G.P.

Danuta (right) is helping maestra Lin (left) to register in the competition office

At the opening ceremony: Sebastian Perlowski, Marcin Dobrzanski, Anja Bihlmaier, Hikaru Ebihara, Shizuo Kuwahara, Yannick Paget, Luke Dollman

Last night we had the opening ceremony and opening concert of the Fitelberg conducting competition here in Katowice. Due to some cancellations we are not 40 but 35 competitors. Now I can honestly say that I know more than half of the competitors! Unfortunately a couple of my friends also did not arrive... So, we listened to some welcoming words and then there was the drawing for the starting alphabet of the competitors. The youngest participant, Andrea Battistoni had the honor to draw - B his very own alphabet! So this morning he had to start...

The cellists of the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra...

...and their chief conductor Miroslaw Jacek Blaszczyk

The Philharmonic Choir

In the concert we heard three first performances of modern Polish works performed by the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonic Choir. The orchestra must be really happy to have a good dose of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven during the following days! After the concert there was a nice banquet that most of my colleagues missed. Perhaps they were already hurrying to their hotel rooms to study!

Anja conducting on the first round

So, this morning I went to listen to three first competitors just to get an idea how the situation is and how the orchestra sounds. I must say it is a really good competition orchestra. It sounded always nice, but when someone really wanted to polish some bits, they were able to do everything the competitors asked. I also saw some very interesting conducting today - in my opinion there is something to learn from every participant.

My turn to conduct will be only on Monday, so there is more than enough time to prepare.