Jaime Belmonte, new artistic director of Ruamjai

Interview with Jemo Kettunen from Keskisuomalainen.

Translation (excerpt):

Jaime Belmonte starts next January 2021 as the new artistic director of the Ruamjai choir, from Jyväskylä.

Jaime Belmonte manages to sing all the voices of the choir, except for the lowest bass – a skill that was developed thanks to his extensive experience conducting children choirs. This gifted musician has studied composition and conducting at Sibelius Academy since 2013, and communicates in Finnish with absolute fluency.

(…)

Ruamjai sparked Belmonte’s attention due to its personal sound.

– I was not actively looking for any choir to conduct, but coincidentally I came across the job offer for a choir conductor. When listening to Ruamjai I was enormously surprised that the choir sounded like no choir that I had known before – describes Belmonte.

(…)

Belmonte’s own compositional style leans towards modernism.

– I compose quite modernist and chromatic music, for which I look for inspiration in different musical traditions and styles from all over the world. Despite my often modernistic approach, I am also skilful adapting my language to different environments – tells Belmonte, mentioning his new commission for a sign-language choir.