Manchester Camerata + RNCM Chamber Orchestra: Tue 06 Jul

Kaapo Ijas (b.1988) is the Mills Williams Junior Fellow in Conducting at RNCM. He has been fiercely interested in composing, performing, drama, group dynamics and the orchestra itself for all his life. In 2012 it lead him to conducting studies first at the Sibelius Academy, then the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, and ultimately the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, from where he graduated in Spring 2017.

His teachers during his studies and masterclasses include Jorma Panula, Johannes Schlaefli, Jaap van Zweden, Riccardo Muti, Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Zinman, Neeme and Paavo Järvi and Atso Almila. Kaapo has conducted ensembles including Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Norrköping SO, South Jutland SO, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Gävle Symfoniorkester, Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester (Mannheim), Hradec Kralove Philharmonia, KMH Symphony Orchestra, Seinäjoki City Orchestra, KammarensembleN, Norrbotten NEO, Swedish Army Band, Helsinki Police Band and numerous other project ensembles and choirs during masterclasses and in concerts.

Kaapo has been assistant conductor in several opera productions including Aïda at Stockholm Royal Opera (with Pier Giorgio Morandi), Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at NorrlandsOpera with Damian Iorio, and the OperaBox production of Rigoletto with Sasha Mäkilä. He has also conducted opera productions in co-operation with Operahögskolan in Stockholm, including Behind the Masks (a combined production of Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte) and STHLM New Opera 2017.

Kaapo is the founder and conductor of ArtsOrchestra, a student orchestra specialising in combining other arts, pedagogical elements and social criticism with concert music. Projects have included Nutcracker 2.0 (a new dramaturgical arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s ballet with audiovisual elements and contemporary dance) and Ekokalypsi (his own composition for orchestra and mixed choir, set to text dealing with environmental issues).

Broadmindedness and an unprejudiced attitude towards other arts and genres is at the very core of Kaapo’s approach. Music, as any other art, is breathing together – whatever the style or period.

Kaapo’s studies and projects are supported by Suomen Kulttuurirahasto, Wihuri Foundation, Suomen Säveltaiteen Tukisäätiö and The Sibelius Academy Foundation.

Born in Florence, Italy, pianist Giulia Contaldo completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees with highest honours and special mention in piano under Giovanna Prestia at Florence’ s Luigi Cherubini Conservatory. Since 2012, Giulia studied at Imola International Piano Academy with Jin Ju where she completed her artist diploma in 2019. She has recently completed the Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Piano Performance with distinction at the RNCM with Graham Scott and Dina Parakhina thanks to the support of the Helen Mackaness Award and has been accepted on the prestigious International Artist Diploma programme.

Giulia has received numerous prizes including first prizes at the 28th J S Bach Italian National Competition, the Gradus ad Musicum Certamen Competition and the 15th International Maria Giubilei Piano Competition with an award to the Mozarteum Sommerakademie. She was recently a winner of the RNCM’s Concerto Competition, the Piano Duo Prize, the prestigious RNCM Gold Medal, and was one of the 62 pianists chosen to participate in the first round of the Leeds International Piano Competition in April 2021. Having a strong passion for chamber music, with violinist Sara Pastine she has also been a klavierkammermusik postgraduate student at the Universität für Musik und darstellende kunst Wien.

Giulia performs regularly throughout the UK and Europe. As a soloist she has played Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 1 with both the Orchestra del Carmine and the Giovane Orchestra d’Abruzzo. She was a soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy Op 80 with the Florence Conservatory Orchestra, with whom she also performed Schumann Piano Concerto.