First I would like to wish Happy New Year 2010 to all my readers! Some of you have sent me email which is very nice - I will always try to find time to answer them. I would also like to see more comments on my blog postings, so I will make it my personal challenge this year to try to write in a way which would encourage more interaction between me and you!

My year 2009 was in many fronts more rewarding than I could have imagined. Here I will just list some of the musical highlights of the year: assisting Kurt Masur in both great Mendelssohn oratorios in Paris, premiering a new modern opera in Finland, making my debuts in UK and South Africa and taking part in the Aspen Music Festival in the US. That's a plenty!

Next spring I will make my debuts with the MIAGI youth orchestra and the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra in South Africa, and orchestras of Joensuu and Turku in Finland, as well as continue my cooperation with some old friends. Looking at the repertoire list for those concerts already sends shivers down my spine - Eroica, Pastoral Symphony, Firebird, Fountains of Rome... Great stuff, absolutely! During our conducting studies we all the time study those great pieces, but it might take a while for a young conductor to actually get to perform them with a professional group!

Next Sunday I will make a small concert with a non-professional string ensemble in my birth town Kerava in Finland - yet another kind of debut for me this year. If you are passing by drop in to listen - entry is free!