Ragnar Bohlin, one of the world’s leading choral conductors, has been an integral part of the Swedish Church SF all since he first arrived here in 2007 to take the baton as the Choral Director of San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Not only has he been our church organist whenever available, but he and his wife Tamara, a cellist in the Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra (“Hovkapellet”), have generously performed at our fundraisers and church events. He has also become an icon in the Bay Area Swedish and Scandinavian Community and his performances with the Symphony Chorus and his Cappella SF at Cathedrals and churches have wide following around the Bay Area.
At the Symphony Esa-Pekka Salonen took over as Music Director after Michel Tilson Thomas and previously Herbert Blomstedt but the Pandemic closed the doors of concert venues all over the world. We have been concerned and tracked down Maestro Bohlin to get his perspective and answer a few questions.
1. How are you and your family doing? What have Esa-Pekka and you been up to the last year? What’s next?
I and my family have been faring well amidst the strange times we are in. I have been stranded in Sweden since last March, working online whenever possible with the SFS Chorus and also the SF Conservatory Choir. Cappella SF is having a hiatus this season. I am also doing online choral workshops with the Amateur Music Network on Saturdays, open for people all over the world. Tamara is still playing at the opera in Stockholm and they have streamed projects underway right now. Mikael is doing his final year at the Ingesund Conservatory studying the cello, and Gabriel is doing his second year for a personal trainer license.
I feel sorry for Esa-Pekka Salonen to have to start his first year under these circumstances, but he and the SFS have been very creative with streamed online content.
I rehearse the SFS every week to just keep people in shape. And the group of 32 professionals have been engaged in recording two streamed productions in the fall, one premiere and two Christmas songs. Since they were only allowed one and one in the recording booth they had earphones and a click track. And I was able to prepare them and rehearse them from Sweden.
Our next project will be a recording of Ligeti's LuxAeterna, a piece I have conducted many times in the past. Again, it will be recorded one by one and we are just now laying out a rehearsal plan.
2. How has the Pandemic impacted your view of Life? You come from a family long tradition of priests and bishop on your father’s side, as I recall. Even you father had a degree in Theology and a doctors degree in Sacred Music/Hymnology Were you ever thinking of becoming a Priest? What has the Swedish Church meant to you and your family?
Yes, my paternal grandfather was Torsten Bohlin, bishop of the Härnösand Cathedral. He died already in 1950 so I never got a chance to meet him. The home I grew up in was religiously inclined but without any pressure, something I cherished. We all had a natural connection to spirituality and the church via music, so the church feels like home to me since early childhood. Yes, my father Folke has a degree in theology although he became a musicologist. Personally I have not considered becoming a priest, but quite often making music feels like making a sermon in tones.
3. How old were you when you felt a calling to music? Any life changing experiences? Your father was a Professor of Musicology but became best known as choral conductor. You Grandfather on your mother’s side was Seth Svanholm, a world famous opera singer who became head of the Stockholm Opera in the 1950s. Tell us about your studies in music.? Your early career in Sweden?
I started playing the piano as a very young child and had my first lessons as a 5-year old. My mother, also a choir conductor, had me and my siblings sing and play the recorder from an early age. When I was 8 years old I added cello as my instrument at the Kommunala Musikskolan. When I was 13 my mother convinced me to take organ lessons since it could be a "good way to earn pocket money". Then came a few years of playing keyboards in bands, long haired and headband.
At 14 when it was time to choose a high school course I decided on the Musikgymnasium at St Petri Läroverk in Malmö. That is when I decided to make music my career.
After graduating I spent a couple of years studying piano in London with prof Peter Feuchtwanger as well as holding my first church musician position at Petersgården in Lund.
At age 20 I was admitted to both the Royal Academy in London as a piano student, and the Stockholm Conservatory as a church music student. It was a tough choice but I never regretted choosing Stockholm and church music. Four wonderful years of intense musical activities ensued, organ, piano, singing, conducting and more.
After that I continued with another 4 years with a choral conducting diploma degree.
Meanwhile I held positions in Sofia church and then Nacka church, as well as conducting more and more choirs in the Stockholm/Uppsala region.
1995 to 2007 I held the position as choir master in Maria Magdalena church in Stockholm, while also being invited as a guest conductor with the Radio Choir, Ericson's Chamber Choir and many other groups.
It was by chance that I learned about the opening at the SF Symphony, and I flew over to make an audition. When offered the position my lovely said, "don't worry, we will sort it out somehow". And it's worked out really well so far:)
4. You have become known as a Swedish Viking with a Russian born wife (where did you meet?) , and one of the most frequent flyers on Norwegian Airline. We admire your success to keep your beautiful family together after they moved back to Sweden after a few years here. We look up to you as an inspiring role model. And now you are conquering the world. Tell us more about your international career and plans for the future.
In 1996 I attended an international orchestra conducting course in St Petersburg, Russia. Tamara was the principal cellist in the St Petersburg Camerata which was the orchestra we used during the course. It was love at first sight. "There she is, my future wife", I thought to myself. And things happened fast. A month later she jumped ship when the orchestra was touring Sweden. Next year we got married in Blidö church.
Without Tamara taking a leave of absence 2008 to 2011 I am not sure I would have stayed in San Francisco. But in 2011, when the Stockholm Opera said that she had to make a decision, our boys were already 13 and 14 years old. It was possible to commute since the boys were much more independent at that time. And apart from being a good Norwegian Airlines customer, Tamara and I have been highly dedicated Skype users. Since the SFS Chorus works in projects it has been fairly easy to find gaps to go back and forth.
The pandemic has disrupted my guest conducting, so of course I can not wait for things to go back to normal. I was actually in Florida conducting the Seraphic Fire when the pandemic was announced. The tour of five concerts was cut short. Last December I was supposed to conduct the Nordiska Kammarorkestern and Ericson's Chamber Choir in Bach's Christmas Oratorio. This was postponed to December 2021. Of course, I and all music colleagues are very eager to get back to live performances. Streamed online content is much better than nothing, but it can never make up for the real live experience.
We have also followed your wide interests on scientific matters and policy issues related to the Pandemic and Climate Change. Tell us more about your hope for our new administration. We will have to come back and interview you when the pandemic is over.
Karl Mettinger, MD, PhD is President & CEO, Cellastra Inc
And President of the Church of Sweden, San Francisco