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 2007 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 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.

Joolz Gale has meanwhile made conducting debuts with choirs and orchestras throughout Europe and Asia, including Orquesta de Cadaqués, Orquesta y Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid, China National Symphony, Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Catalana, Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, Shanghai Symphony and Taiwan Philharmonic as well as further guest engagements with orchestras in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, Turkey and Venezuela. Recent guest engagement highlights for Joolz Gale have included a return to Bamberg Symphony for the theatre production “Die Deutsche Seele”, Handel’s “Messiah” in Barcelona’s Palau de la Música for Medici TV and a Germany-wide tour of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 with Junge Deutsche Philharmonie (for which he was subsequently nominated for the OPUS Klassik).

SPECIAL PROJECTS

In 2010, Joolz Gale founded Freigeist Ensemble (comprised of soloists from the German orchestras) to build upon his vision to reach new audiences though new concert formats and alternative locations. Projects often include newly commissioned arrangements for ensemble by Joolz Gale himself (incl. Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, Bartók’s Dance Suite, Debussy’s La Mer, Bruckner’s 9th, Prokofiev’s 5th and Shostakovich’s 9th & 10th Symphonies), for which he is represented and published by Schott and Boosey & Hawkes.

Joolz Gale and Freigeist Ensemble (formerly Ensemble Mini) have collaborated together with RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, Regula Mühlemann, Ferhan & Ferzan Önder, Marlis Petersen, Gerhild Romberger, Christian Tetzlaff, Tanja Tetzlaff, Ruth Ziesak and Elisa Carrillo Cabrera. As well as their 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) and Rheingau Musik Festival (Bruckner), 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.

Future plans for this season include Prokofiev’s symphonies 5 – 7 & Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler, whilst plans for next season include Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder and Bruckner’s symphonies 6 – 9, all newly arranged by Joolz Gale.

Joolz Gale and Freigeist Ensemble have been reviewed and featured widely in German media (such as 3sat Kulturzeit, ZDF Aspekte, rbb Stilbruch and WDR 3) and have recorded several live concerts for Deutschlandfunk Kultur, RBB Kulturradio, NDR Kultur and SWR Classic and an award-winning debut CD, MAHLER 9 (ARS-Produktion). Upon its release, Joolz Gale also performed and toured this same arrangement with the Camerata of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. A follow-up recording – MAHLER 10 – was released in March 2021 to great critical acclaim and awarded the OPUS Klassik 2021 for best chamber music recording, as well as nominations in three other categories.

Joolz Gale’s upcoming album releases in 2023-24 feature his new series of live film concerts from the Meistersaal Berlin in collaboration with EuroArts.

© 2022-23 Joolz Gale. Updated: 01.03.23.
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