Education

Dear visitors,

Ever since I made my first steps in the professional world as Choirmaster at the CNIPAL in Marseille, teaching has always been a part of my life. This position was a symbol in itself: a choirmaster combined with a teacher. For the young conductor that I was, it was the ideal form to help me understand that conducting a choir or orchestra is above all a matter of human psychology and pedagogy. It is impossible to overstate the extent to which the job of conductor and choir director is based on an astonishing paradox: the fact that you don’t produce any sound yourself ! And yet everything that emanates from our body, our head, our gaze and our gestures has a direct and considerable influence on the sound produced by those we conduct.

Since that first professional experience, I have never stopped thinking about group psychology, communication, pedagogy and the language of gesture. Whether it’s for an orchestra or a choir, gesture is always the extension of the deep conviction that we feel as conductors as well as a reflection of our inner voice guided by our heart and our inner ear.

To this intellectual and pragmatic reflection I added Iyengar yoga, a practice that one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century, Yehudi Menuhin, promoted in the West after his decisive meeting with Master B.K.S Iyengar in Bombay.

Yoga has been my daily companion for over 20 years, wherever I am and whatever the altitude, because it has changed my life as a human being, as a musician and as a teacher. Yoga has helped me build a harmonious balance between body and mind, between the divine, universal breath and my musical activity. Becoming aware of your body and what divine nature has given you is the first step before studying the codified gestural language of orchestral and choral conducting. Yoga is invaluable for working on our spirituality, our Being, because beyond the gesture, the first thing we communicate to others is who we really are!

As soon as I arrived in Venezuela in 2012 to take up residence, I began teaching choral and orchestral conducting as a visiting professor at the University of the Andes, in Mérida. I then continued with private lessons, master classes and established a close collaboration with El Sistema. Alongside my work as an orchestra and choir conductor, teaching conducting has become a passion over the years; a passion for sharing my experience and the diversity of the repertoires I’ve tackled, but above all, a passion for helping young conductors to develop their technique and to answer the doubts and questions that arise when faced with the complexity and demands of this profession-passion. Like Asana, the yoga postures that are built up slowly, through the power of the breath and self-confidence, I like to pass on to young conductors as a holistic approach to teaching. This helps them to construct their personalities step by step with authenticity, through gesture and communication in communion with their musical vision of the works that they are interpreting, based on an in-depth and respectful study of the score.

Thanks to this teaching experience and my thirst for openness towards others, I am more than ever attracted to teaching.

Whether you are a student, head of a university department or director of a music department, looking for masterclasses in orchestral and choral conducting or innovative projects for your youth orchestras and choirs, don’t hesitate to contact me. In 35 years of intense and versatile activity, my insatiable curiosity has enabled me to acquire a vast repertoire, from the great choral polyphonies of the Renaissance to the heart of the symphonic repertoire, as well as the inexhaustible wealth of operatic works. This musical diversity has given me a broader understanding of music, its history and the evolution of its language. Now I am keen to pass it on.

I look forward to meeting you and sharing a wonderful human and musical adventure with you!

Christophe Talmont