Nikolai Dubrovin

My mother is a pianist, now she teaches piano and is very proud of her students. When I was a kid, we always had an instrument at home, and someone was constantly playing it, so at first they made me study piano too. Because of the frequent moving home, classes were interrupted, and when we finally arrived in Saint Petersburg — literally with only one car trunk of belongings — I was sent to a ten-year school at the conservatory. That is when the French horn teacher Genrikh Rudolfovich Avik appeared in my life. He gave me some recordings to listen to, and I remember literally falling in love with the sound of the French horn.

Since the tenth grade, I have been working in the Mariinsky Theatre's stage orchestra. In my third and fourth years at the Conservatory, I participated in the Rimsky-Korsakov competition and was in great shape. Yet one morning I picked up the instrument and suddenly realized that I just didn't know how to play it. All muscle memory seemed to have been erased. I still can't explain how it happened, perhaps the reason was the overload and constant work without days off. I quit the orchestra and didn't play at all for almost a year. I worked in a hardware store and completely changed the lifestyle. A year later I returned to music, and a few years later I found myself back in the Mariinsky Theatre orchestra.

Before auditions to musicAeterna, I had never heard the orchestra live, only recordings. Once I listened to a recording of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring conducted by Teodor, and I felt shaken to the core. In the episode The Adoration of the Earth there is such energy and such a pace: I couldn't even imagine playing like that. When the orchestra moved to Saint Petersburg, my friend became a permanent member. I congratulated him and jokingly asked if they had any more vacancies. To my surprise, I was invited to audition. And already in the first programme, Mahler's Symphony No. 9, I performed the solo of the second French horn.

Mahler is one of my favourite composers. In the Symphony No. 1, the birth of the world is wonderfully conveyed — for me it is the music of light and life. And what a heroic theme the French horns there is in the finale! The Symphony No. 9 is completely different. This is a mature, philosophical Mahler. The finale of this symphony literally tears the heart out. It's very deep and emotional music. By the way, Mahler was often inspired by nature — and it's very close to me. I really love nature myself, and it's no coincidence that the French horn is called a 'forest' instrument.

I have a country house in the Pskov forests — I have been building it myself for more than ten years. Once I bought a hectare of land on the border with Belarus, among lakes and natural reserves, and gradually began to build a house. Despite our busy schedule, I try to come there as often as possible. It is located 400 kilometres away from Saint Petersburg — the journey takes about six hours, but it's worth it. There you can look at the starry sky, listen to birds and just recuperate after concerts and tours. This is my place of power and a childhood dream come true — to build my own house and live on earth.

I went through a divorce a few years ago, and that period had a big impact on me. I started asking myself a lot of questions, reviewing my life, and becoming interested in psychology. Gradually it became my big hobby. It seems to me that this made it easier for me to survive the midlife crisis. I'm forty now, and I feel like life is just beginning. I've often thought of Dante's words, 'Midway upon the journey of our life', and now I realize that there's still a lot more to come. I'm even thinking about a second education — a degree in Psychology.

I spent my entire childhood riding a bike, and now it's also a part of my life. I do a lot of riding in the Leningrad region in the summer, and practice cross-country skiing in the winter. I love the routes in Koltushsky Park, and in Zelenogorsk at the Priboy base. I live near the Pulkovo Observatory and often ride in the park there or go on hiking trails in the region: Pushkin, Pavlovsk. I try to do exercises and stretching every day. In general, many people in our orchestra are into sports.