The singer talks about the danger facing critics, suffering for his art and making a video featuring a bodybuilder with a violin
*When did you discover your talent for singing?*
I started singing in a boys' choir, the Kiedricher Chorbuben, at the age of seven, and sang there until I was 18. From early on, I think I was one of the better singers – but I was lucky that the choirmaster placed his trust in me, and gave me a lot of solos.
*What was your big breakthrough?*
My first tour was with [counter-tenor and conductor] René Jacobs, singing the two alto arias in Bach's St John Passion. On Good Friday, the concert was broadcast all over France. The next day, on the train to Paris, I bumped into William Christie from [the baroque ensemble] Les Arts Florissants. He asked if I was the young man who had sung on the radio the day before. I said I was, and he invited me to record The Messiah – which then gave me a lot of exposure.
*How did you come to sing as a countertenor?*
My voice broke when I was 14, but I managed to sing soprano for another year or so. Then my singing teacher said: "Your voice isn't a child's voice any more – it's more of a counter-tenor." That was the first time I'd heard the term, or thought it was something one could do professionally.
*Do you suffer for your art?*
Yes – all artists do. There's the travelling, the being away from home, the self-criticism. Even when people come up to you after a concert with tears in their eyes you think: "They're just trying to be nice." I complained about this to my singing teacher once, and he said: "What did you expect – to leave music college and have no disappointments? That's not the way it goes."
*Should the classical music world make more effort to attract new audiences?*
Of course. Over the last 10 years, it's become more and more difficult to find an audience. The responsibility lies not only with promoters and musicians, but with critics. They tend to smother attempts to make classical music more popular – from taking it into places it's not usually performed, to using amplification at the earliest stages. But music must evolve: if the critics continue like this, they will cut off the very branch on which they sit.
*What one song would work as the soundtrack to your life?*
Bach's B Minor Mass. It incorporates all styles of composition, and it's intellectual and emotional. I've been performing it for 20 years, and I still discover new details every time I sing it.
*What's the worst thing anyone ever said about you?*
David Vickers gave my CD O Solitude a trashing in Gramophone magazine. It affected me for quite a while.
*Is there anything you regret?*
An embarrassing collaboration with a German pop star, Orlando. The homemade video had a bodybuilder posing with a violin. Fortunately, it went almost unnoticed.
*What's the biggest myth about being a singer?*
That it's all about inspiration. It's actually a rather unspectacular process, requiring hard work, brains, homework, preparation, and lots of perspiration.
*In short*
*Born: *Eltville am Rhein, Germany, 1967.
*Career:* A specialist in baroque music, Scholl has made more than 60 recordings. His latest album, Wanderer, is out now on Decca; he performs Bach's St Matthew Passion at King's College Chapel, Cambridge, on 25 and 26 March. Tickets: kings.cam.ac.uk.
*High point:* "Performing at the Last Night of the Proms."
*Low point:* "Falling sick during two opera productions the year my father died: suddenly, what I loved had become a burden." Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 days ago.
*When did you discover your talent for singing?*
I started singing in a boys' choir, the Kiedricher Chorbuben, at the age of seven, and sang there until I was 18. From early on, I think I was one of the better singers – but I was lucky that the choirmaster placed his trust in me, and gave me a lot of solos.
*What was your big breakthrough?*
My first tour was with [counter-tenor and conductor] René Jacobs, singing the two alto arias in Bach's St John Passion. On Good Friday, the concert was broadcast all over France. The next day, on the train to Paris, I bumped into William Christie from [the baroque ensemble] Les Arts Florissants. He asked if I was the young man who had sung on the radio the day before. I said I was, and he invited me to record The Messiah – which then gave me a lot of exposure.
*How did you come to sing as a countertenor?*
My voice broke when I was 14, but I managed to sing soprano for another year or so. Then my singing teacher said: "Your voice isn't a child's voice any more – it's more of a counter-tenor." That was the first time I'd heard the term, or thought it was something one could do professionally.
*Do you suffer for your art?*
Yes – all artists do. There's the travelling, the being away from home, the self-criticism. Even when people come up to you after a concert with tears in their eyes you think: "They're just trying to be nice." I complained about this to my singing teacher once, and he said: "What did you expect – to leave music college and have no disappointments? That's not the way it goes."
*Should the classical music world make more effort to attract new audiences?*
Of course. Over the last 10 years, it's become more and more difficult to find an audience. The responsibility lies not only with promoters and musicians, but with critics. They tend to smother attempts to make classical music more popular – from taking it into places it's not usually performed, to using amplification at the earliest stages. But music must evolve: if the critics continue like this, they will cut off the very branch on which they sit.
*What one song would work as the soundtrack to your life?*
Bach's B Minor Mass. It incorporates all styles of composition, and it's intellectual and emotional. I've been performing it for 20 years, and I still discover new details every time I sing it.
*What's the worst thing anyone ever said about you?*
David Vickers gave my CD O Solitude a trashing in Gramophone magazine. It affected me for quite a while.
*Is there anything you regret?*
An embarrassing collaboration with a German pop star, Orlando. The homemade video had a bodybuilder posing with a violin. Fortunately, it went almost unnoticed.
*What's the biggest myth about being a singer?*
That it's all about inspiration. It's actually a rather unspectacular process, requiring hard work, brains, homework, preparation, and lots of perspiration.
*In short*
*Born: *Eltville am Rhein, Germany, 1967.
*Career:* A specialist in baroque music, Scholl has made more than 60 recordings. His latest album, Wanderer, is out now on Decca; he performs Bach's St Matthew Passion at King's College Chapel, Cambridge, on 25 and 26 March. Tickets: kings.cam.ac.uk.
*High point:* "Performing at the Last Night of the Proms."
*Low point:* "Falling sick during two opera productions the year my father died: suddenly, what I loved had become a burden." Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 days ago.