Widening the Horizons of Song – in discussion with Keval Shah

26 March 2024

British pianist Keval Shah has found a home in Helsinki and will soon be part of the jury at the International Mirjam Helin Singing Competition. The tradition of Lied can recreate an intimacy that is quite unique in the world today. “Songs can convey meaning in such a direct way. Focused listening, detailed expression, strong communication – this is something songs can offer to the audience, stimulating their imagination and engendering deep emotion.”

Five years ago, Keval Shah probably wouldn’t have believed that the future of his musical career would centre around a country of five million people and loads of slippery ice and wet snow. But here he is – the 30-year-old pianist has firmly settled in Helsinki, where he holds the position of Lecturer of Lied at the Sibelius Academy and is establishing himself as “part of the family” in the local musical life.

Soon he will become the first non-singer member of the jury at the International Mirjam Helin Singing Competition. Starting on 3 June, the first round and the semifinals of the competition will be held at the concert hall of the Sibelius Academy, with the final round at the Music Centre just across the street.

“It’s a luxury that all the musical venues are close to each other here, and that the Music Centre actually houses two orchestras and the Academy under the same roof!” Keval Shah says with enthusiasm, at a student café located just next to the Sibelius Academy concert hall. “I encourage my students to connect with the art scene around them here, and profit from this amazing city. I want them to feel like artists from day one, not just when they have graduated.”

Shah doesn’t want the music students to become institutionalised, and the same goes for the Lied itself. Much of his work as a pianist is fuelled by a desire to make art song connected to the society around us.

“In the second half of the last century, Lied in Europe and America fossilised around a certain performance practice and a very narrow repertory, catering to a limited audience”, he says. Keval Shah grew up in an Indian family with no contact with western classical music, and he has been thinking a lot about song cultures outside the European mainstream.

“I love Schubert, but that’s not the totality of Lied. We have Peruvian song, Indonesian song, Icelandic song, and all this is available for modern day musicians. Lied repertory is way bigger than I was trained to believe, and I want to teach this to my students as well.”

A space for reflection

Shah believes that song is an essential form of sharing and can help people of different backgrounds to find a common meeting ground. And in the polarised world of today, this is perhaps more important than ever.

“Classical music has often been guilty of feeding this polarisation, but I don’t want to feed it any longer myself. I want to say something meaningful through the power of song and poetry, and offer a space where audiences can reflect, connect and contemplate.”

Shah will soon, for instance, premiere a new song cycle on Punjabi poetry at a Sikh cultural centre in the UK. For next season, he has commissioned a song cycle with Sanskrit texts set to music by an Indian-American composer, which will be performed in a special setting with Indian fashion, incense and food.

“This season, I will also perform Wolf and Schubert cycles, and I absolutely don’t want to let go of that, but I want to explore how we can expand on the standard Lied recital.”

Today the tradition of Lied can recreate an intimacy that is quite unique in the ever more public lives we lead.

“Songs can convey meaning in such a direct way. Focused listening, detailed expression, strong communication – this is something that Lied can offer to the audience, stimulating their imagination and engendering deep emotion.”

A chameleon, not a jukebox

Keval Shah regularly performs with baritone Theodore Platt, whom he met while studying at Cambridge University, and with whom he proceeded to win the Hugo Wolf Akademie’s International Art Song Competition in 2022. But whereas several famous Lied singers of the past mainly focused on working with one partner, the new generation of Lied musicians prefer a more open approach to collaboration. Shah enjoys being exposed to new repertoires and aesthetic preferences with the wide variety of singers with whom he works.

“It’s so exciting to start working with a new singer! People can be so different privately and on stage, and often it’s only during the performance that you really get to know them. The first 30 seconds on stage with a new singer, discovering your stage personalities in real time, in front of an audience, can be something magical.”

According to Shah, a Lied pianist must be like a chameleon and “very much a people person”, but firm in their own aesthetic vision.

“The pianist is not a jukebox or karaoke machine”, he smiles. “You have to have a clear musical vision and maintain it, while also adapting yourself constantly and matching your sound to the timbre of the singer you are partnering.”

Keval Shah has recently taken up ceramics as a hobby and compares making Lied music to ceramics: the clay stays the same, but different composers and styles need different glazing and technical approaches.

“It’s working with and exploring who you are!”

Open mind, open heart

During the International Mirjam Helin Singing Competition, Keval Shah will be hearing a whole array of different artistic personalities and styles. He wants to listen with an open heart and mind.

“There’s no right or wrong here. I’m looking forward to having my aesthetic imagination broadened with new ways of singing and performing”, he says.

“Competitions can be wonderful places to meet fellow artists and discover new repertoire. Listening to other singers can be very helpful in defining your own aesthetic framework.”

This is something Keval Shah himself has been thinking a lot about after settling in Finland. Turning 30, he felt a new confidence setting in.

“Here I have discovered who I really am and what my artistic priorities are, and it’s a very nice feeling”, he says happily. “It could have happened anywhere, but I’m glad it happened here. This is a very open-minded culture artistically, and it has really widened my horizons.”

Soon after arriving in Finland, Shah had the opportunity to perform with Finnish star singers Karita Mattila and Anu Komsi, and also to meet and work with composer Kaija Saariaho, who passed away last year.

“Helsinki is a very lively music city, and the festival scene in Finland is amazing. It’s unbelievable that so much is going on in a country with only 5 million inhabitants.”

What makes Shah particularly happy is the possibility of getting involved with the chamber music scene. He is part of the creative board of the Helsinki Seriös concert series and has recently given Lied recitals in the Klassinen Hietsu series in Helsinki and at the Oulu Music Festival.

“I feel I’m part of the family now!”

Text: Auli Särkiö-Pitkänen
Photo: Gerard Collett