My musical career seemed to crash to a halt in 2011: I was studying violin performance at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory when a debilitating wrist injury forced me to step away from the violin. It was devastating – I’d spent my life, since 4 years old, training for this goal. What next? I took a detour, choosing to study languages and literature at Georgetown University, but through a bizarre turn of events, ended up as personal assistant to one of the world’s greatest conductors. Through watching and learning from Valery Gergiev, I realised that my injury was actually an opportunity: what I needed to be doing was conducting, and this was a chance to do that. I moved to the UK to pursue a doctorate at Oxford while also learning to conduct. It was, one might say, love at first touch. Within 18 months of first picking up a baton, I had a contract with a professional orchestra, and within a few years, management, and professional engagements in 4 countries. I founded an orchestra, which I continue to steer, and use to pursue my mission as a conductor: to honour musicians and audiences, and create a rigorous but joyful artistic environment.