It was “who”, not “what”. My mother did. It was she who once took we to a concert at the St. Petersburg Philharmonia. That concert witnessed the birth of my dream to be on that stage one day. I was particularly charmed by the conductor, Evgeniy Alexandrovich Mravinsky, who had such clear and precise control over time.

I once saw a golden harp in one of the rooms at music school and instantly fell in love with it. I wanted no more black pianos, and I insisted on being put into the harp class instead, which ultimately happened. If you think of it, you have 7 pedals, 47 strings, 70kg of weight to carry, and 1500 parts to wrap your head around; that is not romantic at all. I am not going to discuss things that frequently come up when talking about the harp: its magical timbre, harp therapy and the like. To me, having a good command of the instrument is more important than just playing music in an eloquent way. Truth be told, I have always been an odd harpist. Harpists tend to be melancholic ladies in long dresses, but that is not what I am. I try to stay busy every minute, during every break we get — and we get plenty of those. For instance, right now I am learning to be a conductor, so I observe the musicians and Maestro and think what I could have done differently to get a different sound.

Music is a language. Get fluent at it, and you will be able to express all your thoughts. Moreover, hearing someone play just a few notes can tell me much about that person. They play and I understand whether we would be of interest to each other.

MusicAeterna is the last name of Teodor’s large family. It is a locomotive of the modern music world. It is a jewellery workshop of musical diamonds. MusicAeterna means quality.