German renowned conductor Florian Helgath is in Armenia. In the framework of Aram Khachaturian International Festival, on October 14, he will conduct “Hover” State Chamber Choir. In an interview with Aravot, the musician said that he is extremely impressed by the “Hover” choir, which in his words, has a unique acoustic sound, the sound quality is warm, hot, large-scale and the program of the concert is complex, to which the choir is wonderfully prepared. “I had a fear that the choir will have difficulty to get prepared, and the result was a pleasant surprise for me. In short, “Hover” is a very flexible choir,” – said Florian Helgath.
To our observation that he is considered to be one of the best conductors in Europe, so how he achieved this opinion, the musician modestly replied that he is not the best. Then, he mentioned that he was used to singing in the choir since age 10, has participated in a series of concerts around the world and thus related to the professional choral art. In general, our interlocutor stresses the importance of diligence and hardworking, he says that the conductor must love music and be able to be in a harmony with the choir. We inquired that he had worked with many choirs, so what he thinks is especially important in this work. “Every choir is different, each of them has a unique sounding and originality. While, you have your vision about the sounding. In short, it is important that the sound of your conducted choir and your views match. When you work with your own choir, you continue the same thought, contribution, but when you are an invited conductor, you first of all host the sounding of “others”, trying to harmonize with your thought,” – says Florian Helgath. As the artist has performed the Divine Mess of Komitas in 2015 in Munich with his choir, which was very well accepted by the German audience, we asked him to tell us a little about this initiative. Our conversation was intervened by the translator, Germany-based guide Armine Babayan- Zeytaghyan.
The latter remembered that the famous composer and guitarist with Armenian and German roots, Marc Sinan when he had found out that he is an Armenian descent, he had decided to include “Komitas” in the events dedicated to the centenary of the Genocide. “In addition to choosing the German choir to sing the divine mess, this liturgy was delivered in the improvised variant, various instruments were accompanied, also everything was presented in a theatrical style. The project implementers were looking for a specialist who knew Armenian and was familiar with the choral art, thus they contacted me. Thus, I began working with Floriana and helped in the matter of language and other issues. At that time, he discovered Komitas, while until then, he knew only Terterian,” – said Armine Babayan- Zeytaghyan.
We asked Florian Helgath who is Komitas for him, and what are the peculiarities of Komitas in his perception. The German conductor described as follows: “Komitas music is very extensive, spiritual and magical, on the one hand, it is very simple, on the other hands, it is very profound. When you are working with this music, you feel the majestic spiritual character of Komitas.”
We also asked the conductor about his opinion on the international competitions, their objectivity, and whether the gifted always wins. “Competitions certainly are important for the musician in order to compare his qualities with others. When I need to take part in any competition with the choir, I am practicing more intensively, trying to be more perfect than in the case of ordinary concerts. This moment a little resembles the sports, in which there is a negative thing, music is not a sports competition. One more thing I would like to mention, two choirs may perform in the same music competition, let’s say, one from Armenia and the other from Germany, both can sing brilliantly but be different lust like an apple and a pear. In this case, you cannot compare which is better. Consequently, there is a factor of subjectivity in the competitions,” – he replied. And what advice he will give to the young conductors. “It does not matter whether you are a beginner or developed, you have to criticize yourself, ask questions, do self-analyses, trying to constantly study, develop and strive for self-recognition. You can constantly practice, thinking that you played false, but in fact, it may become clear that you are the one who is false,” – said Florian Helgath.
During our conversation, we talked about the Aram Khachaturian festival, with which the conductor was impressed. Armine Babayan-Zeytaghyan informed that Helgath has heard about Khachaturian Festival from her, and after the “Komitas” project, he had a love towards Armenia, later, he and Artistic Director of “Hover” chamber choir, Sona Hovhannisyan, have exchanged CDs, and Florian had decided to organize an interesting project with the choir.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
Main photo: Florian Helgath and Armine Babayan- Zeytaghyan. “Aravot”
