DEPARTURES CULTURE THE
DEPARTURES CULTURE THE VANGUARD 48 THE ARCHITECT SUMAYYA VALLY THE SOUTH AFRICAN architect is on a mission to redefine the notion of enclosed space and reconnect otherwise segregated communities. At the forefront of conceptual architecture, the works of Vally and Counterspace, the Johannesburgbased collective she founded in 2015, have appeared in exhibitions at Gagosian, Frieze and the Royal Academy. She was the youngest-ever architect to create the Serpentine Pavilion in London in 2021. counterspace-studio.com Vally’s design for the Serpentine Pavilion drew inspiration from different London boroughs THE PIANIST TOM BORROW IF THERE WERE a recipe for stardom, it would probably come with three things: diligence guarded by talent, magnetic individuality accompanied by dignity, and a fascinating episode of luck – and the Israeli pianist has all three. A graduate of the Buchmann- Mehta School of Music, he came to prominence after replacing a renowned pianist at only 36 hours’ notice with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. A multi-award winner and now one of the BBC New Generation Artists, his 2022 schedule includes the Czech Philharmonic, the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and many solo performances. tomborrow.com THE STORYTELLER HAFSAH FAIZAL THE FIRST niqabi author to appear on The New York Times bestseller list, Faizal’s fantasy novels are gripping, romantic and epic. Her best-known book, We Hunt the Flame, was named among the 100 best fantasy of all times by Time magazine and has been translated into eight languages so far. The 29-yearold American, who lives in Texas, has a much-anticipated new novel, A Tempest of Tea, which is scheduled for wide release next year. hafsahfaizal.com CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: GUY BELL / ALAMY, COURTESY HAFSAH FAIZAL, TAL GIVONY, IWAN BAAN
FROM TOP: MAXIMILIAN GEUTER, DIANA PFAMMATTER THE ARTIST SUNG TIEU Tieu’s Zugzwang installation at Munich’s Haus der Kunst in 2020 THE VIETNAM-BORN GERMAN artist’s works come with an array of information, each element revealing an intricate and untold story. Revolving around the critical issues of our time – transnationality, bureaucracy, state intelligence, control – Tieu’s largescale installations are remarkably subtle and thought-provoking. One of the buzziest artists globally, she has pieces in forthcoming exhibitions in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bordeaux, the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. sungtieu.com “He demands a lot,” says violinist Elise Båtnes. “But at the same time, you feel safe because you’re on a mission together. It’s not like it’s him and the orchestra. It’s just about the music” concertmaster (or leader) of the Oslo Philharmonic. “He is a fantastic musician himself.” (Mäkelä continues to play the cello in chamber groups with the likes of the violinist Janine Jansen and the pianist Antonio Pappano, whose day job is music director of London’s Royal Opera, as well as members of the orchestras he conducts.) “He demands a lot,” she continues. “But at the same time, you feel safe because you’re on a mission together. It’s not like it’s him and the orchestra. It’s just about the music. He has a lot of ideas and an astonishing overview of both seeing and hearing. It’s really inspiring.” Dominic Seldis, the Concertgebouw’s principal double bass, agrees: “I don’t usually enjoy rehearsing but [with Klaus] it’s very exciting. Very rarely do we get a new face who makes us play better. But when I got home after the first rehearsal, my wife said, ‘My God, you look 10 years younger’.” Though the history of classical music is full of child prodigies – think Mozart, Mendelssohn and Liszt – there’s no avoiding the fact of Mäkelä’s youth. “He is extremely young for a conductor, obviously,” says Båtnes. “But at the same time, he has so much knowledge and he’s so into what he’s doing that you don’t notice. He can make a piece you’ve played, like, a thousand times feel totally different. So you just completely trust him in his mission and want to be part of his journey.” Mäkelä’s just-released debut for Decca (decca.com) is a complete cycle of Sibelius’s symphonies, recorded with the Oslo Philharmonic. klausmakela.com 49 DEPARTURES
