G.P.

The Stars and Stripes Forever

The Blossom festival has kicked off here in Cleveland, and as usual its beginning coincides with the July 4th celebrations. That means, the three first concerts are full of patriotic music to celebrate the American independence (OK, second half of one of the concerts was a pop act with Idina Menzel, but it could count as "American folk music", right?).

I was surprised by the popularity of these concerts. The lawn around the Blossom Pavillion was so packed with people that you could hardly see any green. Hard to imagine anything like this happening in my home country, especially since the music performed was kinda "light-weight" to put it nicely. The most serious piece in the programs was Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture - and for me it requires a bit of a leap of faith to associate it with the history of American independence.

The fact that people here in the US are so serious about these concerts led me think of them kind of like the equivalent of the Vienna Philharmonic New Year's concerts for Europeans. They are also put together from relatively simple music (waltzes and polkas!) but they have become hugely popular and important events. Maybe the 4th of July concerts could be more like them too? Perhaps the programs could be planned with a bit more care? Perhaps the conductor could conduct the show by heart and with some more grace and style, like it would be done by let's say Carlos Kleiber?

And maybe leave out the 1812 Overture and program some French music instead. After all, the United States would have never gained independence without the help of the French!

Carmel, Indiana, my last stop with TCO before returning to Finland.

Greetings all, and sorry for the longer than usual Generalpause! There is really no proper excuse for not updating - after all a blog does not need to be a literary masterpiece! But now, since it's my birthday I am off to a new start! I promise to write LESS but MORE OFTEN. There, I said it!

So, what has been going on after I returned from Miami? Well, first of all, TCO performed Mozart's Don Giovanni in the Severance Hall! We had a great cast, all excellent singers (Simon Keenlyside, Eva Mei, Malin Hartelius, Ruben Drole, Shawn Mathey, Martina Janková, Reinhard Mayr, Alfred Muff) and most importantly, very nice people. I conducted two days of staging rehearsals with the help of the excellent correpetitor Enrico Cacciari before Franz Welser-Möst took over. I felt very happy to be able add this great opera in my repertoire!

We had some great soloists over in Cleveland this spring, such as Steven Isserlis.

My next big project was a concert with the students of the Cleveland Institute of Music. I must say I enjoyed tremendously leading the young players. Our program was unusually tough - Shostakovich Festive Overture, Corigliano Piano Concerto (with student soloist John Lee who did a fantastic job) and Brahms' Second Symphony - but the students were technically ready for it, and man, what a change happened from the first rehearsal to the performance. I was especially happy with how much the ensemble, phrasing and dynamic range of the strings developed. I am already looking forward to my next concert at CIM. Oh, by the way our concert was broadcast live, and you can find the "highlights" online at Instant Encore!

With TCO I did three projects. First was a series of concerts aimed at schools called "Inside the Orchestra". It was a mixed bag of music from different eras, with different orchestrations, and we also had a cello soloist, Matt Zucker, who did a fine job on Lalo cello concerto (with one short rehearsal!). The second project was a version of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" with the Magic Circle Mime Company. It was more fun than I expected! The mimes put some of our musicians to act onstage as well, and even I had my own little part to play as the "grumpy grandfather".

Dee Dee Bridgewater. My suit became all glittery after this concert!

My last project with TCO was no less special, it was the orchestra's debut on the Tri-C Jazzfest with the famous jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater. As with all the projects I have done with The Cleveland Orchestra, this too was done with just one rehearsal. This time it was even more exciting since we had no soloist until the last five minutes of the rehearsal! Luckily we found a common tune pretty easily onstage with Dee Dee and the concert was a resounding success.

Before starting my short summer vacation I had one more concert in Finland with the Vaasa City orchestra. I have done two tours with this orchestra and am kind of a regular guest, so it was nice to return to work with familiar people. I could even go as far as call it a soft landing to the summer!

Next week I will return to Cleveland as we start our Blossom Music Festival there. Will write more then! In the meantime feel free to send comments or questions, and don't forget my official website at www.sashamakila.com, or my Facebook page. And if you do Twitter you can follow me as well! Till later!