The Hilliard Ensemble is one of the world's finest vocal chamber groups. Its distinctive style and highly developed musicianship engage the listener as much in medieval and renaissance repertoire as in works specially written by living composers.

In 2008, the Hillard Ensemble performed the world premiere of Heiner Goebbels' I went to the house but did not enter. Now the group will present the piece at the Biennale Musiques en Scène à Lyon on March 6, 7 and 8, 2014. The festival also features the French premiere of Songs of Wars I have seen (Chants des guerres que j'ai vues). We have talked to Steven Harrold about Heiner Goebbels.

The Hilliard Ensemble celebrates it's 40th anniversary this year, a period in which you have written music history. Which were the most memorable moments?  

We're very lucky, we've had a lot of memorable moments. Although I wasn't in the group at the time, I think that two of the most memorable moments for the others were the first meetings with Arvo Pärt and Jan Garbarek. For me personally, the most memorable moments include performing Stephen Hartke's 3rd symphony with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Lorin Maazel at the Lincoln Centre in 2003 and the premiere of I went into the house but did not enter by Heiner Goebbels at the Edinburgh Festival in 2008.

The Hilliard Ensemble is primarily known for excellent performances of early music, but also for projects with Jazz musicians and composers of modern music. How do these experiences influence each other?

This is a difficult question to answer, because it's not something that we consciously think about. The essential skills that you need to be able to sing in a small ensemble such as the Hilliard Ensemble are the same whatever music you sing. The fact that we sing such a wide range of repertoire though is bound to have had an effect on us as performers. I think that our project with Jan Garbarek has probably freed us up as musicians, made us less afraid to try new things.

Soon you will perform Heiner Goebbels' I went to the house but did not enter in Lyon. What does it mean to you to be acting on stage in a music theatre piece?

When we first agreed to perform a music theatre piece with Heiner Goebbels, I confess that I was a little bit worried about what we had taken on, especially when we found out that it would be almost two hours on stage involving just the four of us. I had never done anything like this before, and nor had at least two of my colleagues. I couldn't feel more differently now though. It is wonderful to have been given the chance to do something so exciting and different from our normal concerts. There is a huge sense of satisfaction that we have managed to pull this off.

What is it like to work with Heiner Goebbels?

Working with Heiner has been a lot of fun and I feel as though I have learned a huge amount from the experience. We were involved in the compositional process in the sense that we started working with Heiner before he had written anything. He got us to try out various things on stage, to see what our individual strengths and weaknesses were. The end result is a piece that fits us like a glove. Although it is quite a challenge, we all feel very comfortable with what we have been asked to do.

Traditionally, a music theatre piece has a straight forward plot and distinguished characters. Is Goebbels' composition traditional in this sense?

No, Heiner's composition is not traditional in that sense. I think it is fair to say that our characters are quite mysterious, particularly in the second act which is based on words by Maurice Blanchot. There is a lot left to the imagination. People leave at the end of the show with a lot of questions in their mind about what they have seen. It is very thought provoking.

I went to the house but did not enter is based on modernist lyrics by T.S. Eliot, M. Blanchot, F. Kafka and S. Beckett. Do you feel a close relation between lyrics and the music?

There is a very close relationship between the words and the music as well as to what is happening on stage. I know that Heiner has been wanting to use these texts for many years, so the words are all important. Heiner wrote a lot more music for this project than appears in the show, but anything that didn't quite fit in with what he wanted to happen on stage was either rewritten or left out.

Is it true that the ensemble will stop it's concert activities by the end of 2014? What are your plans for the future?

Sadly, it is true. Our final concert will be in London on 20th December. I am still in my forties so I intend to carry on singing for a good while yet. There are a number of other groups that I already work with and I shall also be looking for some new challenges.