Violin Legend: “My Family Has Made Music Since 1889” | Ep. 453 With Dmitry Sitkovetsky

Daniel (0:00)

Before we get into today's episode, I want to tell you about a sponsor I actually use. I've been using LegalZoom for years, going back to my early businesses, and it's why I still say the same thing to every founder. You can get an answer from the Internet or AI in seconds, but a quick answer is not the same as the right answer.

Forming your business yourself looks easy, but one small mistake means fees and headaches later.

LegalZoom has launched 5 million businesses in every state over 25 years. They've seen it all. Once you're running, they help keep you compliant, tracking deadlines and filing your state reports so you don't have to. And for your will or trust, AI doesn't know your family or your state's rules. LegalZoom builds one around your life and it's accepted in all 50 states. When you need a legal hand, visit LegalZoom, go to legalzoom.com to get started. LegalZoom provides access to independent attorneys and its law firm, LZ Legal Services. LegalZoom is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.

Dmitry Sitkovetsky (1:06)

All the greatest Russian artists, they were glorified slaves. They were the slaves of system.

Daniel (1:14)

A musical dynasty four generations deep, his first competition win at 12 The Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, thousands of concerts, more than 20 festivals built. This is Dmitry Sitkovetsky, founder of the Baku International Arts Festival. Are you chasing a dream then or were you running from something? Both.

Dmitry Sitkovetsky (1:35)

I had to convince them that I was no good. I pretended to be sick. I didn't have any money or anything like this. I played every gig in town, shared cockroach infested apartment.

Daniel (1:48)

AI is obviously changing a lot.

Dmitry Sitkovetsky (1:51)

I think there's one element that's missing in AI and I don't see it changing.

Daniel (2:04)

Dmitry, your mom who is 98 years old, she's considered one of the greatest pianists in the last century. What's the most important thing that she taught you about music?

Dmitry Sitkovetsky (2:15)

Well, you know, it's interesting because she never taught me anything directly because I was studying violin because my father was one of the greatest violinists of the century but he died very young, at 33

32 he was, I was 3 years old, so they wanted me to be a violinist. So she never taught me directly. But I grew up in an atmosphere of what I found out later was of the highest professionalism you can imagine. Because I thought, as every child, in order to be a professional musician, you have to be like your mom.

But later on I found out that nobody was always so prepared and so meticulously ready for every rehearsal. She was never late for anything and she never hit her own note basically because that's how gifted she was. She played with the orchestra in Baku where she grew up at the age of nine, her first concert. And then she was clearly an incredible child prodigy and things were so easy for her, it's so natural. If you see her videos, now she still has, whenever I put something on the line, she doesn't even know what the internet is, but she's 98, it's a different generation. But she has an incredible amount of fans till this day because when they hear her playing, she makes it sound like there's nothing more natural and easy than playing piano on that level. So that's the atmosphere I grew up in.

Daniel (3:52)

Why do you think that we love music and why do we love musicians?

Dmitry Sitkovetsky (3:57)

Well, I think music has an ability to express, not only the direct sort of black and white, which is good or bad, or, you know, like in pop songs, you know, she loves me, she loves me not. I mean, that's basically, you know, the emotional range from A to B in most pop songs. Now it gets a little bit more involved, but that that's basically in music, you can express so many subtle things, you know, you because we are not wired like this binary. We wired a lot more complex. You could be at the funeral and it's certain things would just trigger your funny bone and you would be suppressing something that's funny all the other way around. You could be having a wonderful celebration and then you would have a cloud of melancholy and things like that. There are certain things that sometimes even embarrassing to express in words, you can express through music and it goes from hard to hard.

Daniel (5:05)

Some of the greatest composers have been very tortured individuals. Why do you think that happens?