25 Sep 2024
Meet Jonathan Sells: conductor, choir director, and former Monteverdi Choir singer.
How and when did you become involved with the Monteverdi Choir?
My first tour with the Monteverdi Choir was as a bass ’step-out’ soloist in Handel’s Israel in Egypt tour in 2009. It was an exhilarating experience, with concerts in amazing venues all over Europe. Visiting cities like San Sebastian and Lucerne for the first time, and experiencing venues like Pisa Cathedral was a huge rush for 27-year-old me.
What do you think sets the Monteverdi Choir apart?
The Monteverdi Choir is an elite group, with a potent mix of up-and-coming soloists – the stars of today and tomorrow – together with the crème-de-la-crème of choral and ensemble singers. The galvanising force of John Eliot Gardiner pushed these singers to achieve great things over six decades.
What was your first experience of choral music?
Singing in my primary school choir in south London. We were very lucky to have an inspired, energetic and fearsome Director of Music who put on ambitious projects. Singing Schubert’s ’The Lord is my Shepherd’ made a particular impression on me, and I was also able to sing a few solos before my voice broke.
How did you find yourself on this career journey?
I had decided on a career in music by the age of about 16. I was determined to study music at university in order to give myself the grounding to be an orchestral conductor. After university I pursued a career as a solo singer, since it gave me such all-round enjoyment. Nowadays I’ve come full circle, with a ‘portfolio’ career as solo singer, singing artistic director with my collective Solomon’s Knot, and conductor of the Monteverdi Choir. I’m incredibly lucky to be able to live this dream.
What is the best thing about being part of the MCO?
Undoubtedly the people involved. Every choir is a family, but this is one that has experienced great things together, and which is driven by excellence and inspiration, not just the pay cheque at the end of the month. There is huge talent and a huge hunger for great music and music-making, and audiences everywhere can feel that.
Tell us about your favourite MCO tour or concert.
It’s hard for me to choose between the 2010 B minor mass, 2010 Monteverdi Vespers, and the 2016 St Matthew Passion. I think the Monteverdi Vespers in Pisa Cathedral on 17th September 2010 probably counts as one of the most intensely spiritual musical experiences of my career. With the three tenors of ‘Duo seraphim’ calling to each other across the huge nave of that Romanesque wonder, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin to whom we were singing, time and place seemed to align in a unique way that made all of us very thankful to be there.
Do you have any pre-concert rituals?
Not really - getting ready on time is my main goal! And as a singer, managing food is always a bit of a logistical challenge.
Must listens – if you had to recommend one composer, who would it be and why?
This would have to be Bach. I subscribed to the Monteverdi Choir’s Bach Pilgrimage recordings while I was still at university, and getting to know all of the cantatas gradually through those recordings, reading every word of the booklets, was a hugely important part of my education. We founded a baroque ensemble there and Bach was almost always on our programming, including a Matthew Passion in 2004. Every work of Bach is an endlessly fascinating crystal – I love analysing his pieces – and he simply wrote so MUCH, that one truly can spend a lifetime with him. With Solomon’s Knot I have memorised all of his major works and many of the cantatas - another huge privilege.
If you could work with any artist on a performance or project, who would you choose?
Well, it was a huge pleasure to work with Isabelle Faust with the Monteverdi Choir in June. Isabelle is an artist I admire greatly, and her recording of Bach was playing while our first son was born. Pieter Wispelway has always been an inspiration through his interpretation(s) of the Bach cello suites – it would be fascinating to work with him. And to witness Sir Simon Rattle – probably my no.1 living conducting hero – up close in Mahler’s second symphony, for example, would be amazing.
Away from music, tell us about your favourite hobbies and why they strike such a chord.
Apart from music, which I also enjoy a lot in my ‘free’ time, my number one hobby is working in the garden. The world of plants, similarly to music, has incredible depth, and there is always more to learn. The challenge and responsibility of nurturing something, and caring for an entire ecosystem, is extremely rewarding. And being in close collaboration with nature, following the seasons, is a beautiful dance.
Finally, what projects did you enjoy last season, and what are you looking forward to most this season with MCO?
My first project conducting the MCO, ‘Bach Motets and Solo Violin Music’, was a life-changing experience. Not knowing what to expect and being slightly intimidated at the thought of leading my illustrious colleagues, it was a wonderful collaboration that was both healing and inspiring. We are just about to embark on our next project – a fascination juxtaposition of Bruckner, Gesualdo, and others – and I can’t wait to explore new repertoire and new expressive possibilities with them. And I look forward to continuing my journey with the Monteverdi Choir. It is one of the UK’s great musical institutions, and we should do everything we can to preserve it
Jonathan Sells conducts the Monteverdi Choir in Bruckner & Gesualdo: Echoing Across the Centuries, 16-20 October 2024 in Ely, Oxford and London.
