Kicking off our series of interviews for the the 2009 Brighton Festival Fringe is the composer, Matt Pollard from The Rainbow Chorus. Matt and The Rainbow Chorus are presenting their superb one night musical extravaganza called, “Choral Propaganda” . You can catch their lively show at The Old Market in Brighton on Thursday 21st May at 7.45 pm. So let’s put our 10 Questions to Matt to learn lots more about him and The Rainbow Chorus…
1. What inspired you to become a musical director and conductor?
I’m not a conductor, I’m a composer who started conducting because nobody else would do it at college! I ended up conducting all my friends music as well, and have continued working with brand new music – I reckon I’ve now given in excess of 50 world premieres in the last 12 years, more than some conductors give in a lifetime. I now really enjoy conducting as an activity in it’s own right. It gives you the opportunity to shape the music, and interpret in the way you wish, as well as choosing the repertoire. I take programme planning very seriously and try to come up with something inventive and enjoyable for every concert, so I have a huge collection of books and scores at home! I’ve worked with the Rainbow Chorus for about 7 years and combine it with contemporary music and a regular commitment with a brass band – I’m nothing if not eclectic …
2. What’s your show about and what should the public expect from your show at the 2009 Brighton Fringe Festival?
The Rainbow Chorus is a gay and lesbian choir, but I like to stretch our boundaries quite a lot! Choral Propaganda really harks back to the days when music was a powerful tool of social and political change. These days politics are once again big news, so it seemed like the right time to investigate this type of music.
The audience can expect a concert of two halves: in the first half they’ll experience our usual blend of glittering beauty and expressive power, including a world premiere by yours-truly. They should go to the interval spiritually uplifted!
The second half is all powerful agitprop music, so as well as being entertained, our audience may also want to overturn our decadent capitalist society upon leaving the venue – who knows? Music can be very powerful! There are lighter moments as well, with some gay Berlin cabaret thrown in for good measure.
3. What was the last Fringe or Festival you performed at and what was it like?
Tete-a-tete Opera Festival at the Riverside Studios, London, in 2008. We were performing a small opera I wrote called “The Diary”. It was a wonderful experience because I had such a great team, including a brilliant producer and director. There was a great ambiance, being next to the river in Hammersmith. However, beware the very dodgy Spanish restaurant around the corner near the Apollo …
4. What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?
My funniest experience was in a concert with the National Youth Brass Band, at the Royal Academy of Music in London. A guest conductor became incredibly enthusiastic (and sweaty) conducting Wagner. At one point, a huge fountain of sweat flew from his brow, straight into the faces of several cornet players. About half the band collapsed in giggles but we held it together!
Worst experience – undoubtedly a performance of Mozart’s Requiem that I conducted, with a brilliant choir but a ropey student orchestra. They wouldn’t rehearse until an hour before the concert, and totally slaughtered it. I wanted the ground to swallow me up.
5. What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?
I can never really remember advice and seem to be much better at giving it than receiving it. People tell me the same things over and over again about my conducting, mainly that I need to relax my shoulders. I’m actually a great believer in self-motivation and think that everyone needs to find their own way.
Worst advice – I hate it when people tell me I should give something up, so I never do!
6. What are you most proud of and what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?
I’m actually most proud of the little, one-off concerts that nobody else seems to pay any attention to. For example, the first time Rainbow Chorus tackled a big classical piece – Vivaldi’s Gloria – that was fantastic, and proved to them that they could do it! I also got a real buzz when I won a national conducting competition last year. There is so much left for me to fulfill that I wouldn’t like to single out one thing, except that I hope one day to write a really big, successful opera, a follow-up to “The Diary”.
7. Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why? And what culinary dish would you prepare?
Pierre Boulez – perhaps not mega-famous but an amazing conductor and composer, now 84 years old but still globe-trotting.
I’ve always had a fascination with Eleanor Roosevelt for some reason, so she could come along and tell us where it all went wrong.
It would be nice to have somebody who’s real fun as well, I can think of no-one better than Pam Ayres for some reason. What fun!
I certainly would not be cooking. I’d banish my boyfriend to the kitchen to cook his famous rolled pork and pasta, followed by banoffee pie (which he claims he invented).
8. What is the best book or books you have read and why?
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. It made me think about the whole world differently. I’m also a history fan, and have spent most of the last three years reading about the Russian Revolution.
9. Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?
1. I love snooker and cricket, and used to play both quite well. I have a thing about slow sports.
2. Apparently I never learned to tie my laces properly until about 3 weeks ago.
3. I won a national essay competition about transport when I was 15, for an essay promoting the use of rivers and canals for commuters.
4. Following on from that, I am completely obsessed with maps. I’d far rather be a cartographer than a musician.
5. Secretly I truly believe that everyone I know is completely mad, and that I’m probably the only sane person around. So although I pretend to interact and listen to people, in truth I know that I’m always right…
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
I don’t know about the world, but I’d make everyone in the UK do a sort of National Service where they would have to sing in a choir or play in an orchestra, percussion group or brass band or whatever, for at least 3 years in their late teens/early twenties. At least they’d get to know one another, and it might cheer everyone up a bit (God knows, we need it). Plus it would create a lot of employment for me which can never be a bad thing. I suppose I should mention something about world peace, which would obviously be great too!
Tags: Choral Propaganda, composers, Gay music, Matt Pollard, Rainbow chorus