I am more anxious about the task at hand: I always want to do the best I can. This is especially true when working with Teodor Currentzis. In fact, Maestro’s work — and I am not exaggerating — starts at the point where it ends for most musicians. Playing a piece in a way that is technically proficient and good-sounding is hard enough, and many conductors call it a day at this point. Maestro, however, only begins his work upon reaching this result. He has his own unique view of music, and he knows how to convey it to each performer. You are seemingly giving your 100% in terms of technique, emotion and effort — and then a single glance or gesture from Maestro gives you a second wind; you tap into your hidden resources, and it feels like extra illumination has been switched on in the hall, and everything has become even brighter. This is a truly cathartic experience.

To be frank, I am ready to play absolutely anything under Maestro’s guidance; even music that does not really appeal to me becomes a joy to play with him. In fact, I first met Teodor Currentzis when he came to “Moscow Virtuosi” in 2002 to conduct Symphony No.14 by Shostakovich. I do not really enjoy Shostakovich’s music but working together with Maestro was amazing: he managed to hear, feel and understand that piece way better than the author had actually done. I can say the same about performing Shostakovish’s Symphony No.7. I would love to perform, say, Brahms’s Symphony No.4 together with Maestro: if there is anyone who could create a large-scale soundscape that would thoroughly thrill musicians and listeners alike, it must be him.

My hobbies are quite conservative. I love reading, and I often go to museums. To me, it is always thrilling to enter a gallery and see the very picture I had seen on a school textbook cover, or to read Remarque’s “Arch of Triumph” and later visit the same locations. It is a touching experience, so I often take tours around iconic locations from literature. I barely have time for anything besides work, though: I really want to keep developing creatively so that I have the right and opportunity to keep working with Maestro.