Very soon after taking serious interest in conducting I started to work with Jorma Panula who has been behind most Finnish conductors of today. I took several masterclasses with him in addition to his regular classes as visiting professor at the Sibelius Academy. I even played a couple of concerts under his direction as a cellist! I admired him so much I also did not want to use baton until his former student Atso Almila convinced me to.

These days Panula has gathered a huge following of fans (conducting students of varying level of talent) who travel with him everywhere in the world. In the Sibelius Academy these people are jokingly called "monks" because of their devotion to their master. Some are rumored even to have quit their orchestra jobs just to be able to follow him!