A word with Maike Bühle

The Liederbörse will take place at the Philharmonie Berlin on 18 and 23 April. As a long-standing choral conductor and professor of choral conducting at the Berlin University of the Arts, Maike Bühle has already initiated intensive collaborations within and outside the university. She will conduct both concerts and tells us about her experiences in advance.

What inspired you to take on the role of choir conductor at the Rundfunkchor Berlin’s Liederbörse?

First of all, I always find collaborations incredibly enriching when everyone involved is curious about the others, willing to leave their own ‘comfort zone’ and keen to see their own work from a different perspective. When I was asked whether I would be interested in leading the Liederbörse 2024, I was delighted because I think this format of the radio choir is simply fantastic. So I didn’t have to think about it for long, but accepted immediately. During the preparatory discussions, it quickly became clear that this opportunity for Berlin schoolchildren to come together musically with the Rundfunkchor Berlin is very important to all of us. It is a wonderful opportunity for the young people to familiarise themselves with the work of professional singers by diving headfirst into a musical project, rehearsing together and preparing a concert, singing together and exploring the emotional content of the works. This is very different from ‘just’ attending an information event or a concert! Active doing, combined with heartfelt experiencing, experiences that are shared with other people – I think that’s what can leave a real footprint in a young person’s biography.

Can you tell us something about your musical background and your experience in choral conducting, especially in the context of projects like the Liederbörse?

I only approached the subject of choirs very late in life; my personal musical socialisation took place in instrumental chamber music and youth orchestras. When I was as old as the Berlin schoolchildren we now work with at the Liederbörse, I definitely didn’t know anything about the existence of professional choirs or the job description of ‘choral singer’. If I were young again now, I would definitely want to take up this profession with my current experience, I find it so attractive to be able to make singing together at the highest artistic level my purpose in life! I went to the conservatory with my violin and then sang in a choir for the first time – a decisive experience for me: the world of choral music has kept me under its spell to this day! It’s fantastic that the many students who take part in the Liederbörse – more than 1300 this year alone! – can have this experience and get a taste of the world of professional choral singing!

How do you design the programme for the Liederbörse concerts? Can you give us an insight into the repertoire that is performed at the Liederbörse concerts?

In my opinion, music on the theme of ‘The four elements’ is ideal for the song exchange. Fire, water, earth and air are the elemental forces of nature, and their conscious perception sensitises us to an active mindfulness for our endangered environment – a topic that is not only of great current concern to the younger generation. In addition, these elemental forces also connect us humans through their elementary reflections in our emotions: We all know what it feels like to be ‘through the wind’ or to have ‘caught fire’! And these forces also play a key role in music: we know flowing melodies, a stance rooted in the earth as a prerequisite for a permeable body, free breath, flexible vocalisation, but also airy sounds and fiery rhythms. You can see how many images from the realm of the elements we use in singing! A natural connection to elemental forces, intuitive knowledge of complex structures – that makes it easy to communicate with and about each other in music! I have selected pieces that reflect these elements and at the same time show a wide range of styles. It was also important to me to include works by female composers in the programme, which for me personally is an important aspect of repertoire selection if we want the canon of concert programmes to change. From Lili Boulanger’s ‘Hymne au soleil’ to the pensive ‘Earthsong’ by Frank Ticheli, the lively Hebrew rain song ‘Tzadik Katamar’, the Canadian folk song ‘J’entends le moulin’, Josef Rheinberger’s stormy ‘Nordwind’, the thunderous ‘Kalējs kala debesīs’ by Latvian composer Selga Mence and the lively gospel ‘Shine the light’, everything is included.

What challenges and opportunities do you see in the collaboration between pupils of different ages and musical experience?

Of course, it is a huge challenge to bring so many people with such different profiles together in such a short space of time for a project. But I believe it is a huge enrichment for everyone! The experienced singers take inspiration from the questions put to them, perhaps question routines, can pass on their knowledge and sing new, perhaps unfamiliar repertoire. Young people immerse themselves in a professional artistic reality and experience the goosebump feeling that arises when voices combine to form a great sounding whole. And all together they experience the range of the different compositions, which are whole universes of sound, structure, text and emotion!

What significance does the performance at the Philharmonie Berlin have for the students and how do you prepare them for it?

The Philharmonie Berlin is a unique concert venue with particularly fine acoustics, but also a spatial effect that invites people to engage with each other. I think everyone knows what a privilege it is to be allowed to perform there! So it will be all the more important not to freeze in awe, but to come alive in making music together, even over long distances. I will only have one rehearsal where everything comes together, and many people will see me there for the first time. I’m trying to prepare for this by getting in touch with as many people as possible beforehand. And of course I trust that everyone will have prepared the pieces well – I’ll help where I can. In the end, I hope that the magic of this great moment, the power of the music and the enthusiasm for singing together will inspire us!

How does the Rundfunkchor Berlin support the Liederbörse and how do you and the choir work together?

The Liederbörse is a project of the Berlin Radio Choir that enables Berlin primary and secondary school pupils to sing together with the choir in a concert at the Philharmonie. In preparation for the concert, individual Rundfunkchor singers visit the various primary schools, answer questions from the children, sing something, have something sung to them and engage in personal dialogue. The secondary school choirs, on the other hand, visit Masurenallee, where they get to know the choir, rehearse together and experience first-hand what it means to take up this great profession of choral singing! I find the Rundfunkchor to be an exceptionally open-minded and motivating partner in getting young people excited about choral music. That is really touching.

What personal fulfilment do you derive from your role as a choir conductor at the Rundfunkchor Berlin’s Liederbörse?

It is a matter close to my heart to inspire young people to sing together and to immerse them in the fantastic world of choral music with its immense variety of facets. In this respect, my role as conductor of the Liederbörse is pure fulfilment! I am very much looking forward to working with the students and the Rundfunkchor Berlin to artistically explore the question of how the elemental forces of our endangered nature, which is worth protecting, can be translated into sound and emotion. In doing so, we not only sensitise our audience, but also ourselves to the treasures of nature. In addition, we also enrich our individual spectrum of expressiveness and depth as well as the experience of our commonalities! I would like to thank everyone who has accompanied and supported me on this adventure, especially the wonderful Liederbörsen and Sing! team, the dedicated teachers, the musicians involved and, last but not least, the motivated singers of the Rundfunkchor!