I started singing around 10 years ago. I was still at secondary school at the time, and was lucky enough to have received a very good musical education. I had been playing saxophone and piano for a long time and was looking for something new. That’s how I came to start singing. I was particularly interested in the connection with my body. In order to sing, you need to be in tune with and feel comfortable within your own body.

My love of classical music definitely stems from my upbringing. We attended lots of classical concerts and operas, which introduced me to different kinds of harmony and tone colours. It made a huge impression on me and was the main motivation behind my musical training. A vocal ensemble is simply a beautiful way of making music. It’s not about hearing each individual voice but about creating an auditory experience together and moving people.

Even friends and acquaintances who don’t necessarily have a lot to do with classical music really love the music we make. The sounds we create with the human voice can move a lot of people deeply. Including me. This is what made me decide to take up classical choral singing.

The Zurich Chamber Singers achieve the perfect balance between professional and amateur singers who express their shared love of music. For me, being an amateur, singing in this context is a wonderful experience, and also an immensely instructive and motivating one. It’s the perfect blend of professionalism and high standards. At the same time, there’s a great feeling of musicality: it’s not just about perfection, but first and foremost about making music together.

It takes a huge amount of work. We spend three to four days recording around 10 to 12 hours of material just for one CD. And then there are the rehearsals. Our group doesn’t have regular rehearsals, but rehearses for specific projects. This means everyone needs to prepare individually and come to the first joint rehearsal with all the music already in their head. We then spend evenings and weekends leading up to the recording fine-tuning the details.

The coordination also requires a huge amount of effort. For example, the sound engineer has to stich together the over 700 tracks we recorded. Even in classical music, you don’t record the entire track in one go, but sometimes piece it together from over several takes. This artistic construct is essentially a whole new product that provides a completely different auditory experience when compared to a live performance.

There was one very special concert I was a part of that took place in a church in a small town in Lithuania. I was there with the chamber choir from the Winterthur Conservatoire, and we weren't really expecting anyone to show. But hundreds of people came, some of whom were listening from outside the church. Their appreciation made a real impression on me. There have also been lots of concerts with the Chamber Singers that have stuck in my memory, with amazing sound, a feeling of camaraderie within the group and a satisfied audience that wanted to engage with the music. We communicate on an emotional level that the audience can clearly feel and reflects in a kind of dialogue.

For me personally, it’s about grappling with myself and my perfectionism. When singing, there’s always a risk of putting too much pressure on yourself. I’m learning to listen to my body and engage with it. I find the continual confrontation with my own body and my awareness of it very valuable and stimulating.