YLÖJÄRVI, Finland – “Here I grow peas,” said conductor Santu Matias Rouvali, pointing to a piece of land the size of a small room. “Why? I love fresh peas.”
Its pea orchards are just a fraction of the size of its Rouvali property, a farm of over 34 acres that dates back to the 16th century. Among the wildflowers, evergreens and mossy rocks of this place, he feels most at peace, especially compared to the places where he is more often seen. Whether on the rostrum of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London or as a guest inside the world’s major concert halls. With ensembles like the New York Philharmonic, he aspires to be the next music director.
“I never wanted to be famous,” said 36-year-old Rouvali.
Rouvali builds his life so that he can spend as many weekends as possible on his farm about 20 minutes from Tampere in southwestern Finland. One morning this month he was at the start of the welcome break between the Philharmonia performance in Mikkeli not far away and the Philharmonia performance scheduled for early August. at the Edinburgh International Festival.
He and his wife Elina live in the main house of the property, but use all the surrounding buildings. There are guest houses with saunas, music and pole-dancing studios, and garages with rooms for slaughtering and skinning the ducks, deer, and other game Rouvali hunts. He was fishing in a nearby lake and was building a beach there (along with a waterside sauna). They eat everything he kills and fill their tables with dishes made from other local ingredients, such as foraged chanterelles and their neighbors’ new potatoes.
“I need this to just take a break and have some mental rest from thinking too much about music,” said Rouvali.
In his time at work, Rouvali has built a reputation as an active conductor. He enjoys experimentation and fluid interpretations, befitting his background as a percussionist with a flair for inner rhythm and harmony. Next season, when he returns to the Philharmonic Orchestra, for his third contract there, he will spend his two weeks of precious property in the season with a varied program including repertoire staples and local premieres. will spend Anna Torvaldsdottir When Magnus Lindbergh.
With Jaap van Zweden’s departure from the rostrum in spring 2024 and the atmosphere of an audition at every guest appearance with the Philharmonic Orchestra, Rouvalli’s concerts come with added scrutiny and pressure. He only whispered in the privacy of his garden, though he himself admitted it.
The Philharmonic has nothing to add. According to the orchestra’s chief executive, Deborah Borda, the search for its music director “is a very confidential and sacred process, and we will never discuss it.”
Birth of Rouvalli In Lahti, Finland, to two members of the city’s orchestra. He played piano and learned violin from his mother, but he eventually decided to study percussion seriously. It is primarily a mallet instrument. Classical His concerts A fan of many musics beyond his halls, he also embraced jazz and rock, making himself comfortable in the seat of his drum kit.
Music brought him to Finland’s prestigious Sibelius Academy, where he made a decisive move to devote himself to conducting. “Playing in the Triangle can be a little boring,” said Loubari. “I have always loved symphony orchestras, but as a conductor you can do more. So I thought, why?
He had already studied briefly with Jorma Panula, mentor and mentor of notable Finnish conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Susanna Marki and Osmo Vanska. As his master’s student, Rouvali later collaborated with podium veterans, Leif Segerstam and his Hannu Lintu, who gave him important advice.
In other words, Rouvali says, “It has to work, it has to work all over the world.”
That freedom has helped convey his style today.While retaining some of the drummer’s gestures, its physicality allows him to freely use the rubato to create an open and sometimes trial-and-error style. It’s a vehicle for interpretation. “As a conductor, I play the orchestra,” he said. “If I were a violinist, I wouldn’t always play the same way. Sometimes it’s not the best idea, but it makes his performances live more enjoyable.”
Musicians tend to listen. From an early age, Rouvali discovered that he was a natural leader, empathetic enough to endear himself to the instrumentalists at rehearsals. He also learned from his parents and from his own experience playing under various conductors, he said. However, his charisma is largely innate. He behaves as if he’s hilariously ignorant of his place in classical music.
That may be what made him once a frontrunner for the Finnish reality show Not Born to Rock, which brings together a group of classical musicians to form a band. In one episode, he was shown learning how to dress as a rock star. A different way to party the same way.as a group called Taruta, they ended up writing a song to perform at a music festival. “Of course it was just entertainment,” said Louvally. “But it’s good to be part of them.”
Rouvali’s lightness defies academic rigor. He slowly learns scores on the piano, starting with basic inner voices and harmonies and working his way towards melodies. This is seen in his playing, prioritizing unexpected and often revelatory sounds that other conductors tend to overlook. The opening motive of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony ran throughout his work, rather than repeating itself. Mikkeli Performance with the Philharmonia.
He made his first appearance with the ensemble in 2013. Shortly thereafter, he began working as Principal Conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. This term ends next season. In 2017, another Principal Conductor post followed with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden. At the same time, he was named to replace Salonen, starting as the Philharmonia’s Principal Guest Conductor before taking over in 2021.
Salonen said Rouvalli was buying a six-pack of beer at a kiosk in Finland when he called to provide a major guest post. Rouvali replied, “Yeah, that’s great,” in emphatic expletives, before telling the cashier, “He’ll have one.”
Rouvalli relationship Working with the Philharmonia has been a happy one so far. His appointment as Chief Conductor was the result of a vote by the musicians. Michael Fuller, the orchestra’s double-bass player, said that the interaction between the Loubari and them was more or less non-verbal, and that they were very closely in tune with each other. , where he formed phrases rather than keeping time — he regularly fled the podium without warning and listened to the music from far in the hall.
“He gets results very quickly,” says Fuller. “There’s so much he can do with beats alone. Piccolos and harps come out of the textures and you think, ‘Wow, I’ve never heard it like this.’ It’s all related to this kind of pulse he emits. “
Philharmonia horn player Kira Dougherty said this was useful because Loubari takes a “free” view of their score. “With him, when you look at the score, it’s like we still have this fresh, almost first-time thing that brings out things that no one has ever done before,” she added. “Some of them are silly, but later he says, ‘I don’t do that anymore. “
Reception is mixed. On Rouvali’s 2019 New York debut with his Philharmonic Orchestra, Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times wrote: Last season, however, critic Zachary Wolfe was much more sober, finding that Rouvari’s interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony was “simplified.”
Despite this, Rouvali has a strong reputation within the industry. Salonen said, “First of all, he conducts the orchestra, not the audience. So the gestures are really focused and everything has something essential.” rice field. And it gives the orchestra a kind of safety, allowing them to express themselves very clearly. “
Bolda, chief executive of the Philharmonic Orchestra, said the time they spent together was often lighthearted and fun. Afterwards, they all went to see Louvally and, according to Borda, Winter told him, “Maestro, I love your shirt. Is that Prada?” He replied simply, “No, my mother got it from a friend in Lahti.”
He is, according to Borda, “a conductor who is becoming very popular.”
On the farm, while Rouvali’s robotic lawnmower, nicknamed Jens, roams the yard like a curious dog, he ponders how to respond to an offer from New York. “I would probably say, ‘Let’s have a beer and call back,'” he said. There’s a lot to think about: how lifestyle changes will affect his time at home — his wife and their children, who are with him each year at the start of Finnish hunting season A friend from high school—and what that means is his post at the Philharmonia.
“It’s hard to say yet,” Louvally said. “Let’s see if they ask. But is there a conductor who says no to the New York Philharmonic?”
In any case, Salonen said he hopes Rouvari will stay with the Philharmonia “for a long time.” Rouvali feels the same way, but he adds that if there ever is a moment when he takes on a lot of work, it’s when he’s still young. He doesn’t want to be a well-functioning conductor in his old age. After all, he has a farm.
Philharmonia performer Doherty said, “He seems to have wandered out of the woods.”