Interview for CoPeCo

Wednesday March 12th. Today I had the interview for the international master program Contemporary Performance and Composition (CoPeCo). The master program is a joint up masters, so if you get in you study one semester (6 month) in Tallinn (Eesti muusika- ja teatriakadeemia), one semester in Stockholm (at KMH), one semester in Lyon (The Lyon CNSMD) and a last semester in Hamburg (at Hochschule für Musik und Theater).

I was very excited about the program to begin with, until I found their curriculum. But then I noticed that the curriculum was filled with electronics (and improvisation), so I have been less keen on the programme lately (especially as Malmö was such a nice school, but it’s only my second option).

So in the interview I was quite frank with them and told them that I have done a lot of programming but I’m not so in to it. And they were quite frank with me and told me that my ambition to write an opera for a masters project wasn’t very suitable for this program. So I felt a bit like if two people would have met who come really well along with each other, but the one openly sais he wants to be in a relationship/or get married and the other person doesn’t want a relationship/marriage.

In the interview I first had to do some improvisation. I was a bit surprised, I hadn’t read about it. So they asked me how I would like to improvise and I of course said “with piano”. And it actually went much better that I had expected it to go! In the interview we discussed my opera idea and how it could be suited for the masters program. I also spoke about my pieces Loco (for solo viola) and Expressionen (suite of miniatures for clarinet, cello and accordion). They also asked me if I would be prepared for the moving around Europe part on which I answered “I think that’s one of the best parts about the whole programme!”.  So now I just have to let fate decide what to do, if I get in or don’t get in to CoPeCo.