Ylöjärvi, Finland — “Here I grow beans,” said conductor Santtu-Matiasru Bali, gesturing into a land the size of a small room. “Why? I love fresh beans.”
The pea garden is just a moment of the scale of Rubari’s property here — a farm dating back to the 16th century with over 34 acres. On the podium of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, or as a guest, in the world’s major concert halls, he is most reassured, especially in comparison to where he is seen more often, in the wild of this place. It is one of the rocks covered with flowers, evergreens and moss. With an ensemble like the New York Philharmonic, he is a candidate for the next music director.
“I never wanted to be famous, but of course it comes automatically in this profession.”
Rouvali built his life on a farm about 20 minutes away from Tampere in southwestern Finland so that he could spend as many weekends as possible. One morning this month he began a welcome break between the Philharmonia Orchestra’s performance in Mikkeli and another performance in early August. At the Edinburgh International Festival..
He and his wife, Elina, live in the property’s main building, but utilize all the surrounding buildings. There is a sauna, a guesthouse with a music studio and pole dance studio, and a garage with rooms for slaughtering and peeling games that Rubali hunts, such as ducks and deer. He was fishing in a nearby lake, where he was building a beach (along with a waterfront sauna). They eat everything he kills and pack dishes made with other local ingredients, such as foraged chanterelles and new potatoes from neighbors, on the table.
“I need this, to take a break, take a mental break, and think less about music,” Ruvali said.
When he was at work, Rubali built a reputation as a vibrant conductor. He enjoys experimentation and fluid interpretation, and has a talent for internal rhythm and harmony that fits his background as a percussionist. When he returns to Philharmonic next season, his third engagement will take place in the season’s precious two-week real estate, with a variety of programs, including repertoire flagship and local premiere. Anna Thor Valz Dottil When Magnus Lindberg..
Before Jaap van Zweden leaves the podium in the spring of 2024, Ruvali’s concerts involve more scrutiny and pressure in an era when all guest appearances at Philharmonic have an audition atmosphere. He only whispered the privacy of his garden, but he himself admitted as well.
Philharmonic has nothing to add as part of it. Deborah Borda, CEO of the orchestra, said the search for the music director was “a very confidential and sacred process and we don’t discuss it.”
ROUVALI was born Became two members of the city’s orchestra in Lahti, Finland. He played the piano and learned the violin from his mother, but eventually decided to study percussion seriously. Most are mallet instruments. He loved a lot of music besides the classical concert hall, and he also incorporated jazz and rock, and spent his time comfortably in the drum kit seats.
Music took him to Finland’s prestigious Sibelius Conservatory, where he made a decisive move to devote himself to conducting. “Playing the triangle can be a little boring,” Ruvali said. “I always love the symphony orchestra and I can do more as a conductor. So I wondered why?”
He had already briefly studied with Jorma Panula, a Finnish conductor such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Susanna Mälkki and Osmo Vänskä. As a student in his master’s course, Rubali later collaborated with podium veterans Leif Segerstam and Hannu Lintu to give him important advice. You can do whatever you want on the podium, but you need to make sure everyone understands it.
In other words, Ruvali said, “It must work, and it must work all over the world.”
That freedom helped convey his style today. Not only does he hold some of the drummer’s gestures, but his physicality is an open, sometimes expressive vessel for the interpretation of trial and error, using rubato freely. “As a conductor, I play the orchestra,” he said. “And if I were a violinist, I wouldn’t always play the same way. Sometimes it’s not the best idea, but it makes live performances fun.”
Musicians tend to listen. At an early age, Rouvali discovered that he was a natural leader and had the sympathy for rehearsal instrumentalists who had loved him. He also learned from his experience playing under his parents and various conductors of his own. But his charisma is almost always innate. He carries himself as if he were unaware of his position in classical music.
That may be why he once made him a leading candidate for the Finnish reality television show “Not Bornto Rock,” which formed a band of groups of classical musicians. In one episode, they were shown learning how to dress like a rock star. Another way is to have a party like one.As a group called Tartta, They ended up writing a song that they played at a music festival. “Of course, it was just for entertainment,” Rubali said. “But it’s good to be involved in those things.”
Rouvali’s lightness betrays academic rigor. He slowly studies the score on the piano, starting with a basic inner voice and harmony and working outwards towards the melody. It is the method shown in his performance, prioritizing unexpected, often revelatory sounds that other conductors may have overlooked. The opening motive of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony went through his entire work, rather than being repeated. Mikkeli performance With the Philharmonia Orchestra.
He first appeared in the ensemble in 2013. Shortly thereafter, he started as Principal Conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. This is the term that will end in the next season. In 2017, another chief conductor post followed with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden. At the same time, he began as the principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, was appointed as the successor to Salonen, and was taken over in 2021.
Salonen said he was buying six packs of beer at a Finnish kiosk when he called Ruvali and offered a major guest post. Rouvali replied with an explanation emphasizing, “Yeah, that’s great,” and told the cashier, “I’ll bring another one.”
ROUVALI relationship The Philharmonia Orchestra has been happy so far. His appointment as chief conductor was the result of a vote by the musician. Orchestra contrabass player Michael Fuller said that the interaction between Louvary and them is more or less non-verbal and in close harmony with each other. This was also the case during a recent rehearsal in Mikkeli. At Mikkeli, not only did we keep time, but we also regularly escaped from the podium without warning and listened to music from the back of the hall.
“He can get results very quickly,” Fuller said. “There’s a lot he can do through the beat. Suddenly he’ll do this, and a piccolo or harp comes out of the texture, and you say,” Wow, I’ve heard this that way so far. There is no such thing. ” It’s all related to this kind of pulse he emits. “
Kira Doherty, a horn player of the Philharmonia Orchestra, said this was useful because she had an “unbound” view of the scores that Ruvali had earned. “When I’m with him, the score shows that I still have this fresh and almost new thing that no one has ever done,” she added. “Some of them are ridiculous, and later he seems to be” I’m not going to do it anymore. ” But he is trying it, and it’s a way to engage in the actual act of creativity. “
Receptions vary. When Rouvali debuted at the New York Philharmonic in 2019, Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times wrote that “every gesture expressed an element of music.” But last season, critic Zachary Wolf was far more calm and found that Tchaikovsky’s interpretation of the fifth symphony, Louvari, was “easily tilted.”
Nevertheless, Rouvali is praised within the industry. “First of all, he conducts the orchestra, not the audience, so the gestures are really focused and everything carries something essential,” said Salonen. He added: “The man has a very good rhythm, tempo, pulse, and it gives the orchestra some kind of security that allows him to express himself very clearly.”
Bolda, CEO of Philharmonic, said the time they were together was often easy and enjoyable. She visited him in London and actor Bradley Cooper appeared in her box with Vogue editor Anna Wintour. Then everyone went to see Rubali, and according to Bolda, Winter told him, “Maestro, I love your shirt, is it Prada?” He replied briefly, “No, my mother got it from a friend of Lahti.”
“The number of conductors has increased significantly,” Bolda said. Whether the rise involves a post in Philharmonic is an open question, even for Rubali.
On the farm, when a Rubali robot mower called Jens roamed the yard like a curious dog, he wondered how to respond to an offer from New York. “I would probably say,’Give me a beer and let me call you back,'” he said. There are many things to consider. What does lifestyle change mean for the time he spends at home with his wife and his children, and high school friends who join him every year to start the Finnish hunting season? His post at the Philharmonia.
“It’s still hard to say,” Rouvali said. “Let’s see if they even ask. But have you ever had a conductor in the New York Philharmonic saying no?”
Salonen nevertheless said that Rubali wanted to stay with the Philharmonia Orchestra “for a long time.” Rouvali feels the same, but he added that if there were moments to take on a lot of work, it’s now when he’s still young. He doesn’t want to be a conductor who works well until old age. After all, he has a farm.
Philharmonia Orchestra player Doherty said, “I see him wandering out of the woods, and he’s going to do great things. And one of the recent ones has returned to living in the woods. rice field.”
