Arseniy, 23, comes to us from St. Petersburg, Russia, but has been living in Cleveland for the last 4 years attending the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM). He was one of 30 worldwide competitors chosen to compete in the 2022 Cliburn International Piano Competition. Music found him at an early age and he has since dedicated his life to it. The uber talented pianist and composer shares his life, his talent, his Cliburn experience, his future, and his prospective on the Ukrainian situation. His performances and composition span the globe and he will surely be force to recon with in the classical music world. Additionally, he exhibits his talent on the piano for you to enjoy!
Please enjoy the best Fort Worth has to offer.
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roxo media house
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[Music]
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welcome to the show folks this is
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fortitude the Cliburn series we have a
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special guy in the studio today Brinton
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Arseniy Gusev he’s from st petersburg
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russia he’s 23. he’s been living in
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cleveland for the last four years but he
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just participated in the Cliburn
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competition and he’s joining us on the
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show we want to get to know this guy a
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little bit welcome Arseniy thank you
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pleasure to be here yes thank you um
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where have you been living the last four
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weeks or so
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well uh uh for last four years i was in
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cleveland and uh recently i was so
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fortunate to get to know that he’s been
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bunking up with me at home you can you
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can be honest now no it’s it’s been it’s
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been such a pleasure and uh
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really one of the best host families i
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could ever wish for and he made us
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homemade borsch the other day delicious
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what is in it
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lots of beets oh yeah the vegan is was
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it difficult is that is that that
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typically it’s usually cooked with meat
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so i had to fake some things yes
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did you use some type of um what’s it
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called the impossible meat or something
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like that just beets
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when i mean beets it’s just beets
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there’s a couple other things
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yes it was wonderful i’ll bet that we
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quickly went off to our own rooms after
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that uh meal
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i don’t know what you’re talking about
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back to the guest arsenii so thank you
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for being here uh tell us about your
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childhood st petersburg when did piano
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become part of your life well it was
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quite early i was five and uh
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which has happened to be
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uh you know in this center of the city
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we were
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fortunate with having
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friends musicians uh and one of these
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friends brought an upright piano to my
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apartment our apartment and i was
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immediately curious uh
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started experimenting with it and my
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grandmother asked me if i would like to
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go to music school after that and i said
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that i would be so interested and i
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would love to learn how to play
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uh
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did she just watch you she you were just
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captivated by this person playing the
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piano in the apartment in in some ways i
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uh
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i wanted to compose something first so i
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i didn’t
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start playing right away but i
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i was fascinated with a couple of poems
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at that time and one of them was written
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by pushkin
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famous russian poet and uh i felt like
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it would be wonderful to put it on music
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so i uh played a little it’s you know on
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this poem and
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then
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i was asked if i would like to go to
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music school after that or send he knows
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who pushkin is he’s very in russian
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poetry so
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he’s good there pushkin
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i can’t even remember not not even not
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even piano piano was there you also
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started composing at early ages correct
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right that’s that’s right yeah ellis was
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very passionate about
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writing something very nice ultimately
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he led you to the st petersburg
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conservatory where you studied
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composition and piano correct yes and
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you’re your professor there
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uh i also went to a special music school
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of conservatory where it’s one of the
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advantages i think we have in
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russian early education as well as you
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know in uh some other countries we have
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this very early music education which is
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very systematic so you go to uh classes
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like almost in
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general education school
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except uh many subjects are actually
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related to music so you get exposed to a
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lot
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of um
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deep you know uh yeah tradition and
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culture
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how many hours a day so like of general
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studies how many hours and then how many
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hours let me think it’s it of course
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it’s uh
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changes it changes from year to year uh
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in the beginning it was something
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maybe five hours
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a day and uh two or three of them would
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be
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musical subjects two of them would be
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general subjects
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and then it would be change changing
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from year to year but also uh that would
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not include any of the playing because i
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would still have to practice and i would
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have uh ensemble classes to play with
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other uh students okay how was how was
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your childhood arsenii describe your
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childhood for us st petersburg well i i
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i’m very thankful to have uh
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very supportive and very
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inspiring parents at the same time i uh
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mentioned before that um
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they are actually no they’re not
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musicians but they’re both artists my
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mom is a choreographer dancer and my
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father is film critic and film director
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so i heard a lot of different kinds of
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music since i was very little
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and they would always support
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many you know explorations i’ve been
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doing in music uh right and their
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creativity would always inspire me and
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influence me in different ways so who
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was more strict and more critical the
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film critic or the choreographer i can’t
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imagine that that would be a tough
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tough to become what you’ve become
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because who was who was harder on your
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mom or your dad it’s hard to say because
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they they have different personalities
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and um in many ways they both can make
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you very uncomfortable
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but you can always feel the warmth and
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the
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unconditional love which is
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incredible so yeah my father is i admire
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greatly he um he’s able to quote you
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know different books and different uh
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poems in different languages
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he has this photographic memory and uh
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he has incredible very systematic mind
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almost like a renaissance man in a way
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he’s able to do many almost like yours
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yes yeah i i’m trying to copy him
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sometimes
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and my mom is far more uh intuitive and
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uh very emotional uh person also capable
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of a lot of things speaks many languages
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and
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those so much just a little bit more
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spontaneous and uh more unpredictable
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yeah which also can be crazy in 2018 you
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graduated from the conservatory moved to
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cleve among other places new york boston
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but cleveland the cleveland institute of
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music where you studied for the last
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four years
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under sergey babion for piano and keith
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fitch for composition two known known
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professors in the in this world
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big players in the world you perform
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many places across the world yes what
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are some of the more uh known places you
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performed well uh one of the most
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memorable experiences was in vienna uh
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where i was fortunate it was back in
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2013 and that’s in austria Brinton it is
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there is a beautiful concert called in
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vienna where i was fortunate to to play
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and it’s um you know
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it was so special uh to visit the city
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as well and to
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touch this very unique atmosphere
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because it’s full of music it’s also
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full of uh in general full of art and
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incredible unique culture so does that
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inspire your playing do you find that
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when you’re in that place like that it
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can it can help with your performance
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yeah the surroundings inevitably
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influence uh whatever i do and
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i can even see how my style of writing
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changes from time to time when i live in
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different places and
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the challenge there is to remain true to
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yourself so not to be dissolved in the
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space but rather to absorb the best of
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it and then uh
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give it back on a different level with
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something which can interest the people
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who live in the space did the wilson
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household do that to you oh i tried i i
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actually i was uh
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inspired very much uh and uh i happened
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to give a present
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to to be able to write a little present
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for gw’s wife
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wow
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she got birthday recently so i felt it
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was uh
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a very uh nice thing to do to write a
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little song for her and uh that’s he
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composed the piece from my wife i was
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kidding about
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so before we get into some of that stuff
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you get you applied for the collide burn
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from cleveland you get selected through
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your auditions you make it to fort worth
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you came here in march for the auditions
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the live editions and you got selected
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for the competition what was that what
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was the Cliburn like in your mind just
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give us a just an overview of the
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experience for you for the Cliburn well
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uh
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i have to say that i didn’t do
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almost any piano competitions before the
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pandemic so the pandemic was uh pushing
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me in a way and it pushed me to
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uh
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start
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kind of to to
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to start exploring these competitions
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and to
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feel motivated to develop further
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because the concerts got cancelled and i
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i thought it’s you know i have to find
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uh more unusual for myself and usual
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motivation to practice and to learn new
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pieces so i looked at the list of
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competitions and i applied to several a
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collaboration got postponed uh if we
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didn’t know it right away but it was
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postponed from 2021 to the next year
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so i decided
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if i was going to apply i should do it
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anyways uh even the pandemic is almost
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over but hopefully
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i should still apply and see what
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happens i obviously heard so many great
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things about this competition and to me
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it’s more like a festival where i uh
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meet
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my friends and uh or
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make new friends exchange ideas
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and explore music further just to make
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it to the competition Brinton’s the 30
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most qualified amateurs in the world
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it’s everybody there is significant
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player and they’re all they’re all
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really smart really wonderful performers
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musicians this guy does that and
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composes all in the same spends roughly
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10 hours a day i think more or less i’ve
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heard him practice for 10 hours a day
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it’s amazing but he spends so much time
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on his craft it’s the dedication to your
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music arsenii is what the most
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impressive thing about you you’re so
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dedicated to what you do and it’s it
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shows thank you it’s just that i’m
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combining both things composition and
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piano so i have to
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make sure i don’t fall too much behind
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on any of the uh what tell us the
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weather you told me that earlier in st
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petersburg because i think that can
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contribute to the practice schedules
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that’s true as well there is not much to
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uh
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not many great things you can say about
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the weather in symphysis bureau unless
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you’re really into foggy and uh kind of
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mind sickening uh weather and uh
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well it’s pretty much
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uh dark and uh
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except the jew actually right now is one
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of the best times in simplicity because
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we have a thing which is called white
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nights when sun almost never sets down
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and it’s quite it’s utterly romantic
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it’s very beautiful
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uh however we get an opposite version of
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it in december and in november when it’s
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almost always dark and there is no
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almost feels like there is no hope at
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least until the snow comes down uh you
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just see this naked branches very wet uh
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trees uh
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this uh terrible merciless wind uh oh
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really coming off that city itself is uh
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really beautiful there is hardly one
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more city which could compete with you
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know this uh um
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sort of atmosphere because it was built
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as a capital it’s not not very uh common
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it was built as a capital it has a lot
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of great uh architecture from across
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europe a lot of italian french buildings
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maybe i would say prague in czech
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republic would be you know another
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example of this sort of mix yeah
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different so our city since we’re
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discussing russia we have to ask the
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obvious question we know it’s a very
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sensitive subject for the entire world
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but being from russia you now live in
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the united states your english is
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phenomenal which you’ve learned in four
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years what tell us in your words what
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what the ukrainian russian situation
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means to you well i was quite devastated
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to learn about the start of the of the
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war
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and
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i have so many friends in ukraine as
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well
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in fact i
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felt an urge to replace some pieces in
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my screening audition program in march
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in fort worth
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i was supposed to play a lot of russian
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music
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and
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i almost wanted to cancel my
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participation because i saw not only
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that i wasn’t sure how how to identify
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myself if i should really present this
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country but also i
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saw how much
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hate there is actually from everyone you
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know not everyone but many people
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towards
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russian musicians and russian culture so
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i felt very uncertain about it and
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the only reason why i didn’t cancel
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the participation because i thought
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it might be better to to support a
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ukrainian composer who was at the moment
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in kiev uh with what i can do the
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the least i can do
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i played his piece in the screening
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audition his name is valencian sylvestre
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and he
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before
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all this crisis before 2014 he already
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was one of my favorite living composers
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so i always wanted to perform his works
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and i learned some of them so it was a
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very uh
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not very easy solution but i thought it
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was the best i can do and i’m just
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grateful for the Cliburn to be flexible
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about it yeah right that’s great well
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fort worth is grateful that you’re here
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truly and that we know that’s not an
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easy situation for you to be in we know
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you’re not supportive of what’s
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happening over there but music obviously
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is the universal language correct we’ve
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talked about this offline many times
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music that transcends all
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problems in the world somehow some way
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so you being here is a big deal so thank
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you where are you where are you headed
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after this uh i’m going to spend several
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days in new york for uh recording
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sessions with a very good friend of mine
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she’s a singer and we’ve been working on
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a cycle of songs based on mark chagall’s
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poetry and it might sound weird because
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he is very well known as a painter but
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he did write several poems in french
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etic and russian
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and my my friend she is putting together
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several of his songs which eventually
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will be premiered in a church in new
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york where chagall painted the murals
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and it’s a very special project for me
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so i’m very excited what about the fall
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where will you and in the fall i’m uh
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planning to start my master’s uh program
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in uh yield university
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new haven connecticut yeah yes i have
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one more question before we go um
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when you first did the composition to
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that poem
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who recited that in your home
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uh
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well i or was it done in the home or or
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did you
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i just or did you recite the poem while
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you were playing or i just was reading
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the poems and yeah one of them uh winter
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road was particularly inspiring for me
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so
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i i just sat down uh put melody and then
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i sang it with with my with my playing
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okay that’s that’s how it’s beautiful i
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just have two more but tell us about
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your experience in fort worth what do
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you love about forth did you love fort
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worth some of the food did was the food
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up to your liking besides the borscht we
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know you like the borscht well i uh
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first of all like cannot emphasize
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enough that i enjoy it so much this day
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and i i think it wouldn’t be
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uh wouldn’t have been the same without
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without you and without your wonderful
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family uh what i could also add is that
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i was fortunate to visit some museums i
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really enjoy the kimball collection
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because it’s it’s not very large but it
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has really
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unique things in it uh i i did see the
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african exhibit as well which i think is
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very very special
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so i definitely enjoyed that and the
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food has been has been nice i know i’m
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any favorites uh
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it doesn’t look like he ate very much i
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mean yeah physique like to be honest i’m
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not into food you know i i enjoy eating
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with great people and i think that’s
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what makes food special you know you can
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eat kind of uh very mediocre food if
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it’s your best friend you will enjoy
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this food the best i’m sorry for the
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vegan diet of my friend here he’s got to
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get out of here he’s going to gain
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weight being in texas all the time yeah
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um you’re going to play a five-minute
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composition
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after this what are you playing for us
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uh i i think i might play some of my
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uh own uh pieces and uh
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i thought it would be nice to play
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uh my first takata which is dedicated to
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bach there are three of them but the
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first uh one seems to be um nice
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gratitude to
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fort worth and beautiful thank you for
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being here arseni how can people find
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you online uh i have a website i have
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youtube channel uh you can always reach
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out to me a-r-s-e-n-i-y
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precisely
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he’s he’s he’s gonna be a major force in
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the classical musical world in the
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future thank you for being
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here thank you
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[Music]
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so
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so
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so
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so
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so
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[Music]
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so
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so
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so
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foreign
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