September, so far, has been a busy month for organist Mari Fukumoto. At the end of August she moved from her base in Hamburg, where she has lived for the past eight years, to Weimar, around 300 kilometers south, where she is preparing to take up her "first ever job" as a music teacher at the University of Music Franz Liszt.
October, though, will likely be even busier and more stressful as she sits, or in this case stands, for a final exam in orchestral conducting. For that she'll go back to Hamburg, where she'll guide a full orchestra as they tackle "Die Schopfung" by Haydn.
"When that finishes I will be happy and able to relax," Fukumoto says during a phone call from Weimar.