Resurrection

Dear friends! Avid readers, most beloved fans.
I am sorry to have kept you in suspense for so long. I am sure you will all be relieved to know that this blog is still alive and kicking! - I have just been having trouble finding time to record my exciting adventures on this website. So much to do, so little time!
Where to begin?
Last week's definite highlites were the B minor mass concert in Lahti and Vappu, a celebration which is considered the highlight of a Finnish student's life. I'm not sure I can sign to that, but in any case vappu certainly was a lot of fun this year! My celebrations started in Kirkkonummi on Saturday, where I performed with the local amateur orchestra, which actually is not that amateur when you consider many of the players are students either from the Academy or from the Conservatory. The audience was thrilled with the "mainstream"-program, consisting of Strauss walzes, Bizet's Carmen-suite (there's that Nokia ringing tune again!) and new orchestrated/composed jazz tunes, where I got to test my ragtime/saloon piano player -skills on the piano.
From Kirkkonummi, I proceeded via Museokatu to a house party of some of our students. On Sunday morning, I boarded a totally packed tram to Kaivopuisto, the traditional picnic spot for more or less 45 000 people (mainly students) each year. Cruising between picnics hosted by Dominante, CM Swing and Sanna, I was stuffed by the time we went to have lunch with Mummy, Daddy and Dea in Raffaello. The afternoon was spent pretty much cooling down.
Performing the B minor mass with Dominante in Lahti was an exhilarating experience!! Here some of the definite highlights from the evening:
- The look on Helmut Rilling's face before the choir exploded into "Et expecto resurrectionem" after a totally freaky modulative slow section.
- Mezzosoprano Anke Vonding's rendition of "Agnus Dei" - time seemed to stand still.
- The first chord of the mass. After the organist quietly played a b for giving the choir the pitch, players and singers erupted into the haunting first bars, crying "Kyrie Eleison".
- Fireworks wouldn't have been inappropriate during the choir's basses' jubilant solo during "Et resurrexit", which, we later found out, made the women of our choir go weak in the knees.
- The applauses following the concert, which seemed to go on and on.

In exactly two weeks, my summer holidays will start. Tomorrow, Saara from our choir conducting class is making her B exam, which means she will conduct a whole concert with Audite, after which - naturally - a huge party will follow. This won't cause any problems, as Thursday morning is not a working day.
Book of the day: Virpi Hämeen-Anttila: Suden vuosi. An interesting novel about the extraordinary relationship between an epileptic student at Helsinki university and her divorced teacher. It sounds tacky, but it's not.
Piece of the day: Richard Wagner: Liebestod (from Tristan und Isolde) - sweeping romance and tragedy and, above all, a breathtaking harp part.