happy new year!

Year 2017 ended with a bang. The start of December was one of the most intense weeks of my post-master's degree career. Just when I'd hoped for more gigs, all of a sudden I had 6 within a 10-day period. When things start moving it usually goes very fast. More contacts lead to more contacts, with more piano gigs there will be more piano gigs. It's a self-perpetuating cycle, and I love it!

The first gig was a pre-xmas mingel at the old reliable NAV. NAV is a place buzzing with creativity, you just waltz in and within 10 minutes you will have met an impro theatre leader, a  makeup artist, some of Nacka's brightest educators, environment activists, and a crazy artist who makes bar chair upholstery that looks like candy wrappers. They constantly organise events and the sky is the limit: doesn't matter if it's a climate change discussion, a concert or an art exhibition, within the walls of NAV anything is possible. Their piano sure isn't a Steinway grand, but the atmosphere and openness makes NAV a great venue even for classical music.

On December the 6th my home country Finland turned 100. To celebrate that, the Finnish church of Stockholm organised a bunch of events that were the main reason for my busy week. The first and biggest was a concert in Storkyrkan in the picturesque Old Town. I had the pleasure of working with big names, the established veterans, baritone Gabriel Suovanen and bass Esa Aapro, and the young talent from Operahögskolan, soprano Tessan Lehmussaari. Later the same day we had another gig with Tessan at Gustavsbergs Kyrka in Värmdö, where I'm also going to play on January the 27th.

The picture above is from Ljusets Kyrka where I had a solo piano concert on December the 8th. The church wanted a Finland- themed program for elderly locals with Finnish roots. The upcoming concert on January the 27th will also feature some of the same music, which makes it easier to prepare for it. I spent the rest of my busy week playing 2 background music gigs, one at an exclusive pre-xmas mingle and one at a retirement home.

More of this in 2018, please! I'm already well on the way there on the gig front. Now all I need is more sewing and design projects and I'm all set. Unfortunately a musical by Dramakvarnen I was supposed to do costumes for, got indefinitely postponed due to lack of resources, but we'll see what happens!

-Silja