SPECIAL PROJECTS

Joolz Gale is founder and artistic director of Freigeist Ensemble (comprised of soloists from Germany’s top orchestras), performing with a wealthy array of artistic partners including Sarah Connolly, Regula Mühlemann, Ferhan & Ferzan Önder, Marlis Petersen, Gerhild Romberger, Christian Tetzlaff, Tanja Tetzlaff, Carolin Widmann, Ruth Ziesak and Elisa Carrillo Cabrera. As well as the ensemble’s many late-night club concerts in Berlin and Hamburg, guest performances have included Musikfest at Philharmonie Berlin (Stravinsky), Konzerthaus Berlin (Debussy), Dortmund Konzerthaus (Mussorgsky), Essener Philharmonie (Mahler), Kissinger Sommer (Bartók), Kasseler Musiktage (Mahler), Rheingau Musik Festival (Bruckner) and Musikfest Stuttgart (Mahler), which have been combined with various concerts abroad including Mozarteum Salzburg (Prokofiev), Budapest Palace of Arts (Bartók), Auditorio Nacional Madrid (Mahler) and Zaryadye Hall Moscow (Shostakovich) plus many other cities and festivals in Europe and Asia.

RECORDINGS

Joolz Gale and Freigeist Ensemble (formerly known as Ensemble Mini) have been reviewed and featured widely in German media (such as 3sat Kulturzeit, ZDF Aspekte, rbb Stilbruch and WDR 3), appeared on networks such as ARTE, Mezzo TV and Medici TV and have recorded multiple live concerts for Deutschlandfunk Kultur, RBB Kulturradio, NDR Kultur and SWR Classic. Their award-winning debut CD, MAHLER 9 (ARS-Produktion), was followed up to great critical acclaim in 2021 with the release of MAHLER 10, which was awarded the OPUS Klassik for best chamber music recording as well as nominations in three other categories. Joolz Gale’s latest album release includes newly arranged Strauss songs with soprano Marlis Petersen and Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 as part of his own series of concerts as film director, “Meistersaal Sessions” (EuroArts).

ARRANGEMENTS

With over 40 works so far to his name, projects with Freigeist Ensemble often include newly commissioned arrangements by Joolz Gale for chamber orchestra (such as Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin, Debussy’s La Mer, Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler, Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and symphonies by Bruckner, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Stravinsky), for which he is represented and published by Schott and Boosey & Hawkes. Plans for the upcoming season include new arrangements of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Shostakovich’s 8th Symphony and Bruckner’s 6th Symphony.

JOURNEY TO CONDUCTING

Born in rural England, Joolz Gale initially studied as a violinist and read Music at the University of Oxford before furthering his studies as a singer at Royal College of Music, London. Upon graduation he became an inaugural apprentice to the Monteverdi Choir under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, at which time he began to develop his skills as a conductor. In the same year, he became a finalist at the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition, resulting in an immediate invitation by Jonathan Nott to conduct and record his debut EP with the Bamberg Symphony and Bavarian Radio.

Joolz Gale furthered his conducting studies with Sir Roger Norrington, with whom he developed a close relationship as assistant conductor with orchestras such as Mahler Chamber Orchestra, SWR Symphony Stuttgart and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen as well as several of the world’s leading period instrument orchestras. He also conducted Brahms and Schumann with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen as assistant to Paavo Järvi, going on to take masterclasses with him at the Järvi Academy with Tallinn Chamber Orchestra in Estonia. More recently, Joolz Gale has conducted the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin in various projects as cover and assistant for Justin Doyle.