It’s difficult to find your way round the corridors of Maison de la Radio, but after some convoluted twists and turns, I finally arrive at her dressing room: “Sofi Jeannin, Music Director of the Maîtrise de Radio France.” She answers my knock on the door straight away, impeccably punctual, with an authentic smile on her face, despite some bad news which has arrived that morning; a soloist is unwell, has lost their voice and will have to cancel tomorrow’s concert. “We’ll find a solution” she says, with a shrug. For Sofi Jeannin, this isn’t the first time. You don’t juggle a position at Radio France with another at BBC Singers and invitations pretty much anywhere on the planet (she was in Tokyo 48 hours earlier, conducting the New Japan Philharmonic) if you can’t handle a challenge. The conductor hasn’t chosen an easy life: “a few years ago, I gave myself the challenge of not creating a public persona, of being the same person on the podium as I am at home. I want to be respected without having to speak loudly or change my accent!”, she exclaimed, making reference to Stokowski… at the same time as her melodious voice reveals her nordic origins.
Born in Sweden 42 years ago, Sofi Jeannin has travelled through Europe on an unusual route, from Stockholm to London via the Conservatoire de Nice. Today she is an internationally renowned choirmaster and orchestral conductor, but she has always been humble about everything she does, impressed by what she had to learn. Starting with the French discipline of composition: “when I started my harmony classes at Nice, I was blown away by the expertise! My teacher had come from Olivier Messiaen’s class, he knew how to write in any style. As for me, I’d never been to a single music class in my life!” She’d come across stark differences in music education between Sweden and France. “In Sweden, there is very little composition. Instead, I learnt to sing in a group. The legacy of the great Swedish choirmaster Ericson remains in Sweden’s choirs. I had been surrounded by it since I was a child, everyone sings there! Whether they’re good or not is irrelevant. In France, I was a bit sad about the vocal and choral standard amongst school children. They don’t sing and are even afraid of singing…”
Paradoxically, the lack of choral culture in France was a driving force for her, as well as for her elders: “When I was a student, I saw what Bernard Têtu, Pierre Cao, Laurence Equilbey did… there was a desire to accomplish things, an excitement which was terrific!”. The word “terrific” comes up several times, a sign of her open enthusiasm; a key trait of the conductor. It was “terrific” to discover that she had borrowed the same score as Janet Baker and Gerald Finley from the library at the Royal College of Music, where she landed a few years later. It was here, in “the birthplace of English choral music” that she became more specialised and confident in her skills. “They accepted me as I was. No one tried to erase what I had already learnt and replace it with a different teaching or technique. It was a very competitive environment but no one was looking to intimidate me or put me off balance. Unfortunately, that’s something you come across in France. It’s as if you have to pass through fire to deserve being there. It’s not in the spirit of music… it’s changed since then, but before the tests to get into conducting at the Conservatoire de Paris… I know a lot of good conductors who would never have passed the preliminary rounds!” Sofi Jeannin was amongst many young French musicians who crossed the Channel for such reasons.
Jeannin completes her education under English specialists. The “remarkably generous” Paul Spicer, who was very thorough, from his technique and to the way he addressed the choir. He taught her the basics by testing her continuously: “You have fifteen minutes to put together A study of Gesualdo by Peter Warlock, where do you start?”. Neil Thompson, a professor of orchestral conducting, renowned for his skill in transforming his students: “I saw his students as they arrived and then what they became after a year or two. It was incredible. He was very encouraging, but you had to work hard, he was very demanding when it came to technique.” The last of this London trinity: David Willcocks, who marked her for life by the way he engaged with every moment: “He was a choir boy at Westminster Abbey when he was little. He lives and breathes choral music! He is a former director of the Royal College of Music and he inspired me with the way he was very hands-on and not afraid to get stuck in. If a student didn’t come to class, he would get in his car and knock on his door! The next day, the student’s teacher would receive a note in his mailbox from him. He was at every concert, every rehearsal… That level of engagement in teaching, kept up throughout his whole life… I think it’s just terrific.”