We sat down with Robert Hollingworth, founder and director of the innovative solo-voice ensemble I Fagiolini, to chat about his early musical experiences, his teaching at the University of York, and his advice to the next generation of singers.
Can you tell us about your early musical life and what inspired you to pursue choral conducting?
I was a chorister at Hereford Cathedral but it was following the King’s Singers (once live but more often on TV – they even got custard-pied on a Spike Milligan show) that gave me the bug to sing in one-to-a-part ensembles. The conducting thing came later. It’s that mix of solo expression while being a cog in a hyper-complex machine that I just adore.
The King's Singers on Spike Milligan's Q8
You are known for the vocal ensemble I Fagiolini which you founded while still at university and which is known for its innovative performances such as The Full Monteverdi. What inspires you to create such ground-breaking projects and what’s next for the group?
Mostly coffee. And sitting down with other creative people who have the ideas for me (The Full Monteverdi was entirely John La Bouchardière’s concept, for example). Aside from that, it’s a matter of realising that very little music is only appreciated by the ear: a lot of sung music either needs context or some sort of help. We’ve worked with circus, dancers and increasingly in film. We also had a show called Tallis in Wonderland in which I got to smash up a wardrobe with a sledgehammer.
‘Next’ is four-choir music from 17th century Rome by a really important composer completely unknown in this country – Benevoli!
Can you tell us about your teaching at the University of York and what your advice would be to anyone thinking of studying music there?
I’d say come and look around - get a feel for it. Let us know you’re coming and we can have coffee. At York, performance is properly integrated into the course. I run two choirs and they count as teaching sessions, which indeed they are. There’s so much to deal with – acoustically pure (just) intonation, consonant textures (I doubt whether composers thought about them much), I mean, how long have you got?
York is a brilliant town to live in, the course is flexible and the answer to a student is usually ‘yes’. We really encourage students to follow their own interests while offering them modules in things we’re passionate about: so, South African jazz, Music & Health, 20th century music and theatre, ‘Singing Monteverdi’ to name a few. We have our own choral scholarships (£1000 per student – six of these across the department) which are awarded halfway through the year and reward commitment and attitude as well as performance. There are of course York Minster scholarships as well (worth £6,000 a year) but also connections with other paying churches and an increasingly interesting and well-paid connection with Leeds Minster.
University of York’s presence in London’s professional singing scene is very much a thing, as a Cambridge academic was telling me recently! We have a big presence in Genesis Sixteen and are strongly connected to Voces8 and of course I Fagiolini.
You didn’t let lockdown hamper your creativity, producing the YouTube series “Sing the Score”. Can you tell us a bit about it, who it’s for and what we can expect from it?
I made a series that I would enjoy watching. It’s about extremely cool pieces of music (you get to sing them with an online score at the end) but it gets a bit surreal: try the trailer below. Think Monteverdi meets Monty Python (also the Matrix films). We also do a podcast called ‘Choral Chihuahua’ which is now ‘a thing’ - it has jingles…
You are visiting our Choral Course in York this summer. What will you be doing with the students?
Indoctrinating them with a love of Monteverdi (who else makes you feel like he does?) and possibly Real Group arrangements – sort of depends on what they bring. Also talking about choiry things. Sometimes it’s nice to have the chance to talk and think - not only sing.
I gather you went on a choral course in the 1980s. What do you remember about it and how did it influence you?
I remember Ralph Allwood’s energy, and his respect for the young singers. It’s where I started a friendship with Roderick Williams and I remember the tutors, Elizabeth Lane, Paul Spicer, Alistair Thompson, Bruce Pullan and Ralph singing a silly arrangement of ‘In a monastery garden’ and half way through, swapping parts. You had to be there but it was brilliant.
There has been a great deal of media attention around the cutting of funds to classical music (English National Opera; the BBC Singers) which could dissuade young singers from pursuing their musical ambitions. What advice do you have for them?
Firstly, what I can tell you from this end of life and careers is that the degree you do does NOT mean that you end up doing that as a career. Music is seen as a general Arts & Humanities degree that develops critical thinking and leads to most of the same careers that History, English and a load of other degrees do. Musicians have all sorts of skills we take for granted that are highly employable: ask any employer. (As to the current BBC mess, I think if they’d had music grads running the management, none of this would have happened: we consult, we listen, we work together. These are highly employable skills.)
Secondly, on singing, at this stage of your life, don’t worry about whether you’re going to ‘make it’. The great truth is that if singing matters to you, you will sing in a meaningful way for the rest of your life - and get fulfilment from it. You might become the new Gesualdo Six alto 2, you might teach kids to sing, you might be on a back row at a cathedral or start your own ensemble, and you might become a doctor and sing in a very good amateur choir. But you will find something appropriate to you. For now, enjoy the ride - and also something from the sweet trolley.