G.P. - Tag - video

Some reflections after the Fitelberg competition

Sasha Mäkilä — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 20:08:00 +0100

Now it is exactly two weeks after the Fitelberg conducting competition finished in Poland. I have been thinking a lot about all the things I saw and heard and learned there, and concluded that again it really was an experience worth living. I feel that after doing these two competitions (Matacic and Fitelberg) this autumn I am much better conductor already, have much wider repertoire than before, and am many many new friends richer!

The friends you get and the contacts you make in these occasions are the single most important thing you can get out of them. In fact, next week I will have a concert in Russia, which is possible only because I took part in a competition in South Korea two years ago, where I met a friend who helped me, which then resulted in me meeting new friends who then gave me a chance to conduct one Russian orchestra last year, and that one led to this engagement... So when you go to competitions, go there with open mind and heart - don't just lock yourself in the hotel room and pretend to be important!

For those who never saw a conducting competition before, here a couple of videos from Katowice. Enjoy!

Haydn Symphony No. 104 rehearsal 1/2

Haydn Symphony No. 104 rehearsal 2/2

Berlioz Roman Carnival Overture rehearsal 1/2

Berlioz Roman Carnival Overture rehearsal 2/2

Leonid Korchmar master class, day 3/5

Sasha Mäkilä — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 22:21:00 +0200

Today I realized that making a master class is work! Yes, I used to think that the persons who are just hanging around master classes as a some kind of a "secretary" are there really for no reason. Today I understood that, really, there has to be some person who is ready to answer all questions, organize schedule changes, take care of finding a place to have lunch, etc. and this person has to be available all the time!

The bad thing is, that this time this person had to be me at the same time as I am trying to learn some new repertoire. Studying your own things has proved to be pretty much impossible during the past days. Here is a little video clip that shows what happens when someone calls and wants to come and listen to the lessons...

Phone rings during the conducting master class

Otherwise everything has been really perfect and I even started to feel a bit proud of myself for finally organizing this event instead of whining to the people working in the Sibelius Academy for not being interested enough. I want to encourage everyone: If you know a good teacher (especially a conducting teacher - good ones are so rare today!), invite him to teach, make a small effort to do everything by yourself. It will pay off!

Leonid Korchmar master class, day 1/5

Sasha Mäkilä — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 22:56:00 +0200

The first master class day is over, and I am really happy and relieved that everything went well. After all this is the first time I am organizing a master class! Our teacher, professor Leonid Korchmar, was in a very good teaching mood and all the students definitely got a lot to think after their first lessons.

This course is not with an orchestra, but with two pianos (and two excellent pianists, Jari and Taru), and the emphasis is on the conducting technique. I wanted to give a possibility to conducting students in Helsinki to have a glimpse of the Russian way of conducting and at the same time widen their gestural vocabulary. The repertoire is Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Beethoven, Wagner and so on. All good music, full of good exercise material...

I did not especially shine on the podium today, since I was all the time worried about all the non-musical stuff I was responsible of during the day. Anyway I guess I was worried for nothing, since the scheduling and everything else worked fine! Everyone was just exhausted after the day, since the weather in Helsinki is really hot and humid at the moment. Tomorrow more news and hopefully some photos too!