G.P. - Tag - festival

St Petersburg update - pics and a review

Sasha Mäkilä — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:08:00 +0200

I received today two photos of my concert in St Petersburg last month (thanks Anna!), as well as a link to a review (in Russian). I did not have time yet to read the review, but in case it says any nice things about the concert I might translate a couple of lines into English!

I put the photos in the entry I wrote in SP. Enjoy!

Music festival has ended

Sasha Mäkilä — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 23:37:00 +0200

Last night we had the final concert of the Hot Springs Music Festival. The orchestra played Ma Vlast (Moldau) by Bedrich Smetana, An die schönen blauen Donau by Johann Strauss, and the 8th symphony of Antonin Dvorak. The orchestra, consisting of music students and their mentors, did a great job! Especially the brass was shining that night, much to thanks to inspiring coaching by the trumpet mentor Scott Moore.

The Festival Horns! Photo by A.S.

Besides the concert, I had to witness one remarkable trait of American character. The festival runs mostly on the donations made by private citizens, and before the concert it was announced that there is a "grant challenge" of 5000 USD made by one donor, and for the festival to get it, the audience should be able to match it by their collective donations during the 2 festival weeks. The challenge was short of only something like 500 bucks from the goal, but during that one intermission the audience came up with 4000 USD in donations! Four thousand!!! That means that every member of the audience contributed by something like 10 dollars average. This kind of generosity and supportive spirit I would like to see in Finland also!!!

Festival players Willie (viola) and Beth (violin). Photo by A.S.

After the concert we of course had a little party and said goodbye to those friends who were leaving already by night. I also sorted some orchestral parts with Case and Dana (the other two conducting students), but that job (which we were asked to reserve two whole days) was finished in half an hour! So that means that for next two days I will just spend sitting on my thumbs in the quiet little town of Hot Springs! Now that the festival is over it seems there is absolutely nothing to do here! Luckily I have three books with me, so I will probably just rest and read and gather forces for the homeward journey...

Me and Andrew. Photo by A.S.

Hot Weather in Hot Springs

Sasha Mäkilä — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:39:00 +0200

The Festival Banner. Photo by A.S.

I have spent already two weeks in Hot Springs, Arkansas. They have a nice little music festival here, and I am assisting the music director (Richard Rosenberg) with two other young conductors, Case Scaglione and Dana Sadava. There is a lot going on, orchestral and chamber music concerts going on every day, and the players have all the time rehearsals or master classes. Just the need for assistant conductors seems to be overestimated. The job would be perfect for one assistant, but for three it is too little to do, especially since the town itself does not offer much entertainment...

Conducting the Hot Springs Music Festival orchestra

Yesterday we had a nice orchestra concert, which I opened with Rossini's overture to "La Cenerentola". After that we accompanied 8 (!) students taking turns playing the Vivaldi's Four Seasons, after which maestro Rosenberg conducted the original version of Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite. The locals really seem to appreciate their festival, the venue (Fieldhouse) was packed almost full!

Andrew Soli with Laura and Richard Rosenberg. Photo by A.S.

Rehearsing

Sasha Mäkilä — Tue, 15 May 2007 19:03:00 +0200

Second day of rehearsals with the State Hermitage orchestra. Tomorrow comes the soloist, and let's see what happens to the modern concert piece, Jukka Tiensuu's "Puro" clarinet concerto. It has been quite a challenge to rehearse it without the soloist!

I did not remember how tired St Petersburg can make you. After both rehearsals I just had to nap for a couple of hours! Maybe the warm and humid weather has something to do with it as well... But I remember the same feeling from my student days here - always feeling somehow tired and out of tune.

P.S. I add below the photos of the concert on the May 18th which I received a couple of weeks after the concert.

Conducting the Krause overture

Me and soloist Kari Kriikku after performing Jukka Tiensuu's clarinet concerto "Puro"

In St Petersburg

Sasha Mäkilä — Sat, 12 May 2007 10:53:00 +0000

I arrived yesterday to St Petersburg by train, and last night I already took a conducting lesson from my old conducting teacher Leonid Korchmar in the St Petersburg Conservatory. I have to prepare Rachmaninov's 2nd symphony for the Evgeny Svetlanov Conducting Competition in Luxemburg, and I really have had no time to study the score, so I really need "professional help" to make the most of my time. I had a great lesson on the first movement, and this morning I had another one on the second movement. Tonight I will try a little bit of the third as well, if there is time after the official conservatory students have had their lessons.

I should have taken a camera with me, by the way. On the way back to my place (thanks Serjozha for accommodating me for this week!!!) i saw a huge poster of my concert in the metro. There was a big picture of my soloist, Kari Kriikku, and his name on dog-size letters and after that a text "the most famous clarinetist of Finland". My name was there also, in small print after the program on the bottom right corner of the poster.

The big poster with Kari Kriikku

P.S. The following day I met briefly with one of the festival organizers. She told me that the poster at the Philharmonic Hall has my name on the top and the soloist below - because I am more well known in St Petersburg! She had even met some people who remember my first concert in SP four years ago! Here is the poster of the St Petersburg Philharmonic...

This poster was on the wall of the Philharmonic