mikkonoma music

Surely an elegant piece of copy would work best here. However, I dread engaging in my habit of being too wordy; in fact, I tried writing an elegant piece of copy, and discovered that it was quickly becoming bogged down with fluff.

So, in order to tell you about myself, I shall take the most concise route I know: a series of bullet-points. It isn't elegant, to be sure, but it accomplishes this page's purpose in a relatively economical manner.

With that said, I present you with my life, reduced to bullet points. Hopefully it won't be terribly boring. Of course, feel free to inquire further.

Long Story Short

Vitals 

• born 1984
• raised in Brewster, NY 
• resident of New York City from 2004
• dual citizen of United States and Finland
• has a pulse and brushes teeth regularly

Education

• 1989-1998: Melrose School; Brewster, NY (K-8)
• 1998-2002: Hackley School; Tarrytown NY (9-12)
• 2002-2007: Mannes College of Music; New York, NY (B. Music: Composition)
• more to come; stay tuned
• piano studies: R. Hyatt; E. Briskin; P. Dokovska; I. Edelman
• composition studies: H. Erickson; K. Fitch; D. Loeb
• theory studies: D. Loeb; R. Cuckson; C. Schachter; others 

Composer

• see list of works for more 
• very comfortable with all traditional instrumental combinations; most 'at home' with orchestra or string quartet
• for new music, a relatively conservative musical language
• strong sense of large-scale form and instrumentation

Pianist

• solo recitals
• chamber music
• vocal/instrumental accompaniment
• orchestral work

Other performance

• vocalist (solo)
• vocalist (choral/ensemble)
• director/conductor (Shostakovich: 'Anti-Formalist Rayok')

Writing

• articles and papers (but I have not sought publication of any)
• short stories; many in style of M. Zoshchenko
• Shostakovich Speaks: a One-man Play (peformed 27.X.2006)

Some Notable Endeavors

• 2000: pianist, 'Leyenda del Bosque' (Tulio Peramo) world premiere (Tarrytown, NY)
• 2000: pianist, 'the Second Hurricane' (A. Copland) production, (New York, NY)
• 2002: conductor/pianist/director, 'Anti-Formalist Rayok' (D. Shostakovich) performance (Tarrytown, NY)
• 2006: playwright/actor/director, 'Shostakovich Speaks' performance (New York, NY)

 Hobbies/Interests

• long walks
• people-watching
• reading
• listening to music
• news/current events
• baseball

Tastes/Preferences

• composers: D. Shostakovich; J. S. Bach; M. Musorgsky; A. Shnitke; K. Saariaho; W. Mozart
• instrumentalists: G. Gould; O. Mustonen; M. Rostropovich; M. Vengerov; S. Isserlis; P. Kuusisto; M. Yudina
• conductors: M. Rostropovich; Ye. Svetlanov; L. Stokowski; E.-P. Salonen; S. Oramo
• non-classical music: Dixieland jazz, and most jazz pre-1950; folk musics of the world
• authors: M. Zoshchenko; N. Gogol; A. Solzhenitsyn; T. Wilder
• poets: A. Akhmatova; O. Mandel'shtam; Ch. Baudelaire; L. Hughes; W. Shakespeare; S. Crane
• painters: V. Kandinsky; V. van Gogh; M. Rothko; H. Matisse; M. Chagall
• European cities: St. Petersburg; Helsinki; Tallinn; Lisbon
• cuisines: Slavic, French, Italian; Indian and cuisines of East Asia; but there's nothing quite like a good burger!
• NYC streets: (all in Manhattan); 125 St.; Broadway 59-170 Sts.; Riverside Drive
• baseball teams: Mets

 Any other questions? Please do ask.