In 2014, together with conductor Filipp Selivanov, we organized the St. Petersburg Youth Opera Theater. The idea of creating our own ensemble came along with the realization that we, then students and soon-to-be graduates, would hardly be in high demand in the job market without a single production in our portfolio. The base of the creative association was Cultural Youth Center Record. We invited our classmates from the vocal department of the Conservatory as soloists, and Philip was able to put together a student orchestra on a non-profit basis.

Our theater's first production was Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov's chamber opera Mozart and Salieri. Taking into account a meagar budget and lack of scenery, the emphasis in the scenography was placed on video art: Salieri's monologue from the first film was accompanied by a film version of the events described in it. My debut in opera directing might look naive today, but that is the essence of all student work — to make bumps, to make all the mistakes and to draw conclusions.