Geert Berghs (1953) was educated as a professional singer by Margreet Honig in Amsterdam, after a PhD in medicine and a minor in musicology. Some other important teachers to him have been Kurt Equiluz and Henny Diemer. For over thirty years he performed as a tenor soloist, very often in oratoria, from early music till contemporary compositions. For several years he was a member of Ton Koopman’s Amsterdam Baroque Choir. In later years he became a research fellow at the University of Louvain, Belgium, where he initiated and performed a large study in the effects of ageing in the singing voice in a study population of 200 professional singers. Over more than a decade he developed his breath pedagogy skills with Paul Triepels. Geert Berghs has educated many singers – and still does – who are now performing as soloists and and are members of the Dutch professional choirs.
He is the founder of the Tettix organisation: their first project was Bach’s John’s Passion, conducted by his former singing teacher Kurt Equiluz (“Young Singers, Old Master”), in which his pupils sang both the solo and choir parts. His membership of the audition committee for the Nederlands Kamerkoor for many years inspired him to take the initiative for ‘Meesters&Gezellen’ (www.meestersengezellen.nl ) in 2011, adding an inspiring experience in ensemble singing to the general conservatory singer’s curriculum, where the focus is usually on a solo career. Many participants of Meesters&Gezellen found their way to professional ensembles. Meesters&Gezellen has an international reputation and conductors were Kaspars Putninsh, Sigvards Klava, Daniel Reuss, Nils Schweckendiek and Mathieu Romano. The Tenso Europe Chamber Choir (www.tensonetwork.eu) that was started in 2013, was modeled after the Meesters&Gezellen example, with Geert Berghs as vocal coach.
In January 2011 and 2016 Geert Berghs was guest vocal coach with the Estonian Philharmonic Choir and in 2021 at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Geert was, until his retirement in September 2023, singing teacher at the Amsterdam Conservatory in the Choir Conducting Department.