um you know a long day of rehearsals, yeah. So in the morning, this starts in the morning, maybe. Yeah, so I I start with uh with a game, yeah. We are lying in the laying in the bed, it's very you know, warm, and then somebody opens the window. Oh, the sun is coming up, oh we have to do this, yeah. And somebody uh throws away our um uh you know from from our bed, yeah, yeah, as a blue, so I'm cold. Yeah, so all things that can be connected with emotional things we know, yeah, from daily routine. And then I try to to bring these things more and more and more and more in uh in um uh to extend these feelings, yeah, to bring them more to life. So maybe this is the thing when when you say you have to to sing something like kiria laison, very simple, but in the in the music sheet stands kiri. So kiri, nobody would say it like that. You would say kiria laison. So, what shall I do when I have the kiri? I have to to bring more emotional quality in the e before the rie comes, and how can I do that? Yeah, I guess the kiri, kiri, kiri, oh yeah, more, more, keep it. What do I do when I'm thinking wow, keep it? Yes, yeah, and then do it like a little bit more with movements and with um a kind of what I what I call it the chaotic way of being uh alive. Yeah, this thing of there is no technique behind, it's just a feeling of um feeling well, and your body feels then you you you you feel well with your body when the body is grounded, when it is able to uh move lightly, when it's able to um move in all directions, yeah. When you have no fear to fall, when you have no uh there's no you don't have to be scary about being free, and that's able that's just you're just able to do that when you have the ground beyond your feet. So I try to say them, okay, feel the weight challenge beyond your feet. What is changing there? There's weight changing, and then try to connect this with simple, very, very simple emotional things like this. Oh wow, yeah. What is it doing here in your throat when you do wow? Yeah, or what's it doing here with your muscles beyond your here above your your your eyes? And um, this is what I do very, very um precisely uh every every every start when I come to work with a choir for maybe 20 minutes, half an hour, and then you see okay, you don't have to do for a warm-up la la la la la la you don't have to do that, it comes from the from itself because the people are getting more open in a way, in a positive way, yeah. Like this when they think, oh, that's fun what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

Yeah.

Languages Diction And Emotional Truth

SPEAKER_02 26:04

And and what how that's not that question again? How do you um how do you deal with with different languages? Because you're you're singing in different languages. Obviously, you know, you're based in in Berlin, in Germany, uh has a wonderful culture of music in in classical music and and in many different genres of music. How do you deal with the different be it being in Central Europe, how do you deal with the different um I suppose the different accents, the day different way of pronunciating things, the different the different way of you know of of saying different words in different languages? Because you're you know, you're singing in English, you're singing German, you'll sing, you know, in in Italian, in French, in whatever languages, how do you deal with that with a choir such as uh St. Conrance?

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Yeah, um that's a really good question because I think when you don't know what you're singing at this moment, it's really hard to bring the right emotional quality into it. And uh that's what I that what that this is the difference between a singer and maybe a violinist, yeah, because we have this language level onto it. And for me, um I don't care so much about the um the the quality of uh of language in uh you know what we well what what we'll call it here in Germany, it's Hochdeutsch. Yeah, these the real quality of being this is how it's uh done in the university or Oxford English. Yeah, I don't care about so much about these things, um, more than because yeah, for example, when we do um, I did a Russian piece at the opera, and we had a Russian language teacher, and she tried to teach us the Russian who. And I said, Okay, I say who, and she said, No, that's not the who I mean. Okay, I can't hear the difference. Sorry, yeah. So at the end, it's not about the whole, it's about when I know the the word whether whether who is into it, was it mean, and what is my connection emotionally for this world, for this word, it's enough. Yeah, for sure, it's it doesn't should sound like this. Is my you know, thank you for traveling this Deutsche Bahn. Yeah, this is uh what we hear in Germany a lot with z. I think it's the yeah, for for sure, but all these beyond these little things, I'm just into the upper level of language. That means there's more in the words that you can translate. You know, there's more like that.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Yeah, there's always an emotional um upper level in in the language, and that everybody understands, even when it doesn't speak the language.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

Yeah. I can remember I can remember spending hours with voice coaches and language coaches over the years when I've sung Inquires myself, where they come in at the end for the last couple of rehearsals to get you ready for a performance and they correct every little nuance. Um and and you're you know, with the how whether you're speaking in German or Latin or Russian or you know, whatever language, and they're trying very, very hard to get you to say it absolutely perfectly. And you're right, you spend so long working on this on these sounds that you're trying to make, but actually getting the emotion across um perhaps is more important. I mean you have to you have to be understood, the words are very important. You know, you can hear when you listen to perhaps uh an English um choir singing and you hear the same work by a German choir, you can hear the difference. Uh I can remember conducting uh a number of different choirs from different countries um when I was conducting at the Berlin Philharmonic last year, and and it was amazing because we were singing some very traditional, sort of popular Christmas songs, and we had choirs from all over Europe, from Poland, from Spain, from Italy, from Germany, from the UK. And you can hear the different dialects, you can hear how they're pronouncing things, and you're never, you know, it wouldn't matter how long I would spend, we're never gonna get it to sound perfectly English or perfectly American British or American English. Um, it's doing it in the best way possible to get the best result, so but the number one importance is getting the emotion of the song across so that the audience can you know relate to it and enjoy the song.

Blend Comes From Trust

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Absolutely. I heard so many concerts, for example, by the Rios Kammer Corps here in Berlin, because it's one of the most famous Kama chamber choirs in the world, and I heard so many really boring concerts because it was sung just perfectly, yeah, perfectly, totally perfect, but without any emotional contact to the music. So I what I really like to teach when I'm conducting for to the people is trust yourself in what you feel, yeah. And when you feel in a in in something, what brings you brings your inner um feelings to the to the outside, yeah. Um because everybody, we are all different people, you know. You don't you you laugh on on other jokes than me, yeah, and maybe sometimes we we meet each other and say, okay, we are quite similar, yeah, so we we laugh about the same things, but there are always there are always little things that are different. And for me, it's always important to bring this group of people, of individuals in the choir, maybe 80 people, 80 individuals, 80 different emotional beings, to the to the end of one common thing that brings something out that can be on the in the ears of the audience to bring something on the ear of the audience that is yeah, I understand you. Yeah, 80 people are talking to you and you understand what they mean. That's the that's the magic of music, and that's what a conductor has to do in his work. It's not about conducting concerts, it's all the all the weeks and months before to bring the choir to the point when you can say, Okay, now I understand you. Yeah, and everybody can talk in his own way and trust. I always say trust to yourself, trust yourself what you're doing here. And at the end, something comes out, and it's always different. You can't repeat anything, you know, you can't repeat even one note when you sing it. It's always new, it's always different, but trust, and you can trust on your emotions. Yeah, don't play a game about that. It's a okay, now I'm funny, yeah, yeah, that's what all these guys are talking about. You know that when they when they want when they say about opera, you know, because why is opera so funny? Because they sing always like this, you know, and so it's it's some somehow weird and artificial, not real. Yeah, but when you go to the opera and you see the soloist on stage really singing, really feeling what he's doing, knowing what he's doing, telling you a story, you can't be not affected by that, even when you're not a fan of opera. It's impossible because emotions are just there, you know, it's bam, it's in your face. And that's what I'm trying trying to um to explain all the time.

The Abbado Piano Story

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Yeah. Well, that's that's yeah, that's amazing. Uh that's that that's there's there's some seriously good advice and good tips that you've you've demonstrated just in the in in what you're talking about, in this this whole area of feeling rather than just singing, and I think it's it's it's so important. Um, before we finish, do you have uh a story? Or uh I'm sure you you know you have so many stories and so many interesting things that you've done over the years. Do you have uh a favorite story you like to tell that's sort of really quite funny?

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Funny, maybe I had this um I was luckily uh part of um the first uh magic flute um concert, or it was not it was uh not a concert, it was an um production of the magic flute in Italy, and the conductor was Claudia Bado. Okay, it was after his um it was after his uh he had cancer, I think, and he was recovering, and he was very weak, and he was very thin and calm, and he never did the magic flute before in his life. Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:41

So we did the magic flute with him, and you know Claudia Abado, there's he is one of the most sensual conductors you will ever met, yeah, because he's just doing things like this, you know, it's just like this.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

Yeah, you can read it from here, just the fingertips are moving like this. So for me, it was really um um yeah like uh um a wow moment to see him conducting and and bringing music to life from here. And then we had a very famous German baritone singing the Sprecher and the speaker and the magic flute, yeah. And this all this like um accompany recitativo. And um Claudius said to him, Oh, please sing a piano.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

Yeah, piano with the you are not you are not um you are not really sure about your what you feel.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Yeah, you have to be, oh yeah, maybe it's right, but I'm a little bit concerning about well, try to be a little bit more like this, yeah. Okay, sing it again, and it was piano, piano, piano. And then the baritone said from the stage to Claudia about it, hey, I'm singing already piano, like this, yeah, shouting at him, and it was for me so funny because he didn't not really uh not understand anything about that. What Claudia said to him before, and Claudia was a little bit like this because he I think um yeah, that's what this is a funny story about that music when you when you are not able to understand um what music means the the the emotional quality you can't speak about emotions because when I say to you something emotionally, you you maybe understand totally different from that what I do, yeah. How you mean yeah, absolutely. So um this guy didn't understand anything, and he was just hearing don't sing so loud. Yeah, and that's what he answered. I'm already singing piano, shouting at Claudia Manner.

SPEAKER_02 38:11

My goodness, and and oh my goodness, I I it's so sad that he's no no longer around because he was one of the greatest conductors. I remember seeing him a couple of times myself in London. I remember him uh conducting a performance at the BBC Proms of uh Marl's first symphony, and uh it was just something I'll never forget. He was just extraordinarily extraordinary conductor. I never had the never had the pleasure of of singing under him, however.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

Yeah, I did a lot of concert with him. Um Parsival, um Mala's second, um Verdi Erequiem, yeah, always all with uh Radio Caribolin. Wow, and it was always it was unbelievable to see him just doing very little things and feeling it was really so impressive to to to see him bringing music to life.

SPEAKER_02 39:02

Simon, it's been really, really fascinating listening to you today and uh talking with you about all these wonderful uh ways of feeling music. Um I hope we'll get to work again one day, very soon. And uh I wish you all the very best in all the projects you're doing. I know you're always busy, and it's uh always great, great to talk to you. Thank you so much for being on the show today.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

Thank you so much, Russell. See you soon, please.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

The great Simon Berg, all the way from Berlin. What a great guy, and someone I've had the pleasure of working with and sharing lots of musical experiences with, and it's it's always a pleasure. Really talented guy and uh just just all ground great, great musician. Well, we're almost almost ten episodes in. I can hardly believe it. Just uh five weeks, six weeks, five, six weeks, just into this launch of this new podcast, and it's it's just been fantastic. We've met some incredible people, we'll surely agree, some fantastic insights into the choral world. And if you found today's conversation valuable, we'd be incredibly grateful if you would spread the word. And just take a moment to leave us a review or rating. It just helps us reach more and more choir directors around the world and build this incredible community together. And to stay connected between episodes, don't forget to join our newsletter. You'll find the link in the show notes. And if you have any questions about today's show, or you'd like a topic covered, or you suggest a guest, or perhaps you'd like to come on the show yourself, well don't forget you can just contact us by clicking on the link in the show notes to email us at the studio here, or you can even leave us a voicemail. We would love to hear from you. We've got some incredible guests lined up for the next few weeks, so don't forget to tune in. But until next time, goodbye.