Wednesday the 14th of May. Today is
finally the concert, TODAY IS THE DAY! I can’t believe it is finally here, the
day I have been working so hard for so many months, it is here NOW!
There were still so many things left to
do: I was writing the speaks for the concert hostess, my friend Meerika Ahlqvist, because I want this
to be a trip to the Land Which Is Not, and she will be the guide.
She came by, also for trying on my evening
dresses (as I now have several), for finding a suitable one for herself as
well, because her own one ripped recently. Luckily we are about the same size,
so the purple evening dress suited her perfectly!
The whole morning I would every now and then receive a mail from Tarja Reijonen, who was doing the
layout of my concert programme, asking me what she maybe could cut out, so that the programme would altogether
fit onto 20 pages in the A5 format. By cutting out the English résumés of the artists
(and only keeping the Finnish ones) we managed to save space. She did an
absolutely wonderful job with the programme!
Then it was time to shower and do hair and make up, an other 2 hour project, because I want to curl my hair today… On the way to school I passed by
the kiosk for buying today's issue of
Hufvudstadsbladet, the first kiosk had already sold their only copy but
in the second kiosk I managed to get hold of a copy.
 |
| The interview in Huvudstadsbladet 14.5.2014. |
At 15.30 I arrived at Tampere
Conservatory. I was carrying an enormous and fully stuffed backpack and in addition
to that a big plastic bag on each arm. I had brought the two evening dresses,
my sound card, cables, make up, extra scarves and accessories if people in the
orchestra had forgot to bring some (the dress code was black evening dress and
a colorful accessory).
As soon as the venue was available, the music technician Petrus Tuisku and I at once headed in. He started putting together
his microphones while I was trying to plan the lights. I had tried to get a
light designer from our school, but they were all too busy and booked out so no
one could come at the end, so there I was sitting and doing it my self. I wrote
down every combination into the ready and neatly printed programme booklet.
My sister Jacintha arrived shortly after 16 o’clock. She will both be playing
the flute in “Der Wald” and “Die Berge” and after that she will sing solo with
the orchestra in my song cycle “Dagbok”. By the time she arrived nothing had
yet been set up, so we didn’t have time to try out the flute and electronic
pieces before the members of the orchestra already started to arrive.
The orchestra rehearsal went fine and I
continued testing the lights, because I didn’t want a plain boring stage
lighting, but on the other hand the musicians must also see the music sheets
they are playing…
After the rehearsal we continued to try to get the electronics to work, but
they weren’t working… It was only coming out as stereo, and not as quadraphonic
as it was supposed to do, but we were not sure if the problem was with the
soundcard, my patch, or simply the cables… It was absolutely awful, and at
18.50 (ten minutes before the concert) my sister announced she didn’t want to
try anymore, she had to go and change. Petrus and I tried to fix it for another
five minutes, but finally we had to give up and decided to do it “double
stereo” instead (=stereo coming from both in front and behind instead of 4
different channels).
After this I ran out from the venue into
the hall; I needed to find my father. But the hall in front of the venue was
packed! Packed with people I didn’t know, and I wasn’t even wearing my concert
dress yet at 18.56! I ran back into the concert venue, and out through the
other door into the hall again, and then I spotted my father. I ran to him,
took his hand and said “I need your help” while I dragged him into the venue. I
dragged him to the light table, where I had left the programme in which I had
written which lights are supposed to be used in each piece. I explained to him
quickly how it worked and ran backstage again. Now the audience was starting to
flow into the concert venue. I ran to the dressing room, and pulled my evening
dress over me as fast as I ever could and changed shoes. No time to check the
mirror this time.
At about 19:05 the concert started. Meerika
Ahlqvist wished everyone welcome (in Finnish, Swedish and English) to the
trip to the Land Which Is Not and told them she would be the travel guide of
the trip (but only in Finnish). The theme for this concert is my vocal music
and other music that uses voice. Ironically there is also the theme of death
and God very much present as well, in all except one piece (my song cycle
Dagbok).
The concert programme was:
DIE BERGE (2010) Op.13
Nr. 1
Jacintha Damström flute
Cecilia Damström electronics
Piia Rytkönen song and jouhikko, Jenni Halonen flute, Heikki
Pöyhönen oboe, Andreas Heino
clarinet and bass-clarinet, Taina
Raittila cello
Text: Edit Södergran
Anna Ranki soprano, Julius
Martikainen baritone, Tatuarttu
Ruponen violin , Emma Kuosmanen
violin, Elisa Kallasjoki viola, Aino Palosaari cello, Roope Mäenpää double bass, Mari Pakarinen trumpet, Henri Sakki percussion
Text:
Cecilia Damström
Dagbok-orchestra
-intermission-
MIN GUD (2010/2014) Op. 16 premiere
I. Min Gud
II. Rädda Mig
III. Ty Han Grep In
It was time for the first pieces, flute and electronics, Die Berge. We haven’t
had a single proper “run though”, so the possibilities for a catastrophe are enormous. And already at the very beginning an undesired sound of feedback
starts to occur. I intuitively turn down the volume. I think Petrus does it as
well, but there is no way I can know now what is happening up at the mixer
table where he is, while I am on stage. After the first risky incident we keep
the volume slightly lower throughout the pieces, but on the whole the pieces go
well. A great stone fell from my heart!
 |
Jacintha and Cecilia Damström 14.5.2014.
Photo by Tuomo Kallioniemi |
 |
Jacintha and Cecilia Damström after "Die Berge" and "Der Wald" 14.5.2014.
Photo by Arto Ilkka Jalonen |
But the concert isn’t close to over. Next I go up on stage with the quintet for
Flying high. That piece goes quite well, although not as well as in the final
rehearsal, but anyway, it’s okay.
 |
Piia Rytkönen, Jenni Halonen, Cecilia Damström, (Heikki Pöyhönen out of sight
behin Cecilia), Andreas Heino and Taina Raittila 14.5.2014.
Photo by Arto Ilkka Jalonen |
After that I remember I have forgot the
sheet of Landet som icke är in the dressing room, so I run with my high heels
and evening gown to fetch it, praying to God I won’t trip, and luckily I don’t.
Landet som icke är starts very well, but at some point in the middle some of
the players start to slow down the triplets so much that others have to come in
wrong and I even stop to conduct for a few measures because I’m quite lost. But
luckily we all get together again and make it to the end. When you are as
nervous as I was at this point you somehow only seem to think about survival;
what went wrong? How can I fix it? Everything that didn’t go wrong can be
forgotten at once for summoning more resources of concentration.
 |
"Landet som icke är" 14.5.2014 conducted by Cecilia Damström. Elisa Kallasjoki,
Henri Sakki, Aino Palosaari, Roope Mäenpää, Mari Pakarinen and
Julius Martikainen. Photo by Arto Ilkka Jalonen. |
 |
"Landet som icke är" 14.5.2014 conducted by Cecilia Damström. Anna Ranki,
Tatuarttu Ruponen, Emma Kuosmanen, Elisa Kallasjoki, Henri Sakki and
Aino Palosaari. Photo by Arto Ilkka Jalonen |
 |
"Landet som icke är" 14.5.2014. Emma Kuosmanen, Elisa Kallasjoki,
Aino Palosaari, Roope Mäenpää, Mari Pakarinen and Julius Martikainen.
Photo by Tuomo Kallioniemi |
In my song cycle Dagbok I could finally
sit down in the audience and just listen. Well, first there came a long break
while all the chairs and note stands for the whole orchestra were brought on
stage by our lovely porters. But it was so nice to be able to listen to my
sister singing while Tuomas Turriago conducted
the Dagbok-orchestra that I had put together, and it went really well and I was very
happy with the performance.
 |
Soprano Jacintha Damström sings Cecilia Damströms "Dagbok" 14.5.2014
with the Dagbok-orchestra conducted by Tuomas Turriago in Pyynikkisali.
Photo by Arto Ilkka Jalonen |
 |
Soprano Jacintha Damström sings Cecilia Damströms "Dagbok" 14.5.2014
with the Dagbok-orchestra conducted by Tuomas Turriago in Pyynikkisali.
Photo by Arto Ilkka Jalonen |
 |
Soprano Jacintha Damström sings Cecilia Damströms "Dagbok" 14.5.2014
with the Dagbok-orchestra conducted by Tuomas Turriago in Pyynikkisali.
Photo by Arto Ilkka Jalonen |
When the intermission began I at once ran
up to the light table where my father was sitting and asked if everything was
alright. Then I had to start trying out and planning the stage lighting for the
second half of the concert, with the choir Näsin Ääni on stage. The choir occasionally complained that they couldn’t see the
sheets of what they were singing and I replied “but the light looks so good
now!”. Well, I had to compromise as it’s anyway about the music, my music, so
they have to be able to see. I scribbled down the new numbers for my dad, then
I ran to print out my thank you speech that I had
prepared.
 |
The chamber choir Näsin Ääni presented by the concert host Meerika Ahlqvist
at Pyynikkisali 14.5.2014. Photo by Arto Ilkka Jalonen |
 |
The chamber choir Näsin Ääni conducted by Markus Yli-Jokipii
at Pyynikkisali 14.5.2014. Photo by Tuomo Kallioniemi |
 |
The chamber choir Näsin Ääni conducted by Markus Yli-Jokipii
at Pyynikkisali 14.5.2014. Photo by Arto Ilkka Jalonen |
The second half of the concert didn’t have
any speeches by the travel guide (Meerika) other than at the beginning and the
end, and I could also sit in the audience and just enjoy the good work the
choir had done with learning the pieces. Min Gud the choir sang so well that I
got cold shivers many times during the piece. Afterwards Meerika thanked the
audience and also I went on stage and thanked everyone who had been involved in
the concert. I hate giving speeches but I am really greatful to everyone who
has helped me make this happen. I’m also very happy there came such a large
audience, there must have been around 200 people or more in the audience! That
is a large amount for a contemporary music concert by an unknown young
composer, and I am very honored that so many could come.
 |
The chamber choir Näsin Ääni thankin Cecilia Damström for the collaboration
at the concert "Landet som icke är" 14.5.2014 in Pyynikkisali.
Photo by Tuomo Kallioniemi |
 |
Cecilia Damström thanking everyone who has been part of her composer recital
"Landet som icke är" 14.5.2014 in Pyynikkisali, Tampere. |
After the concert so many people stayed to thank me and I was so happy and
greatful and relieved (and hungry and exhausted), everything at the same time! My aunt had come all the way from Helsinki and she had brought along my uncle
(her husband) and also her boss! I was so flattered they all three had come to
Tampere for my sake! And my mother and father and grandmother as well!
And so many of my friends from the Catholic church came as well, among others
Natalja and Father Stan and many more. And many many friends from my school of
course who all faithfully waited for me (about half an hour!) to give me a hug
and a thank you! I was so overwhelmed that I can hardly remember who was there,
but I was incredibly happy!
And for anyone who still wants to hear it, you can find the concert including a live interview and the premiere, here:
