Trumpets

Nikita Istomin

in the orchestra since 2024

Nikita Istomin started practicing the trumpet under the guidance of his father. From 1997 to 2001, he studied at the Academy of Music and Drama at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) with Professor Bengt Eklund. From 2001 to 2008, he studied at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin (the class of Professor William Forman), where he completed the major course and postgraduate studies. Nikita Istomin is the laureate of All-Russian and international competitions.

In 2005, he was an intern at the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. From 2005 to 2009 was a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under the direction of such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle, Ivan Fischer, Christian Thielemann and others. From 2008 to 2013 he was a soloist of the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg (Potsdam). Since 2013, he has collaborated with the musicAeterna Orchestra as a guest musician.

From 2013 to 2023 he worked as the soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra. Since 2023, he has been a soloist of the orchestra of the Nizhny Novgorod Opera and Ballet Theatre — La Voce Strumentale.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME A MUSICIAN?

When I was a child, my father, also a trumpeter, worked as a conductor in a circus. I pretty much grew up there: shows were held on weekends, and he took me, a little boy, with him. At first, I just spent time there with friends who were like me the children of circus performers, and later joined the orchestra as a trumpeter. In between performances, my father helped me prepare for competitions and solo performances.

WHO HAS HAD AN IMPACT ON YOU AS A MUSICIAN?

I was lucky: I started taking private lessons from Anatoly Selyanin, a wonderful mentor and an absolute fan of his craft. He constantly brought fresh ideas, new instruments, and equipment from abroad, and collaborated with foreign colleagues. Anatoly Selyanin had a huge impact on my perception of music by doing one thing — he recorded me a block of cassettes, a selection of recordings by legendary trumpeters. Today I realize that this made a huge difference in my development as a musician: I went to bed with headphones on and fell asleep listening to these recordings. At the initial stage of learning, it is a very important thing to listen.

IF YOU WEREN'T A MUSICIAN, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

It so happened that since childhood I dreamed of becoming a pilot. When I lived in Berlin, I even went to flight school: I trained a lot with an instructor, I took off, landed, flew in circles myself. I loved it all so much. Unfortunately, I never got my pilot license, because I went to St Petersburg to work at the Mariinsky Theatre. However, frequent flights due to touring don't cause me any inconvenience — it's a pleasure for me.

DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST PERFORMANCE WITH MUSICAETERNA?

My first collaboration with musicAeterna is a funny story. At that time, the orchestra was based in Perm Opera, and the programme included Giuseppe Verdi's Aida. Teodor staged the action so that the musicians, who usually play behind the stage, performed their parts from the audience. In my opinion, it was very impressive. After the concert, Teodor invited us to celebrate our successful performance in his office, and we stayed up until early hours in the morning, and someone realized that we were about to miss our flight. I grabbed my trumpet case and my luggage bag and we set off to the airport the next minute. It wasn't until I arrived in St Petersburg that I realized the trumpet case was empty. Thanks goodness, I had a spare trumpet waiting for me at home.

WHERE DO YOU LIKE TO SPEND YOUR TIME?

My favourite city is Edinburgh. The nature there is similar to the Urals, where I was born and grew up. I often visited the summer music festival there and made a tradition of climbing the hill called Arthur's Seat every time. In a sense, this is my place of power: every time I get a feeling that I once lived there. As for St Petersburg, I really like Semimostye, the point overlooking all seven bridges over Kryukov and Griboyedov Canals, which offers a wonderful view of St Nicholas Cathedral. Almost every day I walk there with my dog, a handsome and intelligent Irish setter named Richard.