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A podcast on all things music, featuring conversations on music, makers, and meaning.
The Sum of All Wisdom
Episode 3: Daria Vasileva Transcript
Scott Catey
Today we welcome Daria Vasileva, an internationally performing concert artist whose playing combines virtuosity, intellectual depth, and a powerful sense of musical storytelling. Originally from Kazan, Russia, Daria began studying piano at a young age, and quickly distinguished herself as a musician of exceptional sensitivity and technique.
Her musical path eventually led her to Switzerland where she continued advanced studies and began building a vibrant international career as a recitalist and chamber musician. Daria has earned recognition in several international competitions, including distinctions connected with the music of Alexander Scriabin, a composer whose visionary compositional language and mysticism I think have become central to her artistic voice. We'll talk a little bit about that.
Her performances are known for exploring the expressive and philosophical dimensions of the piano repertoire, especially the late romantic and early modernist tradition. Alongside her performing career, Daria is also deeply committed to expanding the classical canon. She created the Feminine Power Project, a concert initiative dedicated to bringing greater attention to works by women composers, both past and present, whose music deserves far greater visibility on the concert stage.
And Daria is also an active educator and communicator. She shares insights into repertoire, technique, and musical interpretation with a large and growing international audience. In today's conversation, we'll talk about her artistic journey and the influence of Scriabin, the creative process behind Feminine Power and what it means to build a musical voice in the 21st century, and probably a few other things. So Daria, welcome very much, and thank you for being on the show today.
Daria Vasileva
Thank you so much. It's such a kind introduction. I even feel a bit shy now to talk about anything. Thank you so much for your kindness, Scott Catey. I'm so excited to be here.
Scott Catey
I first became aware of you through your post on LinkedIn, which doesn't seem like an obvious place to learn about a musician and her performances, but that's where you were posting on your, your US debut in New York and in Baltimore at the Union Square Soiree in Baltimore. That was earlier this year in January. And I was really fortunate to attend the Baltimore performance. And I got to tell you for real, Daria, I think it changed me.
It was one of those moments when a piece of music and a performance sort of really come together and transform a person, right? And specifically it was Scriabin's Sonata 9, the Black Mass. I've appreciated that piece since I first heard it. I think the original thing I heard was Ashkenazy, right? The classic performance of it. But your playing, I think, took it to a whole new level. And I've been obsessed, if I can be honest, with it since then and expanding my understanding of his repertoire. But what I'd love to start with—we'll come back to Scriabin—but what I'd really love to start with, if you don't mind, is maybe a similar experience in your life, a moment when music sort of revealed something unexpected or transformed you and your musical thinking changed. Maybe it's performance or rehearsing or listening to a piece of music or performance.
Can you tell us about a moment when music really spoke to you and took you in a new creative direction?
Daria Vasileva
I think to be honest for me it could be a bit challenging to answer this particular question because I feel that my music journey has always been a flow, you know, not that I would necessarily feel that there was any particular step that took me to another level, but more like a flow which was...
taking me into different directions, but it was always difficult for me to distinguish any particular moments. But of course, probably I could name my first experience actually listening to Tchaikovsky's symphonies live and it deeply transformed me as well as a teenager. I believe it was one of the moments that...
made me appreciate my musical path because to be honest as a kid I was extremely lazy, I didn't want to practice at all. I was just sliding through my specialized music school journey. It's a very interesting phenomena in post-Soviet countries we have these specialized music schools with a really deep learning process and
you know, sometimes even in Russia, compare it to military schools because very, very strict, very, very effective. Sometimes a bit toxic, but still extremely effective. I was sliding through this journey just thanks to my decent memory, some talent, some music talent, but I was so lazy and I wasn't really motivated until I think I was 13 or 14 years old and I...
experienced the power of Tchaikovsky, know, and I do believe that it transformed me and it switched something off in me and switched something on, excuse me, and made me appreciate what I do actually and made me want to strive to become better, to become something meaningful and not just a...
young pianist who just presses the keys and you know just flows from one exam to another one. I believe that was one significant step in my journey when for sure I would say that my move to Switzerland and expanding my knowledge in terms of music and also just in terms of artistic career is what transformed me deeply as well because the mentality of
Western culture was so different with experience in post-Soviet countries where we are taught to be again extremely effective. We are taught to own our skills, to hone our interpretations, to bring all these details to extremely high level. But at the same time, we are not taught to express our individuality or to express, to express
explore our artistry and at Switzerland I got so much more freedom to do this and I believe it deeply changed me as an artist as well and it made me at least it helped me become who I am today and hopefully who I will become in the future and that was definitely a deep change for me so I guess
You know, this experience in Switzerland also helped me open my eyes, broaden my horizons in terms of repertoire. Because again, in post-Soviet countries, we are usually studying so-called competition repertoire. You know, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, of course Schumann, Scriabin as well. But we are not so much into exploring something different, something besides this competition repertoire. And in Switzerland,
It was a place where I explored music of female composers as well or music of composers who are not so known and it's actually the place where I also became so much into Scriabin because again I believe his music
Daria Vasileva
to understand and to really feel his music without a certain degree of freedom is just impossible. And since it was so much stricter for me in Russia, I believe it was simply impossible to really connect to his music. So yeah, I guess that's international that I could tell you about this.
Scott Catey
That's a good answer. That's a very comprehensive answer. really like the, especially the observation of the difference between the cultural difference between your training in, in Russia and your experience in Switzerland. I think that's really interesting.
Daria Vasileva
I hope so.
Scott Catey
On your Instagram account, you call yourself an ambassador of Scriabin.
Daria Vasileva
At least I'd like to think of myself in this way, but maybe sometimes it's also about fake it til you make it, but at the same time, so many people reached out to me and told me that I helped them explore Scriabin’s music or just that I revealed Scriabin’s music to them because a lot of times so many people, both online and offline, they told me, they shared with me that
Scriabin's music was difficult for them to understand and to connect to before and I helped them in some degree to feel it in a bit more spontaneous way, in a bit more expressive way and of course for me it's always the best compliment and it's why I guess I like to call myself ambassador of Scriabin's music and hopefully I would be able to do more for his music later in my life as well.
Scott Catey
I think it's an important ambassadorship, Moving into the modernist period into the 20th century, I think atonality challenges a lot of people and here transition from sort of Chopin influence into a much different kind of compositional language, right? I think that takes a lot for someone to sort of get their head around at times. So if you can bring that to people, that...
Daria Vasileva
Yeah, absolutely.
Scott Catey
tradition, the modernist tradition, everything after 1910 or so is really wonderful music leading into even today, right? And so much of the how it's just been a like a flower exploding into all kinds of new ways of writing and thinking and listening to music that's contemporary. I think I think it's important. I love that you do that.
Daria Vasileva
Mm-hmm. Thank you.
Scott Catey
What is it that his music does for you?
Daria Vasileva
It's very comprehensive.
I believe there are so many colors and what you said about blooming above a flower, believe that his music makes my soul bloom. And I believe that in his music, no matter if it's tonal music or atonal music, no matter if it's early or late, later stages of his musical development, his music is always full of this
Particular feeling of freedom, of trying to break free, of achieving this universal freedom, ecstatic freedom. In a way, I feel so much unitement in his music and his art that it definitely makes my soul and
my mind as well thrive and just bloom and want to explore more and it inspires me as well to try to live my life in fullest because his music is just so full of this willpower but ah
And so I would even call it optimism in the highest possible way, because again, his music is just so full of this will of power. Again, doesn't matter the period of his development. I just cannot fully describe what it does for me. It's why I play it, because it's very difficult for me to talk about it.
Scott Catey
When you play a piece and you play it multiple times, is it something new each time? Is it a transfiguration for you? Is it something new revealed each time you play it? How do you live that music when you're playing?
Daria Vasileva
For me as an Artist, the connection to audience is maybe one of the...
most important things for me. So it definitely transforms me every single time I perform it. I would say it's impossible and it should not even be a goal to feel his transformative power every time when you practice, for example. I believe a lot of young artists or young students sometimes they question their motivation if they do not feel inspired every single time they practice.
Daria Vasileva
and I believe it's also important thing to talk about. I definitely do not feel inspired or transform in myself every single time I just play his music. But every single time I try to open it up to my audience, either online or of course, especially my performances. And it definitely transforms me and I definitely hope that it transforms my audience as well.
Yeah, I guess that's it more or less.
Scott Catey
Talk a little bit about classical audiences. So there's been some talk lately about classical music is not, you know, it's dying out kind of thing. It's, not a new conversation, but it's coming from some new sources, I think, lately, but I'm interested to know your experience of, of the audience, right? How are they responding to classical music? Is the audience changing? Are there more young people? How do you bring in young people?
What's the what's diversity look like? How is the classical world sort of generally speaking? How is how is that world responding to music now?
Daria Vasileva
I think in a way I created a bubble for myself through my social media. Since I'm having blog on Instagram or on YouTube, I do attract more younger audience than a lot of other classical musicians. So for example, when I attend other classical concerts, I tend to see more...
older audiences, which is fine and I love them. I love every single member of my audience or audience who would like to cherish classical music in someone else's performances. I believe it's just such a precious thing. But for myself, yeah, I do see that I have this kind of...
precious bubble that consists sometimes from slightly younger audience. For example, some of my last recitals in different countries, they definitely included at least, I know, 75% of audience that I would say they were younger than 30. And for me, it was a very precious thing to see because as you said,
Lately there are so many conversations, so many disputes regarding that classical audience is aging in a way.
I am happy that I'm able to bring more of the younger audiences to the concert and I believe that it's the power of social media as well. And I believe that if more of classical artists were to use that power to harness it and without prejudices, but for example, you know, classical, when classical musicians go to social media, they diminish their art or they diminish classical composers. I believe that's not true at all.
Daria Vasileva
And I believe that it's such a powerful tool to attract more audiences to the art, but of course in the age of deficit span of attention, know, et cetera, et cetera. It might be difficult otherwise to attract them. Yeah, I guess that's my answer.
Scott Catey
When you, so a couple of things besides just the music and the performance at the Union Square Soiree, one of the things that really struck me is it looked to me like you were playing it all from memory, which is, I think, amazing. Can you tell us about the relationship between...
memory and interpretation and being in the moment of playing for an audience.
Daria Vasileva
You know, in our post-Soviet environment, which again, which built me as a musician, which formed me as a musician, it gave me all my base.
For me personally, the scores definitely distract me. If I have to follow them, even if they are there, just for me to be sure, to feel safer. guess safer is the answer. I don't want to feel safe.
Daria Vasileva
I want to feel risky sometimes. I want to feel so fully into music, but you know, when you know that you don't have a choice, it feels different, least to me. You know, you have no choice. You just have to live to immerse yourself so much into the music, but you cannot just get lost. I believe that at least for me, if you have scores,
you feel safer, but you also feel less on the edge. And for me, it would be worse for my music because if I have scores and I know that I can just look at them, you know, it, it removes a part of a thrill for me, which is so essential, at least to my performances. So, sometimes, people ask me, if I sing, you know, during my performances, because sometimes I do immerse myself so much when I just speak
the notes of the singular melody that is so important for me at the moment. But it's so vital for me just to be there that I even, I can sing or I can pronounce the notes sometimes. And it also helps me create this fully immersing experience, which I also try to create for my listeners as well. But at the same time, I believe that...
playing with scores is absolutely fine and I believe that it's important to understand also for young artists, young students, but we all have different types of artistry and it's very important just to try to do your best to figure out your own and not to orient yourself to what other artists do.
Scott Catey
When you put together a, a performance, how do you, what's your process for deciding which pieces to include and what's the, do you create, do you try to create an arc, something that the listeners can sort of grow with through the, through the performance and leave with afterwards?
Daria Vasileva
Absolutely.
For me, the dramaturgy is crucial when thinking about the concert program. It's why I stopped doing, forming my concert programs in a chronological order. It's also what happened at Baltimore, Baltimore Soiree. For me, it's much more about the inner story, about the inner logic. And again, for example, I played ninth Scriabin sonata and after I played
his Opus 1, so his first ever published piece, which would be impossible in more traditional concert settings because people expect you to play Bach, then something classical and then you move to Romantic and then you move to modern music. But for me
it's much more about first of all the story and then emotions. For example, for me it would be impossible to finalize the concert with Scriabin's 9th Sonata because while it's deeply transformative work, I believe it also drains you. And if you just finish the concert with this work just because it was the most modern piece of the concert,
you risk your listeners feel disturbed or of course it depends also on the audience you know maybe not all listeners would be so prepared as prepared as you to absorb this music some would just be left confused and not understanding and especially if it was their first classical concert would we really like to come back after finishing with 9th
Daria Vasileva
sonata by Scriabin. I'm not so sure so it's why for example I would put it into the middle of a program so after that I have a journey to come back to light and for me it's also one of the most crucial questions I ask myself is how I'd like my listeners leave the concert
What should they have in their souls, in our heart after they leave the concert hall or if it's a house concert? Especially I believe it's a house concert because it creates even more intimate and more expressive atmosphere. So for me, it's very important to always try to finalize my concerts on an uplifting note, which again, it's quite easy when you program your programs.
consists mostly of Scriabin’s music because again as I mentioned before his music is so full of will of power and this cosmic universal optimism so it's quite easy to find work what would fit my purpose which is to release my listeners from this journey with an uplifting mood and a heart full of...
happiness, joy, or at least a hope that you would experience with happiness or joy later in your life.
Scott Catey
Who are the other composers that are key to you in your repertoire right now, the late Romantic and early modernist period, who is it that you, aside from Scriabin, and who do you get inspired by mostly?
Daria Vasileva
Well, while I course focus myself, my artistic journey on music of Alexander Scriabin. I always tried to explore music of different composers and also less known. That was also one of the reasons why I decided to create a Feminine Power Project to explore the voices of female composers in all of their diversity, all of their different cultures and just to hear their voices speaking about their
experiences, hardships and course the cultures of where we're coming from. Recently I included in several of my concert programs works by a Soviet repressed composer Varvara Gaigerova.
It's quite an interesting story of how I became captivated by her music. Even though I'm Russian pianist and I've been living in Russia for 23 years of my life. And I finished my professional studies there with my specialist degree. I never heard about her, Varvara, when I studied there. And again, I believe that's the problem of being so
focused on competition repertoire and having this rather narrow perspective on musical repertoire. But when I moved to Switzerland and I played several concerts with this Feminine Power Project program, one of the Swiss musicologists
He attended one of my concerts and he brought me some scores of Maria Szymanowska, for example, which I haven't yet played. And he asked me if I've heard about Varvara Gaigerova. And we talked about her, he told me a little bit about her life and I cannot express how ashamed I was because he was Swiss, I was Russian, he heard about her and I have not. And it again showed me this gap, you know, in approach to music.
And I learned four of her Skizzen. It's a German word, four of her sketches. And I performed some of them at my recitals recently. And actually she started with Miskowski. Miskowski was later contemporary of Scriabin as well. So she was born, I believe, in 1903 and passed away in 1944
So again, it was a very short life. she sadly she hasn't left so much music for us, but I believe that everything she composed, it's incredible. And it's why I...
I also try to push her music now through social media a little bit more and not just for her own sake, but to potentially inspire both musicians and the audiences to try to explore this music that for some circumstances is forgotten now. And again, it's not for artistic circumstances, but just for historic and living circumstances, but her music was never explored even in her own country.
Daria Vasileva
I believe that this story hopefully might also inspire some other musicians to discover more of music that could have been forgotten but at the same time presents so many artistic challenges and so much joy to both performer and audiences.
Scott Catey
Will you commission or premiere new works as a part of the Feminine Power Project?
Daria Vasileva
Yes, I performed a work of Ukrainian, a young Ukrainian composer in Switzerland. It's called Night in Ukraine, so she composed this piece specifically for my concerts and it was a huge success and it was definitely a transforming experience for me. So I believe it was my only case so far, but hopefully in the future it will be more
Scott Catey
Indeed, absolutely. You're also a composer in your own right. You've composed Preludes and Etudes, I think I saw on your website.
Daria Vasileva
Yes, I treat it a little bit more as a hobby and it did help me explore a style of Scriabin as well because these little compositions they are
a very composing style of early Scriabin. It was one of the ways for me to explore his music even more. And I just treat them as experiments. You never know, of course, what might happen in the future, but for now, it's definitely a hobby inside my profession.
Scott Catey
Is it a hobby you enjoy? Do you like writing music?
Daria Vasileva
Yes, it's usually a kind of artistic escape for me after especially stressful or demanding artistic performing projects. So when I need some time to disconnect, I do it through this type of activity. So it definitely helps me to regain my inspiration and my energy and come back to performing projects.
Scott Catey
When you write music, where does the music come from? Are you hearing it? Is it, do you have a theme or a melody that you want to write to? Is it outside, external sounds that you're hearing? How do you, how do you bring it together?
Daria Vasileva
Yeah, I guess it's definitely something external what might just come to me, but as I'm a pianist and so many composers used to compose in exactly the same way, I believe.
I take this little theme that might have come to me to piano and I start playing around with it and when I explore it and I create something together with my piano. So it doesn't come to me as a visual image or some particular philosophical idea maybe, it counts just an abstract music which I later explore on my piano.
Scott Catey
What kind of piano do you play?
Daria Vasileva
So just to understand is it like brand or which brand? What exactly do you mean?
Scott Catey
I guess I'm thinking I grew up in a house with an old upright that didn't sound very good, but it was fun to tinker on. But I'm wondering when you are in your in your rehearsal space or at home practicing whatever that looks like. What is it a grand? Is it a baby grand? Is it a
Daria Vasileva
So since I'm living in apartment, in apartment building I have a pretty interesting instrument, it's an acoustic Kawai yet with built in silent system so it's a hybrid piano in a way so it allows me practice in my headphones and in my headphones I hear a concert Kawai piano sound which is pretty incredible and
The acoustic mount is totally fine for me as a professional as well. it's the best kind of instrument an artist can have in a limited space. Also when you have limitations from neighbors. But yeah, I'm quite happy with it.
I used to rent the same instrument in Switzerland because I also lived in apartment building and it was a revelation for me because in Russia such instruments were not common at all. So yeah, but hopefully one day I would be able to bring my baby grand from Russia which is an old renovated German instrument and it has a very special character as well. But for this I would need to improve my living conditions to something a bit bigger exactly
Scott Catey
And without neighbors, at least not very close neighbors. Do you miss your piano?
Daria Vasileva
Yes, of course it has taught me so much and there's so many memories connected to it. But every piano I've ever played
brings me special memories and I treat every piano I play, I've ever played or especially of course when I perform I treat it as a friend or sometimes even as a lover you know but we have to bond this special connection this special bond you know for the evening when we have to be like one for our audiences to enjoy the most of what we can offer so it's always a very process for me to get to know new instrument and to become friends or again lovers even if it's just for one evening.
Scott Catey
Your Kawai and the piano back in Russia. Do you name them? Is it that kind of intimate?
Daria Vasileva
No, actually no. No, but I guess it's also because my artistic personality as well, it's rather abstract. I try to be better storyteller in a way, and I try to do my best when programming my concerts, for example, but overall in my life...
I cannot relate myself to Schumann, for example, with his extensive literature experience or even to Scriabin, who has left several programs for his works, several poems as well, for example. His fifth sonata has a little epigraph that he wrote as a poem.
I believe it was an initial program for his poem of [ecstasy]. Sorry, sometimes, you know, when I translate the names of works, I am confused if I still pronounce it more in a Russian way or French or German or English. So sorry for potential mix up. But yeah, so I did not name my pianos or anything else in my artistic work.
Scott Catey
Schumann feels so very uniquely, I think, individualistic and subjective to me.
Daria Vasileva
Absolutely.
Scott Catey
I think you either really get him or it's just not a thing.
Daria Vasileva
Yeah, but the same with Scriabin or Wagner, I believe. Yes, absolutely.
Scott Catey
How do you, so the storytelling that you mentioned, I think you are a really good storyteller, musical storyteller
Daria Vasileva
You're very kind.
Scott Catey
and oral storyteller. I mean, you're telling very good stories. How do you, in the musical sense, how do you approach balancing technical precision and emotional expression?
Daria Vasileva
I believe my technical precision is actually one of my weaker sides, which of course I always strive to improve. But also because I'm not a virtuosic pianist by nature and it took me quite some time to develop a technique that I possess now. Still, it's...
it's lacking quite a bit and of course while I try my best to improve it I, my balance is the emotional or the logical or the philosophical concept of my playing is much more important to me and if there is something missing in technique but I hear this in this particular speed or with this particular intensity, I would always sacrifice technical aspect. I'm not sure if it's right or wrong, again I believe there is no black and white in artistic expression but it's what it is for me.
Scott Catey
Your instructors in Russia at the Kazan Conservatoire, right? I think this is where you got your education. What would they say about sacrificing the technical for the expressive?
Daria Vasileva
I believe in the world, Russian music school, Russian piano school is considered to be one of the most profound, you know, one of the most emotional as well, schools of music, of playing. And, you know, one of the founders in a way of Russian music piano school, Anton Rubenstein, you know, about his concerts, people would say that sometimes half of the notes he was playing were under the piano. They were basically so much not there, you know, but his artistic presence, he was called a “lion” at piano. This particular tendency I believe had a strong influence on Russian school overall. So in a way my principles are still very adequate to what you call Russian piano school.
Scott Catey
Can you tell us what the future looks like for you? What are your next steps in your career? What are you most looking forward to in the coming years?
Daria Vasileva
So my biggest milestone this year I believe is release of my debut album. Of course it's dedicated to Alexander Scriabin. We are releasing it with French label Apartheid and it's gonna come out on 5th of June and it's called Elements and it's dedicated to four elements of nature. It's an interesting angle to take on Scriabin’s music, but I did so because of my tribute to Switzerland, where I discovered myself as a Scriabin lover and Switzerland is...
so much about nature and its beauty and appreciation of it and for me in my mind it was so natural to connect Scriabin to nature in this particular way also because the recording was possible for me due to help of Swiss film foundation who sponsored me, who sponsored my recording so it's gonna come out very soon and already in April the first singles are gonna be available
I believe fire and water and then I would have in May release of air and earth So I'm very excited about that and of course later I will have concerts also dedicated to promotion of the album and of course To spread more light more air hopefully more fire For someone maybe more earth, know this grounding feeling In such unstable times and of course more water more flexibility
flow, more artistic flow, intuition. So yeah, I would say that's the main thing for me at the moment.
Scott Catey
can't wait to hear that record when it's out. think that's very exciting and good luck. I really hope you're successful with that.
Daria Vasileva
Thank you.
Scott Catey
We're close to an hour now, so I want to wrap up with a couple of questions that are focused on listeners. If you could give advice to someone who wants to maybe devote their life to music or to being creative, what advice would you give, for instance, to a young pianist who's just beginning to think about a professional path?
Daria Vasileva
I believe it's the most important and not the most obvious thing is while you obviously have to do your own in a traditional way of practice honing your skills, understanding music history, music theory, all of these music concepts, it's very important that you start to look out for things
but distinguish your individuality as early as possible and that you try to build your artistic identity and your projects around this individuality as early as possible. I learned it quite late in my artistic path, in my student, in my educational path and I believe for so long I was in the dark about that and I believe it's in a way I could have done more as an artist if I discovered it earlier in my path and it's why it's probably my main advice.
Just listen to yourself while again of course honing and perfecting your skills. It's so crucial to understand where you stand as an artist and of course it's also crucial to understand that it's not gonna define you until you're 19 years old or something of course it can change of course it can be flexible but still, it's so vital to try to find the ground you're going to stand at as an artist.
Scott Catey
When you found that, when did you find that? Was that in Switzerland? Was it in...
Daria Vasileva
Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah, I...I don't know, a few years after I moved, I just realized that it was a problem when I was applying to a scholarship from Swiss government for talented foreign artists. Just because without it, I wouldn't be able to study there because obviously it's a very expensive country. Even though we actually have very affordable education still just to live there, it wouldn't have been possible, accessible to me so I won this scholarship but before when I was applying and I was working on my motivation letter which was before AI took over all this type of documentation and made it much easier I realized that all my achievements all my concert projects were so disorganized in an artistic way. I had a lot of achievements, I had some competitions, had a lot of concerts, big concerts, but all of them were just so different and repertoire-wise and also ideas-wise it was... I just realized that I couldn't see myself as an artist there, it was all so different and
I was, I believe, 22 or 23 when I just realized what is the problem and maybe when I was around 25 years old I finally started feeling my artistic identity a bit more and of course now I would say it's a big difference also when you play it's quite different when you understand yourself as an artist a bit more and you understand your roots of course as well and you understand your aspirations it affects your playing as well.
Scott Catey
Something magical about discovering that about yourself.
Daria Vasileva
Yeah.
Scott Catey
One final question, Daria, I'm not sure this is different from, from the advice you gave, but I want to know if you have a piece of wisdom for folks who are listening to the podcast. What's the one thing you'd like them to take away about music or creativity or life or artistry…
Daria Vasileva
I guess it's already difficult to provide a piece of wisdom. I'm not even sure my first piece of wisdom was wise enough.
But maybe the second one could be a bit more general. I believe that it's just so crucial to think about people you interact with and how you'd like them to feel after interaction with you. It doesn't matter if it's your listeners, it's your students or your teacher or your loved ones or just people in government office or in supermarket. I believe it's something we are not very conscious about sometimes but I believe that the world could have been a much kinder and better place if we were more conscious about our interactions with others.
Just ask yourself, for example, I tried to ask myself about it before having a lesson with my student. Not only that I want to teach them tonight or today, but also how I want them to feel after my lesson. Would I like them to feel more confident and more grounded or more inspired? Or would I really like them to feel more stressed or more anxious or less confident?
And this question really helps me to build my interactions with them in a more meaningful way.
Scott Catey
Great, beautiful, very intentional way of interacting with other people. That's lovely.
Daria Vasileva
I hope!
Scott Catey
Thanks so much for being on the show today. This has been fantastic.
Daria Vasileva
Thank you so much. It was so, so fruitful, I believe, even for me just to talk about it and so inspiring. And you're such a kind person and your questions were so deep and meaningful. And I thank you for this. Was so, beautiful.
Scott Catey
I'm so happy that you joined us.
Daria Vasileva
Absolutely.
Scott Catey
All right, Daria, I'll be in touch. Thank you so much for being here today.