Simon Halsey hands over the baton as Chorus Director

As our Chorus Director Simon Halsey steps down from his substantive post with the London Symphony Chorus (LSC), we take a look at his exciting 11 years at the helm. He’s keeping his links with the chorus as our Conductor Emeritus, preparing us for Janáček’s Jenufa in January 2024.

Simon Halsey, LSC Chorus Director (image copyright CBSO)

Simon’s top 3 musical moments at the LSC
2019: David Lang’s Crowd Out community project, where we invited hundreds of singers to join us, first at the Spitalfields Festival and later in the Barbican foyer.
2019: Cunning Little Vixen by Janáček, where the youth chorus took part and members of the LSC were very convincing chickens.
2015: Live Recording of Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri – it was such a privilege to do this neglected masterpiece. Everything about it was good: the soloists, the chorus, the orchestra – and especially the Conductor.

The journey begins… on the tube

When Simon Halsey joined the LSC as its Choral Director, back in April 2011, he probably hadn’t reckoned that he’d soon be coming face-to-face with larger-than-life billboard images of himself at several London tube stations.

“There were these huge posters,” says Simon, explaining this novel approach to recruiting new members. “And it did work. A lot of people came forward.”

Simon had been brought in on a consultancy basis initially to advise on ensuring the chorus was at its very best for the then conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev. When he took on the chorus director role permanently, the LSO supported the bold step of advertising on the tube to recruit some new faces.

“Fortunately, nobody ever recognised me on the street afterwards,” Simon laughs. “But I was really pleased with the campaign because it meant that the orchestra was taking the chorus very seriously.”

So began his journey with the LSC, taking the chorus from already high to even greater heights.

“We needed a rejuvenated membership,” explains Simon, who reauditioned the entire membership of the chorus, retaining many of those who were already members.

“We also brought in singing teachers and more language coaches and I increased the number of rehearsals considerably, which was not entirely popular,” he says in a typically British understated way and with his ‘trust -me-I-know-best’ smile.

“My view is you need more than enough time to do a good job, not just about enough time.”

Now, he says, he is “very proud” that the choir can respond to any great conductor, not just Sir Simon Rattle, but any one of a number of Guest Conductors, including François-Xavier Roth, Michael Tilson Thomas and Gustavo Dudamel.

Parallel tracks

Once at the LSC, Simon was also asked by the orchestra to help them lure in another new recruit: none less than Sir Simon Rattle, who was standing down from his post at the Berlin Phil.

The pair go back to the early 1980s in Birmingham, when both were in their twenties. At the age of 25 Simon (Halsey) was appointed Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus. He’s now been there for nearly 41 years, but the first 17 of them were during Sir Simon’s time as CBSO Conductor and Music Director.

Those years cemented both Simons’ careers, which have run along parallel tracks ever since. Though they seem regularly to merge, Simon Halsey makes it clear that his appointment to Berlin’s Rundfunk choir was not connected to Sir Simon’s appointment at the Berliner Philharmoniker.

“But once Simon arrived it was fantastic, as we’d known each other for 17 years and began the whole repertoire again for the second time.

“By then, we knew what we were doing. The first time we did everything, we were children. The second time we were in our forties and had been around the block a few times!”

Some 40 years on, the two of them have been working together again, in London.

“We were able to do everything again, for the third time. We were in our fifties and sixties, and there was that marvellous feeling that by now we really knew what we were doing!”

Professional versus amateur

Although Simon had always wanted to be an orchestral conductor, it was Sir Simon who suggested he concentrate on choral directing.

“I was upset for about two hours and then I realised he’d given me the key to a happier and a less stressed future. That day was a turning point in my life.”

Simon acknowledges the differences between conducting a large amateur choir and a small, professional chamber choir.

“Choral conducting is very close to teaching. The job is to really teach the notes, build confidence, work at the sound, intonation and all the techniques.

“There’s also a great deal of planning, personal care, reauditions, sending people for coaching.

“I have an enormous variety of experience sitting in front of me. Some people will have studied music to an almost professional level and others absolutely not.

“And it’s a different thing encouraging amateurs to turn up voluntarily, rather than a professional who is paid to be there.

“You also have to fill the room with personality because you’ve got to keep 160 people entertained for two-and-a-half hours, twice a week. The bigger the choir, the more an element of entertainment required.”

Beyond the Barbican

As Chorus Director, Simon has supported LSO initiatives such as the youth choirs, community choir, and singing days.

“My view is that the orchestra needs to put out tentacles to the community. We can’t expect people just to turn up. It’s all part of giving the potential audience more opportunities to explore music. It’s also very important for the chorus to be a strong part of the public face of the orchestra.”

The chorus has recently been exploring ways to recruit singers from a wider pool, including those from minority ethnic backgrounds.

“There is still a way to go,” Simon admits, “but we are not doing so very badly.”

He points to the work in 2022 with African American Conductor André J Thomas and chorus members joining Chineke! Orchestra’s Beethoven 9 prom.

“We have to open ourselves up to a greater diversity of conductors and of repertoire. We have to grow to look as much like modern London as possible. If we look like modern London, modern London will want to join us.

“The minute a choir has young people in it, other young people will join. The minute a choir becomes diverse, the more diverse it can become.”

Ups and downs

There have, of course, been disappointments over the years. One was the difficult decision taken by the LSO that it could no longer afford to run the community choir. “I respect the decision that had to be made. We live in really difficult times”.

Another was the decision by the City of London Corporation not to pursue plans for a new concert hall.

“It was a great idea, but there was a downturn in the economy, Brexit, and then Covid.”

He hasn’t entirely given up hope though.

“If I tell you that Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, which opened in 1991 but had been promised to Adrian Boult in the 1930s, then perhaps there’s a possibility that the hall might yet be built – but not in our lifetimes.”

And then there was Covid.

With choral rehearsals halted, the outlook for all choirs, not just the LSC, was bleak.

“We had no idea how we’d come together after Covid. It was vital we continued on Zoom. The remarkable thing is, basically, everyone came back. But only because we kept the whole thing warm. We kept the family feeling alive.

“I knew I, like other conductors, was in the business of saving their choirs,” he admits, acknowledging the work of the LSC’s Council and its then Chair, Owen Hanmer. They supported concerts outdoors, at Spitalfields and the Guildhall, and commissioned a new and moving work by Howard Goodall, a tribute to the healthcare staff who died during the pandemic, which was initially streamed online before it was performed

Leaving a legacy

Simon will remain Conductor Emeritus with the LSC, which means he will still have some involvement with the chorus.

“I’ve offered to be grandpa for anyone who needs to ask questions. I don’t want to lose touch with LSC and LSO.”

He’ll continue his work with the CBSO Chorus and as Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Birmingham University.

One of his legacies at LSC will be Mariana Rosas, who takes over the baton as Simon steps down.

Mariana has impeccable credentials: educated in Italy and Argentina, she has a bachelor’s degree in Choral Conducting from the National University of Arts of Argentina, where she became an Assistant Professor in 2018; a diploma in Contemporary Music at the Conservatoire of the City of Buenos Aires “Manuel de Falla”, where she was also assistant professor; a PhD in musicology; and an MA in arts administration. She regularly ran choral master classes in Argentina.

She moved to the UK in 2019 to study Conducting at Birmingham University, where Simon is Professor. She also worked with Crouch End Festival Chorus under its Young Conductor Mentor Scheme.

“One of the great things will be that she’s different from me!” he jokes. “But seriously, Mariana will be perfect for the job. She is a really safe pair of hands.

“She is very determined, really trustworthy and well-balanced. She will be very good in her human relations with choir members but also with management and the orchestra. All that comes naturally to her.”

He’s keen to point out that he wasn’t involved in the appointment.

“The interviews were done with the utmost integrity. She applied for the advertised post along with 45 others and won it, against the hottest competition in the world.”

So, after a jet-setting career, why has Simon chosen now to step back from his regular LSC commitment, as well as scaling back on his involvement in Berlin and with the Orfeó Català choir in Barcelona?

“Quite simply, at 65 you do get more tired and need more time for recovery. I just won’t be doing as much, or taking on anything that requires me to be out on or Tuesday or Thursday evening.

“I’ll have more time at home, to look after my elderly father, who is moving closer to me. I would like to see my wife, Wiebke, more. Also, my first grandchild, Hugo, who is just four months old.”

He proudly shows a photo of his grandson on his mobile phone.

“I want more family time. That is what one’s legacy is. I want to be there for it more.”