A choir can sing the right notes and still leave an audience cold. That’s why I loved sitting down with Berlin choral musician and choir leader Simon Berg to get practical about the one thing that changes everything: how singers feel and listen while they sing. Simon’s work connects ensemble blend, tuning, and expression into one skill set, so we stop treating “technical problems” like isolated fires to put out and start building a choir that self-corrects in real time.
We talk about Simon’s journey from playing organ in church as a teenager to training as a professional singer, then stepping into high-pressure musical theatre conducting in Berlin. That mix shapes how he leads choirs such as the St Conrad Gospel Choir, where the label matters less than the spirit. We also dig into what “gospel” means in Germany, why audiences sometimes expect one sound, and how a conductor can guide an ensemble towards honest communication that works across styles like classical, jazz, pop, and musical theatre.
From there we get hands-on with choral rehearsal technique: Simon’s “never rehearse, always perform” mindset, warm-ups that use gamification and movement to wake up tired singers, and the role of language, diction, and meaning. If you lead a choir and you’re chasing better intonation, clearer vowels, stronger ensemble sound, and more confident musical storytelling, you’ll take away ideas you can try at your very next rehearsal.
Subscribe for more choir leadership conversations, share this with a fellow choir director, and please leave a review or rating so more conductors can find the show. What’s one change you want to make in your next rehearsal?
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More about Simon Berg:
Website: www.simonberg.de
Instagram: @smcmounty
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Resources:
The Choir Director Podcast — helping you build stronger choirs, run better rehearsals, and create outstanding musical experiences.
Follow Russell Scott:
- Website: russellscott.org
- Instagram: @russellscottofficial
- Facebook: facebook.com/russellscottofficial
- X: @russellscottuk
(c) Russell Scott 2026. All rights reserved.
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