Jonas Olson is a passionate voice coach in Bangalore, promoting the Swedish-Italian school of singing technique, and with high ambitions and aspirations for his choral ensembles.
Features
The first rehearsals were filled with enthusiasm, with expectation and with a bubbling energy to get started. The results (honestly) were rather bleak. Eight months of virtual hibernation had taken its toll, and since the essence of choir is indeed to be one in the collective – to start again to
Features
Do you remember when we first met? It was an evening, end of October 2016. We had come down with The Bangalore Men to Calangute, to perform our Schubert-programme, and we were expecting you to be in the audience. We hadn’t really interacted or met, I had only heard
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Never has the somewhat cliché expression felt more apt than now. Since end of March, we have been grappling with a pandemic of, in our lifetime, unseen proportions. The measures put in place by governments over the world have of course also impacted culture, art and music. Concert halls are
Music Education
Leading a choir means you have many different tasks – often ranging from the actual musical side of it, to concert planning, admin tasks, building a social context and – of course – repertoire selection for your choir. This is a task that is often taken a bit too lightly and not given
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After a concert, or a season ends, I always experience a kind of sadness, or emptiness. You leave something behind you, that you have worked so hard for, that have brought struggles and joy, and in the end also brought lovely music to an eager audience. Maybe it is therefore,
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During all my years as a choir singer (celebrating 31 years of singing this year), making recordings have always come with mixed feelings. On one hand, you feel proud and happy to be able to document and spread your music and your choir, on the other hand, you dread the
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And so it was time again – bags were packed, kurtas ironed, music in the files and voices full of anticipation. The Bangalore Men goes on tour! After having done two appreciated concerts with Choral Hymns from The Rig Veda, it was time to make two performances in God’s own
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The thought process about “what to do next” with your choir is always fun and inspiring. There are so many factors to be taken into account – difficulty level, language, sacred or secular, acappella or with instruments and so on. In February, we were just finishing our Schubert-concerts, as well as
Throwback Thursday
As 2016 leaves us and 2017 has just begun, I realise that it is now one year since we had our first rehearsal with The Bangalore Men – and what a year it has been! On 10th of January 2016, a group of nine eager singers, who had all sung with
Travel Diaries
The concert series SimplySchubert was born during a chilly February-evening in Bangalore, where we just were preparing for the first ever performance of our a cappella programme with The Bangalore Men. I have always been very drawn to the music of Schubert, having sung many of his immortal lieder, but
Travel Diaries
Raised in the choir tradition of Sweden, it’s difficult for me to stay away from the season in Gothenburg Cathedral (Sweden). The Cathedral as seen below, was inaugurated in 1815, and celebrated 200 years last year. It is situated in the heart of Gothenburg, and is really a true
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Born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden, singing has always been an integral part of my life. Having sung in the Gothenburg Boys’ Choir for 17 years, studied music theory and music history at the Conservatory of Gothenburg and singing for Prof. Gunnar Forshufvud and Maria Forsström, it was natural to