Friday the 13th, the final day of the master class! Well, despite the
ominous date everything went fine! I enjoyed some beautiful performances in the
final orchestra rehearsal - especially Oleg Soldatov's interpretation of Don
Juan by Richard Strauss! He is already an experienced conductor who gets what
he wants from the orchestra. Still he is ambitious and curious enough to come
to master classes to learn more! I have high respect for him!
Oleg Soldatov conducting Don Juan
After the rehearsal we gave roses to the orchestra players to thank them for
the good work. They were a fantastic master class orchestra with a friendly but
professional attitude. I am sure every participant got an honest evaluation of
their skills just by listening how the orchestra played under their
direction.
Maestro Simonov rehearsing
After that we took a bus ride to Gödöllö, to a beautiful palace where the
final concert was to take place. The orchestra played in open air, in less than
ideal circumstances. Nevertheless the result was good! Maestro Simonov
demonstrated his virtuosity in preparing the Mendelssohn violin concerto for
concert with barely more than a run-through of the piece. The rest of the
program was from our master class repertoire.
Open air concert in Gödöllö
Maestro Simonov's conducting was really pleasurable to watch even though the
orchestra's power was reduced without proper acoustics. When the evening got
darker they also had to compete with birdsong! Afterwards we had a nice coctail
party and paid a visit to one of the three surviving baroque theaters in
Europe, located inside the palace and recently restored.
Jolly master class participants after the
concert
The partying continued late that night in a sentimental mood. After all, it
is so hard to let go of your new friends and colleagues after working so hard
side by side for ten days!
Heikki Seppänen gets his diploma
The official closing of the master class was held on Saturday morning. We
were served a fantastic meal with good wine and people gave speeches in
emotional state... We also got our master class diplomas, and maestro Simonov
would speak briefly about every participant, evaluating their progress and
giving advice for the future - all this in highly encouraging and poetic
manner. Besides the diploma, everyone got a letter of advice from maestro, as
well as a photo of all the participants with their contacts, and a new baton
with our name inscribed onto it! We also got a DVD of our orchestra rehearsals
and maestro Simonov's first rehearsal before the master class started!
After the lunch it was time for emotional goodbyes... Maestro Simonov
encouraged all the participants to keep in touch with each other and help each
other in the profession. Needlessly, I would say, since everyone seemed to have
made great friends during the master class!
