The greater good: your role as a vocal artist

As a conductor, composer, artistic director or creator, you don’t just want to deliver a beautiful project, but also do something relevant. In this round table, we discuss how you can contribute to society through your work. During the discussion, examples will be given of topics such as sustainability and the environment. How did the initiators of these projects set up their activities and what are their aims? How do they link their artistic work to social issues and what challenges do they face in doing so?

Panel members

Merel Martens - moderator

Merel studied Music Education and Choir Direction at the Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam and Rhythmic Choir Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in Denmark, studying with Jim Daus Hjernøe and Jesper Holm. Since November 2015, Martens is teacher and coordinator of the ‘Vocal Leadership‘ programme at the conservatories of Rotterdam and Tilburg, based on ‘the Intelligent Choir’ method. Merel can often be found at (inter)national festivals promoting this method and presenting her vision when it comes to choir leadership. She also was an atelier leader at several EUROPA CANTAT festivals. Merel is also a member of the Music Commission of Leading Voices.

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Merzi Rajala

Merzi Rajala, a Finnish rhythmic choir conducting pioneer, composer and pedagogue, is specialised in popular music, including a number of traditional music genres and fusions from around the world. In addition to her choral work (Global Choir, Open Voice, Partita), Merzi is the head lecturer for Global Choir Conducting at the Sibelius Academy and the creator of the Vocal Ensemble Pedagogy, Metropolia UAS.

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Carlos Amorales

Carlos Amorales is a visual artist from Mexico that is currently developing an artpiece for the city of Utrecht. As Utrecht has a hugh choral community, Carlos took singing as the starting point for this new work entitled Singing Machine. For this, he will dive into the world of vocal leaders and choirs and works side by side with singers to create a new artpiece.
His work is part of important collections as the Tate Modern (London), The Museum of Modern Art (New York), Daros-Latinoamerica (Zurich), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Museum Boijmaans van Beunigen (Rotterdam) and Fundación/Colección Jumex (Mexico) and his work has been on show at the Venice Biennale and many other exhibitions world wide.

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Imre Ploeg

Imre Ploeg is a composer, conductor and artistic researcher of ecological and social issues. He designs projects for choirs (Kamerkoor JIP, Kamerkoor Ilmatar), arts institutions, politicians, scientists and young people, that reflect on current issues like the ecological crisis, the refugee crisis and social polarisation. He works for the Netherlands Chamber Choir as education manager and is artistic director of NKK NXT.

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