Zagreb - Day 3
Half way of the internship is already gone, it feels like I would have been here for weeks. Many faces from the choir seem familiar now and even some rehearsal words in Croatian start to be (almost) understandable.
Today it was a great rehearsal for the choir, the programme was going forward and some very beautiful moments were starting to arise with Veton. It also made me feel proud that my work on Poulenc on the day before was helpful in the overall preparation process for the concert. My conducting time today was devoted to Rheinberger. It felt so amazing to work on Romantic music with this group, it totally suits them. Rehearsal went very smoothly, we perfected intonation, created different sound layers and also worked on sound and diction. It was also very useful to be able to try out some of the suggestions both from my mentor and the main conductor of the programme, and to have a few new ones for tomorrow. During breaks and other moments there was still time for other conversations with the singers about "real" life (also in relation to the 2020 earthquake in the city).
In the afternoon I visited a rehearsal/conducting class of M. Facini preparing Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricia opera at the Academy of Music of the University of Zagreb. It was nice to see his students navigating through demanding recitativos, arias, and choirs. I am sure that projects like this gives them a lot of opportunities to grow as conductors and I am wondering how this kind of big productions could be implemented back home with my students.
The day still gave time for a concert in the evening, again in the frame of the Biennale. This time it was a contemporary ensemble (Cantus) giving some premieres of very different pieces. Last one was most inspiring probably: the work demanded the audience to switch on the flash on their phones at the end of the piece as a symbol for hope. Most of the audience deliberately did not do it (me included). I thought of this small act of insurrection as a great sign of hope in humanity to end another inspiring and (very) long day.