Korvat Soi!

Saturday April 26th. Today was the second ‘traditional’ Korvat Auki (Open Ears) concert in Tampere, but this time in Pirkanmaanmusiikkiopisto. (Read about the first one here).  What I mean by traditional is a concert where all the music is only composed by Korvat Auki members and then performed by students. The very first Korvat Auki concert in Tampere was a concert with the German new music group Neophon ensemble in September 2013. In the concert Neophon ensemble played a contemporary programme including three pieces by Korvat Auki composers, and the same programme was played in both Helsinki and Tampere (as well as in Riga, Tallinn and Rostock!). But like I said, today we had a “typical” Korvat Auki concert containing 100% new music by young Korvat Auki composers.

Cellist Aino Palosaari. © Cecilia Damström

Korvat Auki composer Lauri Supponen having a laugh with his musicians,
clarinetist Andreas Heino and violinist Heidi-Annina Nikkilä.
© Cecilia Damström

The programme of today was:

Lauri Supponen: Da Camera

violin: Heidi-Anniina Nikkilä, cello: Taina Raittila, flute: Jenni Halonen, clarinet: Andreas Heino

Lasse Kallioniemi: Kristalli (first performance)

flute: Anu Miikkulainen, cello: Juho Nissi

Kalle Autio: Kolme laulua Santōkan teksteihin (first performance)

soprano: Piia Rytkönen, piano: Tuomas Salokangas

Saper Şahbaz: For Naima (first performance)

violin: Elias Koivisto, cello: Aino Palosaari, piano: Tuomas Salokangas

-intermission-

Sebastian Dumitrescu: Autoportret

electric-bass: Sebastian Dumitrescu

Matei Gheorghiu: Ihana surullinen ilta

soprano: Anna Ranki, piano: Tuomas Turriago

Dante Thelestam: Baba panda (first performance)

percussion: Henri Sakki ja Mauri Myllys

Charles Van Hemelryck: Grandes vacances

soprano: Hannele Taipale, piano: Jasper Koekoek

Pianist Tuomas Salokangas and soprano Piia Rytkönen
before the first performance of Kalle Autios three songs,
where the soprano gets to hit a gong!
© Cecilia Damström

All the musicians and composer of the Korvat Soi! -concert (part 1).
© Cecilia Damström

All the musicians and composer of the Korvat Soi! -concert (part 2).
© Cecilia Damström

We had good luck with the weather today, the building suited the occasion really well and generally everything went very well today! Everyone was in a calm but good mood. Originally I was supposed to be the concert producer, but I had to back out and luckily Matilda took over the task! In my defence I have already produced two Korvat Auki concerts in Tampere this year. Matilda was a superb concert producer! She had to coordinate 17 musicians but she was as calm as a summer breeze all the time, I admired her serenity greatly!

Musicians already feeling releaved in the intermission.
Pianist Tuomas Salokangas, violinist Elias Koivisto and flutist Jenni Halonen.
© Cecilia Damström

Korvat Auki composers Saper Shabaz, Charles van Hemelryck
and Matei Gheorghiu. © Cecilia Damström

I really enjoyed the concert today! Maybe it was because I had sufficiently ‘little’ to do considering arrangements in this concert (only flowers and sparking wine were my responsibility), so I could fully enjoy the music. Moreover I was in a really good listening mood this afternoon. I liked all the pieces in the concert but my two favourite composers of today where Supponen and Autio. Have a listen to Supponens DaCamera here! And for more pictures of the concert click here.

Concert producer and composer Matilda Seppälä and me.
© Lauri Supponen

Composer Lauri Supponen, composer Sebastian Dumitresctu
and soprano Piia Rytkönen. © Cecilia Damström

Korvat Auki composers: Me, Sebastian Dumistrescu and Charles van Hemelryck

After the concert most of us headed to the ‘Egyptian restautant’ JallaJalla (more like a Kebab-Pizzeria) for getting some food, and after we spent the rest of the evening in our stamping ground Bar K.

We were all quite exhausted, so already at 2 AM I headed home with my guests Dante, Lauri and Matei. I was very happy to hear Matei say that he thought this was the best Korvat Auki concert ever!

Conducting Class and Aarni Pennanen’s Recital

Wednesday the 16th of April. The day began with a really interesting seminar about percussions, held by our percussion teacher Harri Lehtinen. The thing that actually was most inspiring about the whole lecture was how super enthusiastic Lehtinen is about his own instrument. He thinks we composers should have a course about the history of all the percussion instruments, because two or three seminars isn’t enough for anything he said. This total commitment and enthusiasm is quite contagious, which is great!

After the seminar I headed of to Pirkanmaan musiikkiopisto for a second day of conducting lessons with Ari Rasilainen. This time I conducted my arrangement of my own piece “Kallare” (from my song cycle Dagbok). It has a lot of changing bar measures , so I find it hard to conduct (especially to also make music of it and not only be a metronome).

Once again Rasilainen began with a very accurate comment: “Now you are only hanging along on a ride while you actually at least should be the driver of the ride!” Well, I agreed with him but I had a hard time getting on that ride anyway, as also all the musicians were still sight-reading, so after two takes Rasilainen said “This piece seems good, can I please conduct it once? I want to know what it’s supposed to sound like.” So then he simply conducted it and concluded “Yes, very nice piece, you write very interesting music! Do you mind if Dae Myeong Park also conducts the piece?” which I of course didn’t mind at all. Also Park sight-read the piece perfectly and it was fun following once again from the side what other conductors pick out from my music.

The rest of the afternoon has gone past very quickly. I had to go and get my vegetable bag from Runsaudensarvi, then I went and listened to the chamber choir Näsin Äänis rehearsal of my pieces for my concert 14.5. I couldn’t though stay the whole rehearsal, because at 19.00 I wanted to go to a concert. I had once again a hard time choosing which concert to go to, because I had three alternatives: the string quartet “Uusi Helsinki Kvartetti” concert (who are quartet in residence at TAMK and also teach us chamber music), the concert of TAMK’s pianists or Aarni Pennanen’s recital. I chose the last one of these, because I knew how important it was for Aarni that his friends came to his concert.

The programme at Aarni’s recital was:

Modest Mussorgsky: Gopak

Usko Meriläinen: Opusculum

Johannes Brahms: Sonata in A-major

I.               Allegro amabile

II.             Andante tranquillo

III.           Allegretto grazioso

Matilda Seppälä: Itus

Sergei Prokofiev: Sonata in f-minor

I.               Andante assai

II.             Allegro brusco

III.           Andante

IV.          Allegrissimo – Andante assai, come prima

Pianist Tina Kärblane, who teaches accompaniment at TAMK, accompanied Aarni. It was a really nice concert and Aarni is such a great violinist! In his recital he played my good friend Matilda Seppäläs piece Ictus. It has been performed both by Aarni (premiere) and Tatuarttu Ruponen, an other great violin student. Their versions of the piece are very different but I like both interpretation of the piece.

I don’t know why I never have fallen in love with Brahms, he simply hasn’t got that something for me. The sonata was once again really nice and all, but it was nothing to me compared to Prokofiev! Prokofievs sonata is such a wonderful piece of music! And in over all it was an absolutely fantastic concert! I also took some really great pictures today but can't find the memory card anymore, so I will upload the pics later in case I find them...!

Conducting Class with Ari Rasilainen

Tuesday the 15th of April. Piano class at 9 AM went much better than I could ever have expected! My teacher was really happy and noticed I had improved since last week! And I who still 9 hours ago was thinking about cancelling class! So I was very happy!

After my piano class I headed straight to Pirkanmaan Musiikkiopisto. My friend Aarni Pennanen, who is studying violin and conducting in University of music Würzburg, is a great energetic spirit, who now has arranged a short conducting course! The teacher is his own teacher from Würzburg, Finnish conductor Ari Rasilainen, who has come to Finland for the term break.

Aarni has also arranged a string quartet to play at the course and someone played on a piano the parts that the strings didn’t cover. The conducting pupils of today were Aarni, his friend Dae Myeong Park from Würzburg (also studying conducting), the viola player Taavi Nachtingall and me.

My conducting was an absolute disaster today. I had chosen to conduct Edward Griegs piano concerto, and my study mate Tuomas Honkkila was playing the solo parts. The piece has a lot of tempo modulations and other things that are difficult for an amateur conductor like me.

Rasilainen was very strict and straightforward and shouted: “What the heck are you doing? You are waving like a metronome; every kid can stay in tempo! Make music! You have to throw your self into the music and do it fully 100%, and if it goes wrong, then let it go properly wrong! But don’t be so afraid to feel and show your feelings and ideas, that is what you are there for!”

Well, that is one of the hardest things to learn with conducting, to be confident although you have been conducting for only 5h in front of people in your whole life… But I really enjoy the course! Some reader might think that Rasilainens comments might have intrigued me, but they were accurate and truthful, so that is why I enjoy the course (although I of course DID feel a bit intrigued the moment I was in front of the others and he said these comments). But still, afterwards, all I felt was satisfaction. Isn’t it strange how “sadistic” a musician can be?

After this I had lunch, a piano pedagogic seminar, a lesson with my piano pupil and then I met up with my former flat mate, trumpetist Mari Pakarinen and we had dinner.

For the evening I headed back to school and made a new arrangement of the third movement “Kallare” from my song cycle Dagbok. I arranged it for string quartet and piano.  I had to also re-arranged the singing part for all these instruments, as I won’t have a singer tomorrow. This arrangement I did only for being able to practise the conducting of this movement at tomorrows conducting class. I thought it would be quick to re-arrange the piece, as it’s only about 1’30 min long, but I don’t know if it was due to me being so tired or what it was, it took me anyway like 3 hours! But at least I got it all ready and all parts (for each player) done for tomorrows conducting class.