Savonlinna Music Academy ( fi, Savonlinnan musiikkiakatemia) is an association in

Savonlinna Savonlinna (, , ; sv, Nyslott, lit=New Castle) is a town and a municipality of inhabitants in the southeast of Finland, in the heart of the Saimaa lake region, which is why the city is also nicknamed the "Capital of Saimaa". Together with Mikkel ...

(Finland) organizing international master classes in Savonlinna and abroad. On the master classes internationally renowned musicians teach young talented singers and instrumentalists in the field of

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

. Savonlinna Music Academy originated from Savonlinna Music Days organized by Finnish composer

Yrjö Kilpinen Yrjö Henrik Kilpinen (4 February 18922 March 1959) was a Finnish composer. He was born in Helsinki, and in 1907 he started his studies in the Helsingin Musiikkiopisto (later named Sibelius Academy). In 1910 Kilpinen moved to Vienna to continue h ...

in the 1950s. During the Music Days, teaching for young musicians was organized. The history of Savonlinna Music Academy thus goes back to times before

Savonlinna Opera Festival Savonlinna Opera Festival ( fi, Savonlinnan oopperajuhlat) is held annually in the city of Savonlinna in Finland. The Festival takes place at the medieval Olavinlinna (St. Olaf's Castle), built in 1475. The castle is located amid spectacular lake ...

made the small town internationally known. Over time the organization has changed, but the main principle of providing quality teaching has remained the same. Currently, master classes are organized within the framework Savonlinna Summer University (open university) teaching. Savonlinna Music Academy is directed by an artistic committee. The chair of the artistic committee is pianist

Ralf Gothóni Ralf Georg Nils Gothóni (born 2 May 1946, Rauma) is a Finnish-German pianist and conductor. He is also active as a chamber musician, professor, composer, and author. Born in Rauma, Finland he made his orchestra debut at age 15. Besides his worl ...

. The managing director of Savonlinna Music Academy Association is operationally responsible for activities. Mainly master classes are organized in July when also Savonlinna Opera Festival takes place. For students this gives the opportunity to meet and hear many artists visiting Savonlinna for the festival. Concerts organized the Music Academy attract people coming to Savonlinna for opera and classical music. Instruction in singing comprises in addition to opera and lied also of teaching for vocalist-piano duos. In the chamber music master classes student and teachers make music together. Similar teaching models are the Steans Institute of

Ravinia Festival Ravinia Festival is an outdoor music venue in Highland Park, Illinois. It hosts a series of outdoor concerts and performances every summer from June to September. The first orchestra to perform at Ravinia Festival was the New York Philharmonic unde ...

and the

Mozarteum Orchestra The Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg is an Austrian orchestra, based in the town and state of Salzburg. The orchestra gives concerts in several Salzburg venues, including the ''Großes Festspielhaus'', the Great Hall of the Stiftung Mozarteum. I ...

.Kamarimusiikkia Onnelisten Ateljeessa (concert programme) 2010. Savonlinna, Savonlinnasali Instructors in lied have been

Helmut Deutsch Helmut Erich Deutsch (born 24 December 1945) is an Austrian classical pianist, specialising in chamber music and lieder accompaniment. Deutsch was born in Vienna, where he studied piano, composition and musicology at the Vienna Music Academy f ...

, Irwin Cage,

Hartmut Höll Hartmut Höll (born November 24, 1952) is a German pianist and music professor.J. B. Steane, "Hartmut Höll", Grove Music Online Biography Höll was born in Heilbronn. He trained in Stuttgart, Milan and Munich, specializing in art song accompanim ...

, Graham Johnson and

Roger Vignoles Roger Vignoles (born 12 July 1945), is a British pianist and accompanist. He regularly performs with the world's leading singers, including Kiri Te Kanawa, Thomas Allen, Anne Sofie von Otter, Thomas Hampson, Gitta-Maria Sjöberg, Sarah Walk ...

. In opera Ilena Cotrubas,

Thomas Hemsley Thomas Jeffrey Hemsley, CBE (12 April 192711 April 2013) was an English baritone. Hemsley was born in Coalville, Leicestershire, and attended Ashby de la Zouch Grammar School. He took a degree in natural sciences from Brasenose College, Oxford. ...

, Dorothy Irving, Jevgeni Nesterenko,

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career started ...

Mitsuko Shirai Mitsuko Shirai (born 28 May 1947) is a Japanese mezzo-soprano and music professor.Alan Blyth, "Mitsuko Shirai", Grove Music Online Biography Born in Nagano Prefecture, Nagano, Shirai first trained in Tokyo before settling in Germany, where she co ...

and Sarah Walker have been active. During the last years teachers mainly responsible have been

Tom Krause Tom Gunnar Krause (5 July 1934 − 6 December 2013) was a Finnish operatic bass-baritone, particularly associated with Mozart roles. Early life Born in Helsinki, Tom Krause studied medicine for three years with the intention of becoming a psyc ...

and director Eija Tolpo. Savonlinna Music Academy has also made own productions such as

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

Cosi fan tutte Cosi, COSI or CoSi may refer to: * ''Così'', a 1992 play by Louis Nowra ** ''Cosi'' (film), 1996, based on the play * Così (restaurant), an American fast-casual restaurant chain * Compton Spectrometer and Imager, or COSI, a NASA telescope to be ...

and the 'Italienisches Liederbuch' of

Hugo Wolf Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (13 March 1860 – 22 February 1903) was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Ro ...

as an arrangement for chamber orchestra and two voices in 2005. In 2011 the Academy produced the comic opera

Il matrimonio segreto ' (''The Secret Marriage'') is a dramma giocoso in two acts, music by Domenico Cimarosa, on a libretto by Giovanni Bertati, based on the 1766 play ''The Clandestine Marriage'' by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick. It was first performed on ...

Domenico Cimarosa Domenico Cimarosa (; 17 December 1749 – 11 January 1801) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan school and of the Classical period. He wrote more than eighty operas, the best known of which is ''Il matrimonio segreto'' (1792); most of his ...

. The production also toured at Mustasaari Music Festival and in

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of ...

. In 2010 instruction in music technology and in 2011 in recording technology was started in cooperation with

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It als ...

and

Hochschule für Musik Detmold The Hochschule für Musik Detmold is a university-level music school situated in Detmold, Germany. Academics The Hochschule offers performance degrees in composition, all orchestral instruments, piano, voice, opera, art-song, conducting, as we ...

. The international activities of the Savonlinna Music Academy have included master classes in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, Egypt, where courses have been organized for Egyptian students in 2009 and 2010. Participating teachers in Cairo were pianist Ralf Gothoni, violist Teemu Kupiainen, cellist professor

Arto Noras Arto Noras (born 12 May 1942, in Turku) is a Finnish cellist who is one of Finland's most celebrated instrumentalists and amongst the most outstanding internationally acknowledged cellists of his generation. At the age of 8, Arto Noras started h ...

, director Eija Tolpo and pianist Jari Hiekkapelto. Egyptian musicians have also participated in master classes in Savonlinna.

References

See also