An already overly ambitious travel and work schedule was thwarted by an epic bout of influenza — but things could have been much worse, I suppose. Barely made it to the Tampere Biennale concert by superb cellist Marko Ylönen; from there, a redeye back to Hong Kong to host the Carnatic super star vocal duo Ranjani-Gayatri at the Cosmopolis Festival. I’ve been a huge fan since first hearing them in 2003 (!), on my very first trip to India. Though I had to cancel most of my own participation, it was a huge honor and extremely gratifying to have them perform on our stage. And at least I made it to the concert.
Ilari Kaila, composer 