THE GREATEST CHARM OF CONDUCTING IS BEING AWARE OF ONE’S POWER IN THE MOMENT ITSELF AND OF ITS TRANSIENCE

Živa Ploj Peršuh, who never ceases to surprise with her freshness, musical conviction, exceptional talent and knowledge, is a conductor with a broad symphonic and operatic repertoire who enjoys leading projects across a range of genres. She can boast of being the first woman on the podium of SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana. She firmly believes in the importance of passing on artistic knowledge and skills to young people, especially in classical music. Živa is also a humanitarian. Together with her husband Tomo, she rescued more than 140 young musicians from the horrors of the war in Ukraine, including members of the Youth Orchestra of Ukraine. Through their tireless commitment, they not only found them a safe refuge in Slovenia but also enabled their further development, work in music and integration. Being a conductor is a rather unusual profession for a woman – how did you decide on this path? Being a conductor is a profession you don’t choose. Rather, the profession chooses you. Clearly, being on stage is my cue – at once so frightening and so alluring. Women in the conducting profession are no longer the exception today – just as women in other leadership positions are not. I see women’s strength in perseverance and sensitivity to the problems that arise, which we know how to unravel with exceptional skill, and we never give up. I assume you come from a musical family? That’s right, my mother is a musician, a professional cellist, once employed at the Maribor opera. My father is an amateur musician who adores singing and folk songs. So musical roots and a love of different genres have always been strongly present in our family. Since there were no babysitters in those days, I regularly went with my mother to rehearsals, which greatly enriched my childhood. Alongside music, I was also interested in many other things: sport, gymnastics, which I trained in persistently, dance, nature conservation, a love of animals… In the end, music won, as it offers endless possibilities for creation. It requires teamwork, so there is no shortage of diplomacy either. You have to convince people that your choice is the right one. These are moves similar to management techniques. What skills do you need to become a good conductor? Exceptional lucidity, patience, the ability to bring people to a common denominator, and the understanding, or rather the knowledge, to present a work of art in the best possible light. In conducting, which is the re-creation of a work of art, the greatest charm lies in being aware of one’s power in the moment itself and of its transience. A conductor is entirely comparable to a director; they are shaped by knowledge, experience and that connecting X factor that every successful leader has. You can also boast exceptional knowledge and valuable international connections, as you also studied abroad. That’s true, I studied in Germany, and that opens up different perspectives, opportunities and, above all, many acquaintances. Since 2009 I have been co-creating programmes with many international partners and with the support of EU funding. In art, however, we must be aware that environments such as the German one cannot be compared with the Slovenian one. Social development has taken completely different paths, and art has an entirely different status in society. If we just look at cooperation between business and culture, we see that all the most successful CEO attend concerts and opera performances and also educate themselves about them, and above all engage in long-term partnerships on cultural projects. In Germany, despite sold-out football stadiums, cultural institutions still sell more tickets than football clubs. In Slovenia we are slowly developing our own model, even though in sport and in culture we have an exceptional number of promising artists of world standing in every field. Just look at “our” three Berlin Philharmonic players. You say the baton is a tool of respect which, as an extension of the hand, allows control of and communication with the orchestra, while many details can be indicated more easily and deliberately with the hand. How would you define your conducting style? I often hear that I conduct calmly and elegantly. That I convey complete control without nervous gestures. Posture reflects self-confidence and control. Without putting pressure on anyone. I like to use the technique I learnt in Mannheim. It comes from the old school, according to which every gesture is considered and has its purpose. How important is clothing in conducting? Do you see it as a kind of uniform? Do you ever conduct in a skirt? There is a long tradition of unwritten dress rules, but in our profession it was made only for men. I dress in the style of the programme I am conducting. Mostly I wear trousers. Sometimes you have to stand with your legs apart and find your balance during fast and powerful strokes, and in a skirt that would not look good in front of a crowd. Of course my outfit is a kind of uniform, also an expression of the attitude I want to present. The basic attire of every conductor is the tailcoat, though we women can allow ourselves certain adjustments – a more tailored cut, for instance. I notice that among men, too, the tailcoat is increasingly being replaced by a more relaxed suit. Or even just a shirt. You say you firmly believe in the importance of passing on artistic knowledge and skills to young people, especially classical music of all periods and genres. Why do you think this is so important? The transfer of knowledge in all its nuances makes most sense through practical examples, or explanations of theory with a practical demonstration of different possibilities. Knowledge must be laid out, spread and enriched through dialogue; traditional rules must be tested again and again, debated, tried out and, of course, consciously broken. I find this crucial – much as with craft skills. Only when knowledge has, so to speak, “settled in” can art begin. Let us look at examples from history: there have always been composers and musicians who sought employment, inspiration and opportunities in different places. There they gained insight and the possibility of comparison, reflection and collaboration in other settings. I believe that one has to go elsewhere for inspiration, exchange views, live or study abroad, observe our circumstances from a distance and then come back. Not only in music, but also in business, society and politics. There is no need to fear that we will lose our Slovenian identity. If anything, we will enrich it. We enrich it with additional knowledge. I also think it is important that we truly show young people how useful the knowledge they acquire at school is – at different levels and in different genres. To be able to prosper on their chosen path as musicians, they must also accept the fact that not all of them will be soloists. But they can work in other ways; the field of art is wide open, and someone just needs to encourage them to look in several directions. You have always been a visionary: even before finishing your studies, you founded your own symphony and chamber orchestra, Festine, in Slovenia, which brought professional musicians together with students and enabled them to pass on their experience of professional musical life to young people and guide them in playing contemporary music. During my studies abroad I myself experienced many similar synergies. At that time this was missing in our musical landscape. Of course, at first I was told that we had enough symphony and chamber orchestras. Nevertheless, I persisted on several levels, and I am glad that the various synergy projects I introduced have been so successful that other institutions now use them too, as the need is still great. When designing programmes for young people, you have to sense the environment you live in so that you can offer them relevant content and knowledge that will help them develop their careers. Society is changing rapidly and demands the same of artists. And what is young people’s interest in classical music like? The interest is enormous! Especially if we look at music education, with more than 22,000 young people attending it every year. This transition, however, does not carry over to listeners or audiences to the same extent. All genres still exist; young people create and want to create – classical music too. Heads of music schools at primary level say that interest exceeds the number of places available. Through music, children gain a great deal of knowledge for life, as well as values, tolerance, respect for diversity and openness to dialogue. You are the central figure, founder and artistic director of of the Slovenian National Youth Orchestra, of the Ljubljana International Orchestra and of the Triple Bridge European Career Centre for Artists. How do you manage to balance all these roles and excel at them? Since 2008 I have been actively involved in the advancement of young musicians, bringing them into ensembles and projects that enable them to progress better in their careers. The European Career Centre for Artists is a platform for the transfer of knowledge at international level and works with young professional musicians who are about to graduate or have already completed their studies and are on the market. At the Career Centre we strive equally to impart knowledge about art as well as management and marketing. We involve them in various activities and career workshops, an orchestral academy and masterclasses, so that they get a feel for all the opportunities in the professional world. We work in a connecting, cross-sectoral way. Since as early as 2012, foreign institutions have known about and used the opportunity to send their students to us. We call this the Orchestral Academy. It works by accepting young people into the orchestra through an open call and enabling them to play in a simulated professional orchestra. The result of this academy is the Ljubljana International Orchestra – The Ljubljana International Orchestra, which traditionally performs at the Ljubljana Festival and tours abroad. Since March I have also been leading the Musič for the future project, in which we are proving that with music, and because of it, a great deal is possible – in our case, the evacuation and integration of young musicians from Ukraine. I am proudest of The Slovenian Youth Orchestra, which is achieving outstanding results and is now seeking support and consolidating its place in society. The excellent young Slovenian musicians certainly deserve it. Immediately after the war in Ukraine began, you and your husband Tomo Peršuh decided to evacuate young musicians from Ukraine, and since then your extended family has numbered around 140 members. You said your priority was to use your knowledge and experience to provide these artists with a linguistically, educationally and musically rich environment and to integrate them as young artists, not as refugees. We all – including at state level – were plunged into these wartime circumstances, and our organisation was the first to bring such a large group to Slovenia with the aim of integrating it. It was terrible to watch young people, similar to the young people we work with here, and see how frightened they were and how they were suffering. As a mother, it hurt me. The operation was a great challenge for everyone, especially since we are, after all, a music organisation. But in an instant we joined forces and became a humanitarian one too. It was exhausting and tense, but today I can look back with satisfaction and pride on what we have achieved. In an evacuation, the most important thing is to offer the possibility of integration. We have arranged documents for everyone, they receive an allowance, and they are all in school – primary schools, music schools too, at the academy – and live in student residences and flats. It turned out that interest groups are best understood by people with the same interests. So we, as a musical family, understand our fellow musicians from Ukraine best. The charity concert by young musicians from Ukraine at Cankarjev dom, united with the Slovenian Youth Orchestra and the distinguished guest Gidon Kremer, one of the finest violinists of our time, also met with a great response. How did you manage that? On the night of 6 to 7 March the young musicians arrived in Ljubljana, after we had collected them with two buses in the town of Chop. Behind them was a journey lasting two and a half days. By 8 March three of the musicians were already on stage, playing at a concert organised for Ukraine by our national television. That was the first musical performance in our organisation. By the end of July we had organised another 32, and then we also performed at the Bled Forum. We worked very hard to ensure that the musicians had performances and concerts – to keep them active every day and to put their lives in order. They carried an appeal for peace through music. Of course, the concert with Gidon Kremer, which we held together with UNICEF, attracted particular attention. We simply got in touch with Mr Kremer, explained the project to him, and he immediately expressed his support and performed with us on stage. At the time he was rehearsing in Hungary, but he took the time to come to Ljubljana. Given your charitable engagement, I am of course interested in how you view the work and development of the Managerial Concert. I have been following Mr Sibinčič’s work for some time, as from a professional point of view I am also interested in which talented young musicians he selects as worth supporting and what insight he has into our musical landscape. His work, his support for young people, is invaluable. Visiting Slovenian companies and encouraging them to fund the arts is a great commitment and hard work, so I am grateful to him for fighting so tirelessly for young musicians. Even though your profession seems romantic to many, as you are constantly surrounded by music, I wonder what your relationship with music is like in your free time. Can you also relax and enjoy listening, or do you prefer silence then? When I am not practising, or my son is not practising, it is quiet at our home. Perhaps a soft background of jazz or classical music can be heard. In my free time I prefer silence, and I relax to the sounds of nature. I like being by the sea or in the forest, where there are no other stimuli. Music always draws me into analytical listening. And what do you most like doing in your free time – what do you treat yourself to in order to relax, do you have any hobbies? I enjoy nature immensely. Whenever I can, I go for a walk up to Ljubljana Castle every day. Our lives are so organised, with precisely measured schedules and time, that what delights me most are unplanned, spontaneous get-togethers with friends. Have you perhaps passed your musical talent on to your son? My eight-year-old son is very curious. He goes to music school and diligently practises technique, but what he likes best is exploring the sound of the instrument and improvising. He plays the piano and the guitar. We shall see… What do you consider to be your mission in life? I see my mission in connecting people and spreading an understanding of what can be achieved in music with limited means. And also in showing and proving through my work how a superbly conceived cultural landscape, not only a musical one, is a mirror of the country. My mission is also to convince young people who thought they did not have a strong enough voice in the field of musical art of the opposite. That is why I shall be delighted if, together with the Managerial Concert and Mr Sibinčič, we manage to convince as many managers as possible that young artists are the heralds of our future. It is precisely the ability to connect that I see as one of my main assets in working with large ensembles. That is where my strength lies.