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	Natrually, you’re following Maurice’s blog http://insidenotp.blogg.org/ about the rehearsals of Fine Fleur; the choir is being lead by the professional expert Edwig Abrath since 2000. Time for a few questions:
	Edwig, this year there will only be 16 singers of the choir on stage. Will the contribution of Fine Fleur to the show also be smaller? Edwig: “The smaller composition of the choir has no influence to our contribution during this 25th Night of the Proms edition. The idea behind this reduced choir set is mostly to be able to enable a more flexible Fine Fleur during the show and as a result to break with the traditional setup of ‘choir behind the orchestra’.”
	Kyra Cuypers was hired as a vocal coach; what is her task? Edwig: “Kyra will give the singers some hint about how to warm up their voice and body in an optial way as prepartion for the show. She also helps the singers to bring the technical hard passages, that are returning night after night, with more comfort, so that their voice will last for 40 shows. It’s the first time we call in a vocal coach. This is an initiative that was well recieved..”

Is it hard as conductor and choir to sing music from Within Tempation and Tommy Tallarico? Edwig: “As far as the choir’s part goes, Tallarico’s ‘Muse’ has a demanding high soprano which will be a challenge. Besides that, there are indeed some heavy choir parts with the hits from Within Temptation. They’re not really difficult, but very demand a high level of power and energy. It’s nice that these hits enlargen the varierty within the whole of the choir part.”

The first rehearsal was on the 27th of September, about four weeks before the first show. How many rehearsals are there and how long are they? Edwig: “In the weeks to the Proms shows, Fine Fleur rehearses 3 Sunday evening. The last week it’s more intensive: then there are rehearsals with the orchestra and the soloists. In a straight line towars the first show, we rehearse on almost a daily base. Don’t forget the choir sings without a score. The last and most intensive week is nessecary to sing the first show with enough confidence.”

Are you, as conductor of Fine Fleur, on stage with the shows? Edwig: “No, I’m doing the warm-up before the show. The singers are expected to be at the ‘Sportpaleis’ 2 hours before the show. Then, they start singing together as warm-up. This is done through a number of vocal excercises. After that, we go through the repertoire with extra attention to things that could go better compared to the last show. Sometimes we even change some members within a group. That way singers that were available for a few shows can be enabled again for that session.”

Which choir part would you like to bring with Fine Fleur during the shows? Edwig: “Throughout the last years, we brought almost every famous choir work that fits within the proms shows. So we’re a bit spoiled on that. Tallarico’s ‘Muse’ is a suprising new number this year that we like a lot to sing. The piece comes from a totally unknown corner, the game music, but isn’t less than the other choir phalanx from the past. We already gave a wishlist to Jan & Jan, but this song is one of their suggestions. Hopefully, we can keep suprising each other like this in the future…”

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