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.

St Petersburg 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...

SP Filarmonia poster

This poster was on the wall of the Philharmonic